Year: 2020
Total Time: 58:28 
Label: Self-Financed

The calendar shows March 2nd, the not-so-heavy winter of this year is preparing to give way to spring and what accompanies it, when the British/Romanian representatives of the Doom/Death Metal idiom CLOUDS, release their fifth full-length work entitled “Durere” (in Romanian it means “pain”). From the title of their new album, those who have the slightest contact with the genre and the band, understand what they will encounter listening to it.

The album begins with “Cold Guiding Light” and the spring leaves away, giving space to a heavy and dark winter, like the music heard from the speakers. As in all their previous works, CLOUDS does not skimp on the atmosphere, the heavy vocals, but also the melody. The balance between those elements, works again as a trademark of the band which ,before you manage to recover from the cold of the first track, insists with “Empty Hearts”. From the very beginning of the album it expels any light may have remained around you. Needless to say, the rest of the album’s five tracks are on the same wavelength, until the final “The End Of Hope”, which honors its name, closing the album without leaving any hope, after almost 59 minutes of gloom and blackness that has flooded everything in its path.

Weighed and balanced, “Durere” musically seems to be following the footsteps of its predecessors, but with some differences that make it stand out. It looks more mature, more interior, mostly at the lyrical part. This interiority is so obvious that it is sometimes identified with the listener’s darkest and inner thoughts. This element, which ties in perfectly with the direction and the feeling of the band, makes this release so loud and lovely. Of course, no one will hear fast songs or melodies that can bring out any kind of “uplift”. The music leaves no room for that. These are wonderful melodic pieces, but the melodies are the ones that accompany our saddest and deepest thoughts.

A special release from CLOUDS that here seems to find a way to musically express the absolute mental void, loneliness and hidden pain. It will lead you to search paths, dark and inaccessible paths. But such is the beauty and gothic grandeur in the way they are presented, that you will want to do this journey over and over again. Until a sunbeam appears at the end.

Rating: 7/10
Editor: Fanouris Exintavelonis
Related Link: CLOUDS – Bandcamp Page