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From Helsingborg in the south of Sweden hails a new name to remember for everyone into melodic hard rock and progressive heavy metal. Cloudscape rose in the year 2001 from the ashes of Doctor Weird, a band that got to appear on the famous Sweden Rock festival in 2000. While I am not familiar with their music I will tell you everything you need to know about Cloudscape. The thing you will remember most after listening to their debut album is no doubt the incredible frontman Michael Andersson who is one of the best Swedish hard rock / metal singers right now. Right from the start he shows off his vast talents with the wonderful chorus of the opening track "As The Light Leads The Way". The band claims to have been influenced by the classic rock bands of the 70s, Rush, Yes, Deep Purple, Kansas etc., but there are of course also many more modern touches of progressive metal in the Dream Theater and Symphony X vein.
Speaking of Symphony X, the song "Witching Hour" is so similar in style that you could as well have guessed that it's actually one of their songs which can be both good and bad of course. Like I said the vocals are quite spectacular on this album but the music is not much to complain about either. The heavier riffs of the album remind me a lot of the latest, least typical, album from Dream Theater while the solos are a little bit more similar to the power metal style. At times they come to sound like a less dark version of Evergrey. The song writing is not stellar but good enough. The faster solos however do not add much to their music except for the listener realizing that the guy knows his guitar very well. He should stick to the slower, more emotional ones in my opinion and they should be integrated with the rest of the music as in the intro of "Out Of The Shadows."
There are no obvious hit songs on this disc but overall it is a very impressive and promising debut from a band that we should definitely not forget about. Fans of Rainbow, Symphony X and / or Time Requiem should appreciate this album because Cloudscape maintain a very high standard throughout the entire recording. A new star might be rising and hopefully it will shine even brighter in the future to come. Stronger song writing is needed for that to happen.
| Tracklist |
| 1. As The Light Leads The Way |
| 2. Under Fire |
| 3. Aqua 275 |
| 4. Witching Hour |
| 5. In These Walls |
| 6. Out Of The Shadows |
| 7. Everyday Is Up To You |
| 8. Dawn Fury |
| 9. Slave |
| 10. The Presence Of Spirits |
| 11. Scream |
| 12. Losing Faith |
: 58.20
| Buy other Cloudscape albums |
