Band:	Clouds
Album:	Doliu
Style:	Atmospheric doom metal
Release date:	May 2014

01. You Went So Silent
02. If These Walls Could Speak [feat. Ben Ellis & Jón Aldará]
03. Heaven Was Blind To My Grief
04. A Glimpse Of Sorrow [feat. Pim Blankenstein]
05. The Deep Vast Emptiness
06. Even If I Fall

I personally believe that the author of a review must use the least of subjective criticism but it seems that it is not that easy when it comes to an album like Doliu.

It might be wrong to explain my own personal experience of this album as a review but this is how I came across Clouds. Some albums become the snapshot of moments, and here is the snapshot by Doliu.

I have no idea why on earth a person can always feel more melancholic in summer while the rest of world is always happier in this time of year; nevertheless, it was one of those insomniac nights in summer while those gloomy feelings were overwhelming. Then I played this album, which my friend had already posted on my Facebook page around the time when it was released, but I had never bothered to give a listen until that night.

And do you know what made me curious about them this time? At first glance, the titles of their songs, which were suiting my mood and were alluring me to hear the whole album.

Surprisingly the titles of songs were not just a name for only labeling them, but actually those titles were fitting the sound superbly. The sound that I would describe it in brief: "gloomy, beautiful, melodic, doom-y."

When I noticed the people who contributed to creating this brilliant and artful album then it was no big surprise anymore to hear such huge amazement in one album with only six songs, and that all of them are majestically very unforgettable.

Doliu is a momentous milestone in doom metal; it sounds like an incarnation of Shape Of Despair, Officium Triste, Rapture and Pantheïst sounds. Not just because these musicians as Clouds are all more or less related to those bands I mentioned, but because these musicians somehow presented the tunes from their previous bands in a more sophisticated way in Doliu.

As if they borrowed maybe the smallest but the most substantial elements from their previous experiences and these elements were used in a new process of creativity in Doliu, so that the songs sound fresh and catchy but nothing unfamiliar. The doom metal guitar riffs, catchy guitar solos in minor scales, very beautiful yet sorrowful piano passages and intros, mesmerizing clean vocals with such impressive tone, poetic words grieving a loss, intense growling vocals, post-rock-ish vibes, that were blended very intelligently.

Thank you Clouds, thank you so much for Doliu. If These Walls of my room Could Talk, then they would tell you that what indescribable experience I had listening to your album. Doliu was excellent unforgettable company for me in that insomniac summer night.