Article By: Pat ‘Riot’ Whitaker ‡ Edited By: Leanne Ridgeway
On May 5th, Transcending Obscurity Records will unleash one of the most frighteningly disturbing albums to assuredly surface in 2017. On that day, the fifth studio effort from Chicago’s Drug Honkey, ‘Cloak Of Skies‘, will be untethered and set loose upon the public.
This is the sound of apocalyptic chaos, the truest sonic equivalency of dire desperation and stark hopelessness. Hellish and crushing right from the start, introductory cut “Pool Of Failure” is a plodding dirge of obtusely blunt pummeling. The bleak despair channeled through the song’s content is both soul-shuddering and enthralling simultaneously.
Things will neither improve nor get better for your life if this music has anything to say about it. Other cuts “Sickening Wasteoid” and “Outlet Of Hatred” further explore the dubbed damnation of a looped purgatory. Droning annihilation emanates from within as the numbed sedation they provide offers little real comfort.
The atmospherics of relentless songs such as the entrancing “(It’s Not) The Way” or the pulverizing “The Oblivion Of An Opiate Nod” will scar you for life. Tormenting and psychotic, each new track takes you even deeper into the hellish plane this album unveils. Featuring guest appearances from saxophonist Bruce Lamont (Yakuza, Corrections House) and Justin Broadrick (Godflesh, Jesu), the latter on a remix of “Pool Of Failure“, are strokes of genius.
This is an album intent on aural punishment, its downtrodden and demented assault is harmful, at best. Once you stake your claim to it there is no turning back, it is all or nothing. You can look at it like there are life and music before Drug Honkey and then there are death and damnation after hearing Drug Honkey‘s ‘Cloak Of Skies‘.
Drug Honkey is:
Honkey Head (Paul Gillis) – Synths/Vocals/Samples/Programming
BH Honkey (Adam Smith) – Drums
Hobbs (Gabe Grosso) – Guitar
Brown Honkey (Ian Brown) – Bass
Tracklist:
01. Pool Of Failure
02. Sickening Wasteoid
03. Outlet Of Hatred
04. (It’s Not) The Way
05. The Oblivion Of An Opiate Nod (featuring Bruce Lamont)
06. Cloak Of Skies
07. Pool Of Failure (Justin K. Broadrick remix)