The Americans Drug Honkey have been around for over fifteen years, during which they have released five full lengths, the last of which is this Cloak Of Skies, but absurdly they are better known for having counted among their ranks a heavy name in the American underground as that of Blake Judd. This shows how often we stop at appearances or simple names without trying to go beyond, an operation instead of fundamental importance to try to penetrate the thick blanket of mud that our continue to periodically pour on the audience. Five years after Ghost In The Fire, Paul Gillis’ band comes back with a work dedicated to psychedelic and dissonant experimentation, inserted on a death doom scaffolding that, thanks to the always excellent cover by Paolo Girardi, is a wide open portal on a parallel world not at all reassuring or welcoming. Cloak Of Skies can be roughly divided into two parts, with the first half offering tracks that are absolutely devastating but not entirely devoid of glimmers of accessibility (especially in the finals of the excellent Pool Of Failure and Outlet Of Hatred) and the second one that sees the sound folding completely or almost on itself, to flow into the delirium of a title track also crossed by the sax of guest Bruce Lamont of Yazuka. There is little to describe and a lot to listen to, as long as you keep your eyes and especially your ears wide open, although probably in many cases this will not be enough, since the rate of incommunicability transmitted by Drug Honkey with this work goes well beyond the guard level, despite the decision to close with the remix of the opener Pool Of Failure entrusted to Justin Broadrick, able to apply its geometry to the din of the original version, goes to be a further element that can attract attention. A disc certainly interesting but definitely difficult, made by musicians who, basically, are interested in representing the reality that lurks beneath the tricks and make-up, succeeding quite well.

2017 – Transcending Obscurity Records 2018 – Ascension Monuments Media