Cloudscape – New Era (2012)

Returning with a revamped line-up today we have Sweden’s Cloudscape and their fourth full-length release “New Era”. Filled with excellent guitar work and very catchy songs, this release delivers 60+ minutes of solid Progressive Power Metal that not go unnoticed by fans of the genre. The new line-up with Håkan Nyander, Fredrik Joakimsson, and Stefan Rosqvist breathes new life to band allowing core members Patrik Svärd and Michael Andersson to create a very refreshing and exciting release.

The powerful riffing on “Silver Ending” makes this track the perfect opener for a release that combines solid riffing with traditional Progressive keyboards in a very melodic fashion. Andersson’s vocals are as powerful as ever and sound a bit like Christian Älvestam, from Scar Symmetry fame. Constantly recurring to majestic solos laid on top fine-ass drumming, “Share Your Energy”, “Pull The Brake”, and “Kingdom of Sand” make for excellent momentum building tracks that flow perfectly in the overall direction of the album.

“Your Desire” is one of our favorite tracks in this release because it combines great Progressive elements with the crushing Power Metal vocal arrangements that we love from bands like Statovarius. As the album shifts back and forth between exquisite Progressive sections and full-on Power Metal singing, we particularly love songs like “Voyager 9” when it all comes together in perfectly timed changes that deeply explore the inner workings of the band’s excellent and melodic sound.

With so many excellent songs in this release it is very hard to pick an overall favorite, but we have to go with the Power Metal epic “Violet Eve”. This is the song that speaks to us the most with soaring vocals, excellent rhythmical sections and an excellent melodic chorus section. The hard-rocking “Into The Unknown” comes in a close second place due to its very powerful old-school sounding riffs and very determined vocals.

If you only have money for one release this September, we would totally recommend you to get “New Era” since you will get a release with no filler songs and will surely appreciate every single track. Cloudscape has opened their ‘new era’ in a very powerful fashion and we can only hope they keep up the good work in upcoming releases.

Release: September 11th, 2012

Genre: Progressive/Power Metal

Country: Sweden