– Clouds : Durere –

Album: “Durere”
Band: Clouds
Release Date: April 27th,  2020
Formats: CD/double LP/Digital

Clouds are a musical entity which affects me just like the clouds in the sky during a hot summer – they give me exactly the kind of coolness and serenity I need when I almost can’t breathe from the accumulated grief that I carry within  me almost every day, even if it’s tucked very well under the surface.
The summer four years ago I lost my father – he left while he was holding my hands.
This year, a few days ago, I said goodbye to my grandmother, to whom I owe much to what I am now.
She died from cancer  in the hospital , and I wasn’t able to do anything.
Four of my closest friends lost their life for reasons beyond my control again – tumor, overdoses, suicide.
This is the worst part of the equation – the inability to keep the people you love, to get used to the thought that they’re gone somehow and find the hope to think that somewhere out there (wherever that “there” is ), they are better than here.
Mortality  is something  I’ve seen and know (maybe) too well.
Therefore, while playing the album, I can truly relate to the meaning that lies behind it.
“Durere” is dedicated to the father of Daniel Neagoe – the founder, multi-instrumentalist and vocalist, standing proudly behind Clouds (also appearing in Aeonian Sorrow, Bereft of Light, Colosus, Genune,God Eat God, Obseqvies, Pantheist, Vaer, ex-Deos, ex-Eye of Solitude, ex-Fogland, ex-My Shadow,ex-Ennui, ex-Gothic, ex-Mistralth, ex-Shape of Despair, ex-Sidious, ex-Tableau Mort, ex-Unfathomable Ruination, ex-L.O.S.T. (live), ex-Tiarra and etc.) and talks a lot about coping with loss and going through all stages of grief  , caused by the loss  of our loved ones.
A personal and frank creation, created wholeheartedly, without unnecessary twists and filled with lots of love and attention to the details from all the Clouds’ members:
Daniel Neagoe – Vocals, All studio instruments
Indee Rehal-Sagoo – Guitars
Mihai Dinuta – Guitars
Alex Costin – Bass
Luca Breaz – Drums
Irina Movileanu – Violin (and additional female vocals)

The beginning of the album comes gently with the song “Cold Guiding Light”, which at the beginning acts as a fresh whiff, with an acoustic performance suddenly turning into a storm of emotions that is entirely Clouds-style and is part from the creativity we’ve witnessed since the band’s inception.
Daniel’s  crushing vocals go from clean to pure, harsh and striking with their depth and emotional charge, along with the overhanging instrumental enriched with Irina Movileanu’s violin, which emerges as a flying bird at dusk.
The  short  guitar solo after the sixth minute is also a very beautiful element that I would like to hear live as well.
“Empty Hearts” is a song about the loss of all hope, the sorrow and the desire to overcome it all even if it’s at a more distant moment in time.
“Rest my heart when it’s burning down
See the flames devouring
Maybe one day I’ll find my peace
Maybe once I will be free “
Aside from the song’s stunning vocals, there are a few flicks in the instrumental section that are definitely worth hearing. I also managed to capture a short passage with a folk motif several times in the background, which is a great surprise. Once again, Clouds show how diverse and full of small and distinctive elements the beautiful doom metal music can be.
“Images And Memories” takes you into the melancholy world of days gone by in a very soothing and powerful way. An ethereal and refined song, perfectly matched with the lyrics and the message it carries.
“Above The Sea” captivates with the first few played keyboard notes and the flowing ethereal female vocals, complementing the unearthly atmosphere.
There are also several more elements in this song that impressed me greatly.
The  music box alike piano sound is one of them. It may seem like a minor element, but combined with the subsequent crushing vocals of Daniel … it’s a brilliant idea.
Expression in this form is a wonderful symbiosis between lyrics, instrumental and vocals, and as a result you get a touching piece of art that just makes you stop thinking and  imagine pictures from beyond …
The next song, “The Sailor Waves Goodbye”, is a monument for the loss, the sorrow and the loneliness of experiencing this stage of darkening of our soul.
In addition to the beauty of the message and the landscape it revealed, I also found inhuman bass lines that add to the interesting gravity of Daniel’s voice.
There is no prelude in “A Father’s Death”. The song starts off with a crushing emotion, and although I’d heard it before… my hands trembled. I don’t know if I could ever hear the song without that actually happening.
This song is extremely powerful, personal and is slowly immersing you in the warm, gloomy embrace of true grief and the meaning behind it all.
“A father’s death will show his child
His mortality
[thus]
Take my hand. Leave.”
After the groundbreaking meeting with the previous song, “The End Of Hope” gradually returned to a more relaxed pace, waving  as a beautiful “Farewell” .
“This is the end of sorrow
A trip to no man’s land
Say farewell, raise your hands and fly away”
In the song I find brief motives reminiscent of the atmosphere of several of the other songs in the album -“Empty Hearts” and “Cold Guiding Light”, for example.
A final song that contains all the important elements of the album.

“Durere” is a monument of sorrow, of personal power and the search for one’s own truths, the search for the meaning of life after death, after loss…
Once again a sincere and very high quality work by Clouds, who in a very beautiful way, with collective synchronicity, transformed their own pain into pure beauty, lined with a gloomy atmosphere and somehow soothing weight.
Everyone who follows Clouds and  is familiar with their work – you will not be disappointed, this album will give food to your soul for a long time…
For those who haven’t heard of the band so far (I don’t know if  it’s possible at all) – if you’re a fan of Shape of Despair, Eye of Solitude, Saturnus or just need a beautiful and crushing performance with depth – give a chance to “Durere “… and the whole Clouds discography, get to know the artists well and you will never regret your decision.

Favorite song: “A Father’s Death”
Rating: I can’t give an assessment of something that made me feel this way. It is a priceless work  of art for me.

Short album teaser (you can see a new one every week until release day, follow the band):

PS:
Clouds will be visiting Sofia on November 14th and I intend to be in the crowd.
The meeting will be emotional and I recommend anyone who has ever felt the loss of a loved one or the loss of themselves … to attend.
Clouds’ sorrowful, atmospheric mourning and beautiful landscapes are perhaps just the purifying moment you need.

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