{"id":103323,"date":"2024-05-31T00:00:59","date_gmt":"2024-05-30T23:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=103323"},"modified":"2024-06-03T14:29:56","modified_gmt":"2024-06-03T13:29:56","slug":"album-review-cloven-hoof-heathen-cross","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/album-review-cloven-hoof-heathen-cross\/","title":{"rendered":"CLOVEN HOOF – Heathen Cross (2024) | Album \/ EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

CLOVEN HOOF
Heathen Cross<\/strong><\/span>
\n\"\"
\nHigh Roller (2024)<\/span>
Rating: 8\/10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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My introduction to underrated New Wave Of British Heavy Metal act Cloven Hoof is somewhat hazy, but it was via the 1984 self-titled debut with its satanic cover art which, like a lot of UK bands from the time (Witchfinder General, Witchfynde, Holocaust, Satan, Demon etc.), boasted that aura of British folk horror. Within the fiery folds of the album there existed the brilliant track \u2018Crack The Whip\u2019, and from there I was hooked. Strangely, succeeding albums Dominator<\/em> (1988) and A Sultan\u2019s Ransom<\/em> (1989), which were still strong, never quite matched the Gothic horror of said debut and sadly, in 1990, the band split.<\/p>\n

Like a lot of these bands, the reincarnation of Cloven Hoof contained only one original member, bassist Lee Payne, who led the band into the millennium like a proud and defiant warrior. Since then the recorded output of Cloven Hoof has been productive and Heathen Cross<\/em> is their seventh full-length outing since the reformation. Yes, line-up changes have occurred, in fact I\u2019ve lost count as to how many musicians have passed through the golden gates of Cloven Hoof, but as I write this review the current band members are vocalist Harry Conklin (Jag Panzer \/ Satan\u2019s Host \/ Titan Force \/ The Three Tremors), guitarists Luke Hatton and Chris Coss, drummer Ash Baker and keyboardist Chris Dando, alongside Payne.<\/p>\n

As with previous Cloven Hoof releases, Heathen Cross<\/em> is another solid experience, blessed with a striking slice of cover art courtesy of Alexander von Wieding to grab your attention. The album opens with a short intro entitled \u2018Benediction\u2019 before the mob launches into \u2018Redeemer\u2019. The track delivers a tasty gallop thanks to the spine of hard drums, but the most noticeable change here from the last outing, Time Assassin<\/em> (2022), is the vocals. Harry Conklin brings a Rob Halford style of gritty yet higher pitch, taking the sound into raucous power metal territory via the cold steel of Judas Priest\u2019s Painkiller<\/em> (1990).<\/p>\n

Conklin certainly brings vim to what is already a robust sound. \u2018Do What Thou Wilt\u2019 runs like a reinvigorated version of Black Sabbath<\/a>\u2019s classic \u2018Hole In The Sky\u2019, especially with the vocal melody, although the riff relies on a doomy gallop too. Even though decades apart, Heathen Cross<\/em> bristles with the same magic as that debut, but let\u2019s give credit here where it\u2019s due because Cloven Hoof has always stayed loyal to its roots with earthy dynamics and quintessentially British production.<\/p>\n

\u2018Last Man Standing\u2019 hits with a juggernaut riff and tasty lead which fizzes through the dense walls of smoke. The style of riff is almost contemporary in its groove and lyrically it\u2019s a surprise also as Conklin comes across like Sebastian Bach confronting former band \u201cmates\u201d as he scowls \u201cYou\u2019re playing with hell fire if you wanna take a piece of me, Say you\u2019re a live wire well I\u2019ll put you down easily. Ready to rumble?\u201d<\/em>. It\u2019s not the bands best moment lyrically, but they more than make up for it with the bewitching \u2018Sabbat Stones\u2019 (\u201cHearken closely, now the bell is chiming, Feel a chill for it rolls for thee\u201d<\/em>) and the emotive \u2018Curse Of The Gypsy\u2019 (\u201cFell in love with a handsome maiden, a country lass with flaxen hair, Our paths were crossed one golden summer at the Fayre\u201d<\/em>).<\/p>\n

Cloven Hoof has become underrated masters of marrying melody and weight, just listen to the bass heavy closer \u2018The Summoning\u2019 or the Iron Maiden-esque slip of \u2018Darkest Before The Dawn\u2019, and let\u2019s not forget the spring of \u2018Frost And Fire\u2019 too. The band has also maintained a devilish coating, even though the vapours of that debut opus exist only as some sort of supernatural residue.<\/p>\n

Heathen Cross<\/em> may have been issued at the height of Spring, but with each riff, each percussive thud, every bass line and vocal command I\u2019m still prompted to light a woodland fire and see in an autumnal dawn, such is the crackling esoteric nature of this compelling release.<\/p>\n

Neil Arnold<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

CLOVEN HOOFHeathen Cross High Roller (2024)Rating: 8\/10 My introduction to underrated New Wave Of British Heavy Metal act Cloven Hoof is somewhat hazy, but it was via the 1984 self-titled debut with its satanic cover art which, like a lot of UK bands from the time (Witchfinder General, Witchfynde, Holocaust, Satan, Demon etc.), boasted that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,5703],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-103323","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-album-ep-reviews","category-cloven-hoof"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103323","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103323"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103323\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":103328,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103323\/revisions\/103328"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103323"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103323"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103323"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}