Last year was a true flagship year for the entire world of death/doom in my eyes. We got loads upon loads of truly exceptional pieces from staggering bands both new and old to the scene that graced us with works that continue to stun me every time I listen to them. Yet, one slipped past me that I highly regret: Clouds. They graced us in 2019 with “Dor II”, which I missed, and I wanted to be damn sure that I wouldn’t miss their next offering. To say the least, “Durere” is definitely not one to be missed.

There’s something about Clouds that really knows to embrace the most emotional aspects of death/doom the likes of which only bands like Officium Triste and Illimitible Dolor have been able to do as well, and that’s far from different with “Durere”. Much like its predecessors, this album truly knows how to cut into the very soul of the listener without a shred of mercy for the task nor does any track throughout this work leave any room for hope or happiness in your mind but only the longing for the forever sleep. That’s not to say Clouds makes me feel amazingly depressed every time I listen to them, but they are true masters at taking the emotions of mourning, loss, and depression and making them sharp weapons to pierce everything about yourself in such a way that could topple even the sturdiest of people. They take such deadliness and incorporate them into every single track that’s confined within “Durere” to where even a single introductory note of a piano contains volumes of pain and suffering where the next can hold release and liberation while the surrounding strings and drums hammer in each gruesome heartache after another into the darkest corners of your mind while the always immaculate vocals keep bringing them back to surface so all of your self-hatred and doubt rise back up like the tide; an experience that’s all too real for many but somehow amazingly attractive in its presentation. “Durere” only further cements Clouds’s credibility as one of the most potent and talented acts of their kind in today’s current climate of the style and it’s from one harrowing track to the next that they only continue to impress.

Perfecting the macabre art of emotional death/doom is far from an easy task that no rag-tag band can slap together in a month or so as only the most talented of the style can make something that’s really worth its own salt in just about every capacity, and it should be no contest to put Clouds at the very top when it comes to something like that. Every single inch of “Durere” peels away at the very spirit of the listener and it’s by the end of it all that the miserable heap that we find ourselves being finds only one way to continue going on: spinning the album yet again.

“Durere” releases on April 27th!

LISTEN to Clouds on Bandcamp here.

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