Year Of Metal #026: Cleric - Retrocausal

There were reasons to be fearful going into this one for me. Reviews of this 2018 record - including the positive ones - tend to serve as something of a warning that the material is challenging, and that coupled with the almost 90 minute runtime had me prepped for the worst. Those concerns were more or less dispelled seconds into opener “The Treme”, which is as much free jazz as it is metal. A precision downpicked, distorted riff is coupled with pounding, dramatic pianos and drums that sound orchestral. The track goes all around the houses for its near-10 minute duration and there are passages of pure roaring noise, but Cleric are always eager to throw in something a little more fun.

It’s the playfulness that makes Retrocausal a far more enjoyable listen than I expected. “Ifrit” is perhaps the highlight for its barmy guitars. It kicks off with a super silly little creeping pattern that sounds like something out of Tom & Jerry, calcifies into fat barre chords while everyone rocks out at once, then gets techy for a great passage that chucks in some keyboard-led sci-fi sounds.

On a technical level, this album’s pretty remarkable. The musicianship on “Resumption” is next level stuff, the rhythms playing off each other wildly, the structure sprawling but somehow all making sense. The lush, post-rock leaning section at the middle of the track is particularly engrossing, switching into an unrecognisable time signature (or more likely several time signatures) and somehow balancing a plethora of sounds. I like the aptly named “The Spiraling Abyss” too - the guitars twist around the track like vines, a sharp, clear topline that the drums and bass seem to thrash against. 

It’s such a bonkers album that a track like “Lowell” stands out all the more for being under five minutes long and relatively normal sounding. Aside from its stop-start structure, the riff is fairly recognisable doomy fare. They stomp along with that for a while, and then instead of branching off in a dozen new directions, the song just ends. It’s disconcerting stuff for its comparable simplicity. 

You wouldn’t put it on at a dinner party; I don’t really see myself inserting Retrocausal into my regular rotation. But there’s a lot to be said for what Cleric do here. It’s tough going stuff that feels worthwhile giving an ear to.