A season of change, hibernation and inspiration fueled Cloak in creating 'Above, Below, & Through', the quartet’s first album for Metal Blade and their fourth overall. “'Above, Below, & Through' takes everything that was great about our last LP, 'Black Flame Eternal', and amplifies it completely, while still standing as an album of its own,” the band states. Cloak, based in Atlanta, Georgia since forming in 2013, made a conscious decision to give their new record a thematic and conceptual vibe, with lyrics and themes around liminality and duality ultimately spawning a fully realized opus.
Sonically, 'Above, Below, & Through', tracked between January and April 2026, is the band’s most lush and massive-sounding record to date. The drums are huge but not processed sounding, the bass rumbles, and the guitar tones are full of attack and focus. Listeners will notice a big difference between this production and Cloak’s previous records.
On 'Above, Below, & Through' founding members Scott Taysom (frontman/guitarist) and guitarist Max Brigham are now joined by drummer Matt Morris and Rafay Nabeel on bass. The single "Nigredo - Initium" was the first song Cloak worked on as a new lineup. The track opens the aural and lyrical door into the Above, Below, & Through world, marking the start of a new dark age.
Taysom’s lyrics are a direct result of the way the music sounds, and the inspiration the song gives off. That said, for the first time Taysom had titles, concepts, and lyrical ideas in mind before some of the songs were written. This methodology allowed the frontman to focus and execute a theme fully while writing the music.
As the songs on 'Above, Below, & Through' were created, themes began to emerge. “The main concepts of the songs were dealing with pathways between life and death, realms between dream and consciousness, shifts between beast and man, and the juxtaposition of shadow and light as spiritual guides,” explains Taysom. “The album title’s meaning became clear, as something both all-encompassing and complete, but also something liminal and transitional. This is represented in both the songs and the band itself at the time of writing the album.”
Recording with producer Alex Parra, and drum engineer John Douglass made 'Above, Below, & Through' the most seamless album to track, Cloak’s demos and preparation helping to solidify a recorded sound they’ve always aimed for but could never quite achieve.
The creation and release of 'Above, Below, & Through' finds Cloak more focused than they’ve ever been as a band. The schedules were strict and the dedication was at an all-time high during the writing period of the new album, and that focused enthusiasm and creativity serves the band in a live setting as well. “We feel this has opened up the world of Cloak in a broader way, both sonically and lyrically, so that the band’s vast expanse can reach even further depths.” Additionally, 'Above, Below, & Through' features what Cloak considers to be their magnum opus, the title track and closer for the album. “We feel this song captures the best parts of Cloak at the highest level of song writing and spiritual depth,” the band says. “In many ways it’s what we have always wanted to say as a band, all contained in one long and linear track.”
Cover art by Jordan Barlow ties everything together. “We specifically chose him because he’s not only well studied in the arts, but also in the workings of esotericism. The cover painting can have multiple meanings,” Taysom says. “There’s the depiction of a figure in a liminal dream state, floating between the shadow of death and the mother of birth and time,” but so much more for the viewer and listener to intuit.
Cloak doesn’t rely on any gimmickry imagery. “We strive to maintain a level of seriousness without masks, without the armor and paint, and without any pretense,” they say. “The concepts that 'Above, Below, & Through' contain are very real, and we represent them in a respectful and sacred way. We hope our dedication and careful construction of 'Above, Below, & Through' shines through.”
Limited 180g black vinyl pressing.
Tracklisting:
- Nigredo - Initium
- Of Shadow & Sleep
- Into Death’s Light
- Horrors Profound
- Levitation
- The Arcane Beckoning
- The Mare
- Above, Below, & Through
