Artist: Cloudscape Album: Crimson Skies Label: Nightmare Records Website: http://www.cloudscape.se Reviewer: Paulo André

Track List: 01. Shapeshifter 02. Shadowland 03. And Then The Rain... 04. Take The Blame 05. The Last Breath 06. Psychic Imbalance 07. Hope 08. Breach In My Sanity 09. Demon Tears 10. 1000 Souls 11. Someone Else 12. Will We Remain 13. You Belong (Bonus Track USA Only) Remember when being prog was not cool? News at eleven, it's cool again. It seems nowadays three out of four metal bands enjoy the prog tag being attached to them even if their music is not progressive at all. Well, it's not exactly Cloudscape's case, to be honest, but hell. I needed to vent. I guess all these AOR/Melodic/Power/Hard Rock/ Metal (take your pick) records that have fallen in my lap recently are taking their toll. Cloudscape are yet another band hailing from the cold North, Sweden in this case, and as far as I'm concerned, that is a good sign. My favorite records on 2006 and 2007 so far come from Sweden. "Crimson Skies", Cloudscape's sophomore effort, will please melodic metal fans. If you fall into this category, do not read any more of this review. Run to get this album, you won't regret it. Now that I've probably lost a couple of thousand readers, let me tell you that Cloudscape do have an interesting progressive angle to their music but unfortunately for us prog heads, that's well dilluted in a sea of melody - very cheesy at that in places - and a formulaic approach to the songwriting. I also felt deceived, virtually every track starts with some kind of totally awesome keyboard part (case in point, second track "Shadowland" with its big middle eastern vibe), but then invariably slides quickly into melodic metal territory. I'm being too grim about it. The rhythm, the riffing, the churning guitars in the verses really make up for it. Cloudscape are a very tight sounding band, with a really strong rhythmic backbone, fantastic interplay between the guitars and a singer that sounds confident and secure, albeit lacking dynamics as his delivery is pretty much all the way in the same register. For the most part, "Crimson Skies" is quite heavy, featuring really tasteful guitar solos with just the right amount of shredding in them. When Cloudscape function as a purely instrumental band, this is hands down some of the best sounding metal I've heard all year. I'm not saying the vocals are to blame, it's just that all their melodic overdose comes precisely from the vocal melodies. Producer Pontus Lindmark, who has worked with Pain of Salvation (enough said), did a stellar job on this one. Anyway, had they trimmed this album to under an hour, this would have been much tighter, especially if that meant taking out a couple of forgetful tracks, like "And Then The Rain..." and "Someone Else". Because they really compensate with awesome cuts like opener "Shapeshifter", the proggier "Psychic Imbalance" (incidentally, two tracks where the Symphony X influence is clearly evident) and the amazing "1000 Souls", with lots of turning left and right and a fantastic guitar solo complimented by the perfect rhythmic groundwork. Cloudscape are in the process of recording their next album and I think it's wise to keep an eye out for it. The question is: will they rehash? Or will they take their immense talent and sonic quality to the next level? Whatever the case may be, "Crimson Skies" stands out in an otherwise completely saturated genre. Band: Mike Andersson - Lead & Backing Vocals Björn Eliasson - Guitars Patrik Svärd - Guitars Haynes Pherson - Bass & Backing Vocals Roger "Mini" Landin - Drums & Percussion