Review: Clouds Taste Satanic ’79 A.E.’
There are not been many bands over the last few years who have excited me as much as Clouds Taste Satanic have, so much so that I even enjoyed their last EP, All I Want For Christmas, and I’m a notoriously grumpy git when the ‘C’ bomb gets mentioned!!!!
Nonetheless, hot on the heels of their unbelievably impressive Tales Of Demonic Possession which I placed second in my Top Ten of 2023, the much revered doom quartet who formed in Brooklyn in 2013 are releasing their next instalment called 79 A.E. through Majestic Mountain Records.
Last year’s critically acclaimed release will have turned a whole new audience of people onto Clouds Taste Satanic, and they have moved swiftly to build upon this success with another outstanding release. The thing I love most about this band is that they take their listeners on countless voyages through the psychedelically charged realms of metal. They have the minimalist and heavy approach of Sleep and Earth while fusing it with the instrumental fervour of Pelican and Bongripper, and I can’t stop playing their awesome music.
This new album is around forty-three minutes long, but has only two songs, Collision and Reclamation because it serves as a soundtrack to an unmade post-apocalyptic film, called 79 A.E. The deviant riff wizardry pouring out of the speakers represents a tale of doom following the Days of Extinction, where the remnants of humanity fight to survive amidst the devastating aftereffects of an asteroid strike, and all the way through the music, I can picture those images in my mind.
Guitarist Steve Scavuzzo says, ‘after the density and scope of our last record, we wanted to make an album that felt more open and spatial, still heavy, but with plenty of room to breathe’, and that’s exactly what they have managed to achieve. There isn’t a single moment on the entire record that doesn’t puncture your heart or grab at your soul. I was fully immersed each time I listened to it, the bass playing from Sean Bay is just exquisite throughout and the quartet seem to have pushed their imagination further than ever before, and being an instrumental band, it makes the mind focus even more on their incredible output.
The music flows seamlessly and doesn’t allow you any time to get bored as you don’t know what to expect next, halfway through Reclamation is a great example of this. It’s almost like unwrapping a new flavour of chocolate bar, you don’t know what you’re going to get as there are so many textured layers spiralling across the two epic sagas. With drummer Greg Acampora being the lynchpin, it allows guitarists Scavuzzo and Brian Bauhs to express themselves and let loose with some intricate and sumptuous riffs and melodies.
They are a band who are on top form at the moment and deserve greater recognition as their music is jaw droppingly good and are top of my hit list to try and see live this year. Just sit back, listen and enjoy the magnificence that is Clouds Taste Satanic.
Label: Majestic Mountain Records
Band Links: Facebook | Bandcamp | Spotify | Twitter | Instagram
Scribed by: Matthew Williams
