Cløudy Skies – Changes
Release Date: 20th January 2023
Label: Argonauta Records
Bandcamp
Genre: Dreamgaze Atmospheric Post-Metal.
FFO: Deafheaven, Solstafir, Caspian, Cult of Luna, Katatonia.
Review By: Andy Spoon
French Dreamgaze Atmospheric post-black outfit, Cløudy Skies, are set to release their most recent LP, Changes on January 20th, 2023 on Argonauta Records. Changes is a great and apt name for the album, as it just can’t seem to find one distinct path through the din, at least musically. There is an extreme heaviness to everything, buried under a mountain of hall reverb. Changes features whispery, breathy vocals that have a very “gothy” tone that sounds borrowed from other artists, almost to a fault. However, to state that Changes has any one dimension that carries across the whole album is untrue. Cløudy Skies 2023 LP, Changes, has managed to be a confusing offering that is as generally interesting to listen to as it is odd, as if reaching for something unattainable.
Imagine if someone mixed Marilyn Manson, Type O Negative, Deftones, and Gaerea. It’s an album that constantly battles between slow, fast, and boomy at all points. Don’t count on getting a particularly long, restful interlude to settle into. The music tends to wander, meandering between moody, droning, and refraining back into the murky blackness of much darker music. There are moments on the album where I just ended up saying “aand there’s the Manson part” only to make the same assertion moments later, a la Deftones. That is not to state that one part was bad, per se, but only to recognize that there are half a dozen identities on the album, some eccentric, some traditional.
Dreamgaze, a term that is used by the band, is definitely apt for describing the genre. It employs layers of effects to create “atmosphere”, something that a lot of musicians use as a “catch all” term for chorus, flanger, and reverb effects. I think that some believe it makes someone feel alone, or small, given the physical symptoms of being in a large room with heavy sound reverberation. The atmosphere seems to be an effect, not a thematic element. As a result, I am very skeptical about the term and its usage. In the case of Cloudy Skies, I think that it seems to be the former.
That being said, the chord progressions are what stuck out to me more than anything else. There are numerous tracks where the droning, huge wall of sound takes on the “Deftones” elements, something that I enjoy. It contributes to the “atmosphere” in the preferred way, as it lends itself to a thematic “atmosphere”, not just a button one could push in the studio. I found it hard to follow the musical structure, something that is good for this type of album. There is a deviation from the standard western circle of fifths that I found to be very disorienting. If I were to try and guess where the tracks were going to move at almost any point, there would be genuine difficulty in trying to get to it.
While it’s a great novelty for mainstream metal listeners, I think that there are parts of the album which become repetitive or stylized, but not in a way that engages with me. I really wanted to get into the vocals, but they are so full of a “gothgaze” vocal fry that reminds me of something between Type O Negative, Marilyn Manson, and maybe even Rammstein. In essence, there is a dramatic, almost operatic vocal delivery that somehow makes me uncomfortable in the music. It’s distinctive, which is a big plus, but it’s certainly not something that got my blood pumping. The harsh vocals delivered, however. Overall, Changes is a perfect name for this album. It seems to manage a 5-layer chaos cake that purports to give listeners a strange sojourn into an atmospheric world, but often distracts the listener, almost as if multiple bands are trying to play at once. It can sometimes feel like there is a war going on between elements of a track, neither of them entirely congruent with the other. I find it to be average, in general, not having anything to wow me, but definitely not amateurish or lacking in talent. I think that Cløudy Skies has yet to find a voice that defines them yet. Then again, that might be their entire identity.
(2.5 / 5)
