The final entry in our 4 re-releases series of the reviews for the British-Romanian atmospheric/funeral doomsters courtesy of Personal Records, among "Dor" (2018) "Doliu" (2014) and "Departe" (2016) is "Destin" (2017), but not the immediate EP containing the elaborate dirge "Errata" plus the debut album’s opener and closer, but the 7 track re-release by Vinyl Records which Personal Records re-released again this past July. Although the record is classified as an EP, even without the two aforementioned "Doliu" re-recordings, "You Went So Silent" and "Even If I Fall" (here in acoustic versions), the 5 fresh (at the time) tracks comprise such considerable length that it could have been fine as another full-length.

Clouds’ second full-length, the excellent "Departe" was the last album with guitarist Jarno Salomaa, whereby "Destin" and "Dor" where recorded just by the duo Daniel Neagoe (vocals, drums) and Olmo "Déhà" Lipani (guitars, bass) but not only does that not take away from the material but the 5 tracks are actually better and more mature than those on the preceding albums. As was already signaled on "Departe", Clouds went decidedly more gothic in their approach and thereby more accessible but also, for the first time there are genuine PACE CHANGES amidst the morose funeral doom riffing (Fields Of Nothingness, In This Empty Room) while the female (courtesy of Mourning Sun’s Ana Carolina) and male cleans are braver, more abundant and sometimes even compliment the growls (Fields Of Nothingness). The acoustic tracks are ok for what they are but they are easily skippable to enjoy the closing behemoth "Errata", nearly 12 minutes of crushing melodic funeral as if to compensate for the variety of the predecessors. The favorite has to be "In This Empty Room" with its fantastic deeply emotional gothic chorus both Within Temptation and Lacuna Coil would envy (courtesy of the emphatic performance by Aeonian Sorrow’s female singer Gogo Melone), the first serious "hit" by Clouds. At the same time, the Shores Of Null meets Swallow The Sun (the last reference by reason of guest vocalist Mikko Kotamäki) "Fields Of Nothingness" also enchants with its unusual melodic pick up, while the opener "The Wind Carried Your Soul" is, to paraphrase Patrick Bateman in "American Psycho", a curious "little" dish between Paradise Lost’s "Enchantment" and Swallow The Sun’s "Doomed To Walk The Earth".

Out of 4 Personal Records’ re-releases "Destin" is the best, the most mature, the heaviest and the most accessible, worthy of highest accolades, with the level of musicianship and balance not found before or after, and that could be the possible reason why Clouds called it an EP rather than the 3rd album, that it was just too good to be just another album, which is a shame since, to these ears, it is this recording which puts them on one shelf with the Peaceville brotherhood of doom, Swallow The Sun or Red Moon Architect. The reasons why I rate it JUST 5.5/6 are the awkward inclusion of the two back to back acoustics smack in the middle thus seriously killing the momentum and the fact that "Nothing But A Name" and "Errata" aren’t quite as, shall we say, revolutionary as the aforementioned standouts.

"Destin" cocludes our adventure with Clouds but Personal Records is pondering on releasing more as we speak and I, for one, cannot wait, because, although I gave different scores to the four releases they are all worthy of that ficle attention of yours, my fine fearhered funeral doomster.

https://cloudsofficial.bandcamp.com/album/destin