Cloakroom's Moody 'Concrete Gallery' Is Stone-Cold Stoner-Rock

Hugh Glass fought a bear and won... barely. (Sorry.) The American frontiersman was the inspiration for The Revenant and all of my cinematically stunning bear mauling nightmares — a reminder that nature is unkind because humanity insists on conquering something inherently wild.

Hugh Glass' bigger-than-life story is also the inspiration for "Concrete Gallery," by Indiana stoner-rock trio Cloakroom. Sadly, the song's video doesn't contain any bears.

On its second album, Time Well, Cloakroom's burly, yet ruminating stoner-chugged shoegaze rolls on a dusty Americana path, like space-rockers Hum meditating on the stark, yet bold melodies of Jason Molina. "Frail worlds away covered in holes / Cleansed in flame / And if there is another way / I would choose the blade," Doyle Martin croons over a jangly guitar with a surprising amount of heft.

Martin (guitar), Brian Busch (drums) and Robert Markos (bass) know how to use the studio and a load of effects, but like True Widow or Russian Circles, are keen to write purpose-driven songs. That admirable approach doesn't preclude them from turning the crunchy riff from "Concrete Gallery" into a veritable earthquake.

Time Well comes out Aug. 18 via Relapse Records.

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