ALBUM REVIEW: Cloudburst – Cloudburst
Indonesian hardcore four piece CLOUDBURST kick off 2019 with their self-titled second album. Having been around the Indonesian scene since 2011, the band have performed critically with their previous album Crying Of Broken Beauty. This time around, boasting more menacing and brutal tracks with a bone crushing intensity, will this sophomore record convey the real intent of CLOUDBURST?
Strange Acrobat brings in a rhythmically technical nightmare-scape that jars and delights in equal measure. Vocally diverse, throat ripping barks, guttural, jabbing breakdowns and spoken word all amount to a dissonant sound over the mass of sound in the instruments. Things suddenly become a lot more tempered, as a quaking guitar rings out, a single scream and a consistent beat bring you to what you might believe to be a resolve. In this, you would be mistaken; it is merely a peak before the decent back into the madness.
The ridiculous and complex movements continue with Crimson Mask, as continual drum fills roll over groaning vocals once more. The guitars have more tonality here, a constant riff becomes a point of note, like finding the same tree as you move in circles through dense forest, as the night things close in on you. If you’re looking for a touch of madness, this as visceral as music can get. You’ll feel a sickness, the skin on your arms alive with electricity before the brilliant final third of the track rips open with impressive solo work. By this songs end, you realise that CLOUDBURST are a real force of energy.
In the same vein, Tornado brings dread and frantic terror into the hearts of the listener. This is the kind of rank, dirty breakdown only the hardest of hardcore fans can manage. The band have noted their influence from bands like PIG DESTROYER, CONVERGE and SLAYER, from the vocals to the more melodic moments and truly, you can hear all these inspirations as primitive foundations for this song.
Interestingly, Eternal Gunfight begins with almost no vocals from A. Okta, but rather a recording pondering on the difficulties of living, and the ease of death comparatively. The jarring gurgle he conjures over jarring guitars is well placed against the sound clips, all the while a looping groove simmers underneath. It’s easy to lose yourself to the political power and the audible movements of this song, so unsettling and frankly abrasive.
Oral Staircase knocks you into a completely new plane of existence with an echoing acoustic moment that feels like a completely different band. Stripped back, the traditional, folk-style arrangement is haunting and beautiful, albeit a real strange moment in the chaos of this record. Drums paddle and symbols crash as we gear up for Personal Golgotha. Dramatic bends punish the guitar as the hellish story unveils in one of the more unsettling tones vocally produced on this album. There have been moments that some will find too much, either too rhythmically disordered, but this is pure Thrash guitars and Hardcore heart. A tormented chorus of fevered voices call out, the guitars wail and the drums carry on like there’s no tomorrow.
With Human Origami, CLOUDBUST take a more annealed approach to the darkness they want to convey. Things are allowed to breathe, as the twisted lyrics brood out over lingering, discordant chords and simple beats. All this before the usual torrent of mad, all over the kit drumming and down right offensive playing beats you over the head.
Our climax is two-fold in the duo of First Cry and Final Cry. The prior moves like a demon hellbent on taking down as many souls as is possible, in any way possible. The screams are harder, the playing even more manic than before, it appears any finesse that came earlier has been thrown to the wind. There are some nice new movements that could do with more exploration, but the band prefer to express their more obvious shredding skills and downward spiralling notes to announce the despair.
The latter, Final Cry is a continuation of the previous track, seamlessly bridging into the next, with only a simple vocal style change up to distinguish a variation. It seems a strange choice to split this into two parts, as it works only as part of a whole. There’s little that changes much at all, with the slower breakdowns being only momentary. In fact, there’s so much going on in this last portion, it’s hard to comment on anything of interest. The usual growling build up to screams, slightly obvious guitar arrangements and drums that seem a little too insistent on being heard hitting every skin rather than creating something meaningful, it’s a shame that the attempt to show everything they’ve got, CLOUDBURST lose any originality and fall into cliché.
If you’re looking for an all guns blazing, riotous embodiment of chaos, then pick up CLOUDBURST. For their second full-length effort, the band have shown with their demonic energy that they have the teeth and the claws to make an impact. Capable performers all round, the impact on this record is somewhat short lived, with all notions of inventiveness quelled under the incessant need to be playing at 1000% at all times. It’s a promising start, but won’t stay with seasoned listeners for long.
Rating: 6/10
CLOUDBURST is out now via Samstrong Records.
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