Taking a few leafs of how to rock from the mighty discography of Motörhead and AC/DC, mixing it in with some good old goth rock a lá Type O Negative and adding that decisive flavour of The Black Capes makes All These Monsters. A delicious slice of Goth to come, which may very well be an innuendo, and you know what they say: big feet, major meat.
Okay, nobody actually says that, but The Black Capes are certainly donning their New Rocks to create tunes that will get you Frankie-dancing on just about any surface that will hold the weight of their influences. Did you ever wonder what would happen if Fields of the Nephilim and The Sisters of Mercy combined to create a darkly malevolent super group who traverse the shadows and shun the light. Obviously they’d need some black capes to do that, just like Batfink.
The Black Capes are that super group. With their first album All These Monsters they make a concise incision into the heart of Goth rock and successfully perform a bypass from all the shallow pop-rock acts that get branded as Goth. Seriously outshining all the post-hardcore fashionistas with sum and substance (if you seen what I did there then you can get twenty-three goth points.) These Athenians have embroiled themselves in the best of classic Goth and updated it, or reactivated it, to once again blossom the dark with glittering riffs oscillating through time and space.
With a timeless sound All These Monsters is an album that has a girth, gristle and bite. The Black Capes are resonate with good ideas and execute them with respect to the past and their fledgling album is a solid riff-vader that flows sweeter than fresh nectar.
7/10
