When it comes to doom/death it’s a secret of Polichinelle that Peaceville, and I don’t just mean the Peaceville Tree (Anathema, My Dying Bride, Paradise Lost) but any which have ever been on that legendary label, including Katatonia and Opeth, are the cream of the crop. Few bands have been able to, while influenced by their stylings, dig out their own niche but Novembers Doom, Officium Triste, Sceptiscism, Evoken and Daylight Dies are certainly among those who did. The British-Romanian atmospheric ensemble, at the time of this, their debut album, consisting of Daniel Neagoe (vocals, drums), Jarno Salomaa (guitars), Olmo "Déhà" Lipani (guitars, bass) and Kostas Panagiotou (keyboards) and featuring Officium Triste’s vocalist Pim Blankenstein on track 4, showed tremendous potential. "Doliu" had been released in 2014 but Personal Records has re-released the album this year as part of the line of some parts of Clouds’ discography. This is, therefore, the first of several Cloud reviews.

What can be summarized about "Doliu" is that Clouds was still struggling with balance as incredibly huge heavy doom riffs bordering on slow death supported by guttural growls as if from Neagoe’s very stomach, are awkwardly juxtaposed against his cleans with acoustic piano and keyboard passages as already evident on the opener "You Went So Silent" with its whopping over 8 minutes where the length is hardly justified by climate building. Things are initially more interesting on the following Anathemanian "If These Walls Could Speak" which also brings Sceptiscism to mind but that’s just because it’s shorter. On the other hand, "Heaven Was Blind to My Grief" starts up very heavy rightaway but then, again, post-"Judgment" Anathema rears its pretty progressive rock head. Rinse, repeat ad nauseam on pretty much every track. The formula becomes downright tiring on "The Deep Vast Emptiness", so static for 4 minutes I got an impression as if I were listening to a heavier The Grateful Dead or The Doors track. The following "Even If I Fall", on the other hand, with its Katatonia meets Daylight Dies melodiscism, is easily the best track on the album.

"Doliu" was just the beginning of Clouds’ journey and as such should be judged neither too harshly nor too hopefully but, as I asserted before and hopefully proved the potential for greatness was there. As I am skipping both "Departe" and "Destin" which will be re-issued later this year, stay tuned for "Dor’ coming up next.

https://cloudsofficial.bandcamp.com/