Cloudscape - Cloudscape
AOR Heaven

file under prog / sympho metal

Eddy: I am one happy guy; my CD-player is making extra hours. This disk I just received is playing over and over again, my head is banging, I am just enjoying myself. Yes people, I just received the debut album from Cloudscape, a band from Sweden. This piece of work is one good start of a heavy new year. What we have here is a fine band who takes their tasks to bring us the finest kind of progressive metal you can imagine very serious. The band was founded in 2001 out of the ashes of Doctor Weird who were locally well known in the southern parts of Sweden. Highlight in that band’s career was a performance on the 2000 edition of the Sweden Rock Festival. When they changed their name into Cloudscape hard labour was bringing them several demos and the search for a music-label had started. They found in RoastingHouse Productions a perfect partner in their search to a label. That label became Metal Heaven, the powerful brother of the AOR Heaven label from Georg Siegl. The result of this deal is this fine debut from these Swedish boys, a firstling who will get the progressive and heavy symphonic world upside down. Fans of bands like Evergrey, Vandenplas and Last Tribe will be served on their beck and call. With that in mind I can say safely that this band would be perfect to play live on the famous Dutch Progpower Festival so I suggested that to the bands promotional company.

The first song on this disk is ‘As The Light Leads The Way’ is powerful and driving introduction of the skills of composition of these heavy dudes. This song has a great intro, full of double-bass drums, keyboards and a fine guitar-solo. This song will gain interest of you, the listeners, from second one and promises to get a on an exciting roller coaster-ride making all the turns, dives and curls that you might expect from a ride like that. The sound of all the compositions is streaked with all the instrumental ingredients that you might expect from a band that is playing in this type of music. Highlights of this album are ‘Out Of The Shadows’, ‘Under Fire’ and above all things the bombastic ‘Everyday Is Up To You’. This is one of those disks that make you enjoy your job as an editor.

Score: 91/100 (details)

http://www.cloudscape.just.nu