Cloak/Dagger
Pinata [7 inch] (2006)
Brian Shultz
Say what you will, but Cloak/Dagger remind me a lot of the Bronx. After all, they capitalize on two of the same influences -- Black Flag and serious, balls out garage rock'n'roll, two things that used to never go together, and now may as well be ketchup and fries.
The band's 4-song, 7-minute Pinata 7" is frantic, manic, and, while this is the laziest descriptive adjective ever, rocking. With former members of Count Me Out, American Nightmare, Barfight, Time Flies, Striking Distance, Trial by Fire and Renee Heartfelt, Cloak/Dagger actually manages to create something at least arguably different from each one of those acts. As familiar as this whole thing sounds, the songs tumble, roll and bounce all at once. It's probably not as aggressive as some would like, but it's certainly raw and forward moving. Similarities will probably also be drawn to Bars, and I for one am not going to disagree.
While there isn't much room for Pinata to outlive its stay, credit goes to the first two bluntly catchy tracks, "Daggers Daggers" and "Paranoid." Even as both hover around the 2-minute mark, they feel much more complete and thought out than the abrupt second half. Still, Pinata is promising all sorts of goodness for the band's Jade Tree debut, especially if the band plans on stretching out their creative muscle a bit.
STREAM
Paranoid