Cloven Hoof - Cloven Hoof (1984)

Coming through the scene that was the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, Wolverhampton’s Cloven Hoof had largely missed the boat by the time of their 1984 self-titled debut album. While most other bands were back-combing their hair and pouring themselves into spandex, Cloven Hoof were serving-up a menu of powerful old school heavy metal with a lyrical content based in the sword and sorcery of previous bands with a more sinister overtone that early pioneers of black metal, such as Venom, would soon seize upon and take to the next level and beyond: it’s not too much of a leap of imagination to move from Cloven Hoof’s band member stage names of the four elements to Mantas, Cronos and Abaddon adopted by Venom either!

The album opens with the title track which is a basic mid-tempo metal track with somewhat shouted vocals and simplistic riff although later on there is some nice guitar work. Lyrically the track is very much in the ‘heretic’, ‘evil’ end of the genre which is ok but a little one-dimensional, albeit amusing to look back on!

Nightstalker is more of the same with a pounding riff and drum track that buzzes along well and you start to wonder if replacing Biff Byford in Saxon with Cronos from Venom (with a few vocal lessons) would produce Cloven Hoof . . . well, at least I do! Now, I don’t want to appear to knock Cloven Hoof as I’d much rather listen to them than the average pop pap we hear everyday elsewhere and I appreciate that they were a product of their time and were to a point influential, albeit of a direction in metal that I didn’t particularly enjoy, but the whole thing seems a little contrived. However, back to Nightstalker – there is an interesting shift in time signature and riff mid-way through that is totally unexpected and gives an inkling that the band are capable of more than the endless chugging guitar work heard thus far.

March of the Damned opens with a slow bass line and very distant drum thumping accompanied by a twin harmony guitar melody . . . yes melody! Actually, this 2 minute instrumental is quite good – whilst not showing any great flashes of musical dexterity the overall composition and execution is good.

The Gates of Gehenna is up next and is almost Maiden-esque, well very Maiden-esque – that is the Di’Anno era of Maiden I’m referring to here though not the more polished Dickinson variety. This is a more up-tempo track with some wailing vocals and things are looking up, the track features a triplet beat and multiple segments which keep it interesting and again there’s some good twin harmony guitar melodies dropped-in here and there. Mid-way through the track things really get motoring and if you ignore the ‘Lucifer’ references and lyrical content which is banal, this is quite good stuff. The guitar solo is good too with a bit of a shred going on and demonstrating Steve Rounds’ talents to good effect . . . or should that be Fire’s? In all seriousness, if The Gates of Gehenna had been the opening track I’d have been quite excited awaiting the rest of the album, as it is it feels like an oasis in a desert of run of the mill doom-laden metal.

Crack the Whip opens with a pounding chord-based riff and things are shifting AC/DC style, apart from the vocals which are snarled and screamed true metal style and rather let the whole thing down. Interestingly, ‘Water’ left the band after the release of this album which can be seen as a boon to Cloven Hoof to be honest. This could have been a really strong track had it not been for the vocals.

Laying Down the Law starts with a promising riff and some 16th notes on the hi-hat but again the track falls down on the vocals . . . give the Hoof Paul Di’Anno or Rob Halford and you’d have a decent track here. This track even has a hook on the chorus and a great guitar solo and a driving tempo and is one of the more ‘commercial’ of the tracks on this album but still retaining all the power of the band which is a plus.

Return of the Passover is a 9 minute epic opening with some frantic guitar picking on a heavily echoed guitar followed by a heavily echoed bassline over which Fire hits some big metal chords: this could go either way. Fortunately, the drums kick-in and we’re off on a mid-tempo riff again of a triplet format that carries things along well. There’s a tad too much ‘vengeance’, ‘damnation’ and ’soul stealing’ lyrically for my tastes but once again Steve Rounds shines through with some strong guitar work. A half-time mid section provides the backdrop for Rounds to solo before the track descends into doom territory with a chugging rhythm guitar interspersed with a dual harmony guitar melody before returning to the main riff of the track. The track ends with an extended guitar solo and some syncopations of drums, bass and guitar before a crashing chord finale and the album is done!

What to say in summation of Cloven Hoof? This is not a bad album per se and has some very strong moments, largely when vocalist David Potter shuts up! Steve Rounds really shines through on every track and for a band somewhat stranded in the wasteland between the NWOBHM and Hair Metal eras, as were many others, Cloven Hoof stuck to their guns and provided a set of powerful heavy metal tracks with no frills that does have its merits. They are cited as influential now and again and certainly I feel paved the way for the more ‘Satanic’ musings of the black metal bands that were to follow shortly after this album and are worth a listen for that and pure, no-nonsense guitar riffing.

• David ‘Water’ Potter – Vocals
• Steve ‘Fire’ Rounds – Guitar
• Lee ‘Air’ Payne – Bass
• Kevin ‘Earth’ Poutney – Drums