Cloak/Dagger: We Are

Cloak/Dagger’s We Are contains the most exhausting 22-minute stretch of music of 2007. What stretch is being referred to here? Why, the whole album, of course! Hardcore may come and go, but few come and go as quick as Cloak/Dagger do. They have a sound that’s stuck somewhere between the Blood Brothers and John Zorn’s Naked City, and — let’s face it — all the songs sound the same. Yet this would be a complaint if the music actually lingered. It doesn’t. “Bended Knee” opens with a relentless galloping bang and doesn’t slow down for a single second. The only time the group does slows down is for the hidden track at the very end, in which guitarist Colin Barth attempts to synthesize the history of Pixies guitar noodling down into two minutes. Then the drums kick, and the song fades out, like the group will be playing more hardcore madness forever. This isn’t essential listening, but if you’re in dire need of a hardcore fix, Cloak/Dagger does nothing but satisfy.