Wednesday 3 June 2015

Clouds Taste Satanic - “To Sleep Beyond The Earth” (Album Review)


Album Type: Full-Length
Date Released: 14/5/2014
Label: Self-Released


“To Sleep Beyond The Earth” CD//DD//LP track listing:

1). To Sleep Beyond The Earth (Parts I & II) (22:39)
2). To Sleep Beyond The Earth (Parts III & IV) (22:11)

Review:

Clouds Taste Satanic's opus “To Sleep Beyond The Earth” is singular in vision and monolithic in intensity. The opening section of the first track bleeds power and infernal majesty with huge ringing chords oscillating into the distance interspersed with verbed out tremolo picking. You can tell right off the bat this was recorded at eardrum-bursting volume and echoes of Sunn O))) weigh heavy in the background. Moving into some nice melodic sections, Clouds Taste Satanic use a sprinkling of what sounds like a very subtle background effects at times a la Ufomammut. The occasional ringing gong at the beginning and ending sections are really fun to and do a great job at setting the atmosphere.

Parts III & IV quickly move into an ascending stompy riff. At just before the five minute mark Clouds Taste Satanic settle into a nice groove then quickly break it up and move back into a stompy section. This track has more interesting song writing as the rhythmic changes are substantial and pummelling. These sections at the beginning of the second track are of a higher tempo then the lumbering opener. The middle bridge section echoes the huge intro with huge ringing chords. Interesting they move into a section around the fifteen minute mark that reminds me a lot of the band Tempel from their fantastic album “On the Steps Of The Temple” but slowed down and drugged out a bit.

I love the tones and production on this one, everything is raw and huge. The guitar tones in particular are well into doom buzzsaw territory and the drums are pounding. I would also be inclined to say I like Parts I & II a bit better as the beginning of Part I is incredibly epic, literally a perfect opener. Weirdly I'm seeing a release date of May 2014 for this, which is highly unusual to get something that's been out so long that hasn't been reviewed. Not sure what's up with that, weird considering how good the album is, check it out below. In addition, I note on their facebook page they are planning on releasing something in the fall of this year, mentioned tentatively as Oct. 1st. as well.

Words by: Chris Tedor

Available Below: