Band:	Cloud Rat
Album:	Do Not Let Me Off The Cliff
Style:	Ethereal Wave
Release date:	September 12, 2019
A review by:	Ilham

01. Thrust
02. Keep Flies
03. Share
04. 623
05. The Portal Of God Is Nonexistence
06. Pity Sex
07. Dropping From The Trees

*Spinning in my desk chair in slow motion*


Today we're gonna talk about a great little EP by Cloud Rat. Yes, I know I just reviewed a Cloud Rat release not too long ago, but what can I say, I don't listen to advice and I plan my videos poorly. This EP was actually released at the same as their full-length album named Pollinator. It was a bonus to the album. Soooo.... I should have mentioned that in that previous video, but, hey ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. Sorry, RaduP. Do Not Let Me Off The Cliff is the name of this brand-new short-format, and here's the thing...




The cover sets the tone, really. Cloud Rat is a talented lot; we know that already. They usually play some really good grind, but they've released other nonmetal material in the past - I think? It's always fascinating to discover what else people can do and how differently they can get emotions across. So basically this lil' bonus nugget is mostly darkwave with some ambient bits, I'm not too sure how to describe it... but yeah. You know, the ethereal vibe, somber clean vocals, echo-y effects, gloomy, atmospheric intros, lonely guitars and... that sort of stuff. Yeah, this was just a string of loosely connected words, but you didn't come here for the music theory.

So you get these 20 or so minutes of what could be Pollinator in a parallel universe where metal doesn't exist. It does just as good of a job of getting a reaction out of you, but this time, it's by putting you in a dissociative state...


One thing that happens to you if you listen to it with intent, as in, you give it your entire attention, is that then you kind of start to zone out of consciousness until it ends. I mean, even one of the song titles describes it better than I do: "The Portal Of God Is Nonexistence". Just like Pollinator, past traumas are the main inspiration for the lyrics in Do Not Let Me Off The Cliff, so you might already know what emotions are in play here. When you press "play", your life just switches to slow motion. You might get back to your body at the end of one of the glorious crescendos, but it's not guaranteed, and on top of that it's not certain you'll ever feel whole again.


*Chuckles* Okay, so I realised, hmmmm... you might think the last bit is super negative, but for those who know me, you've noticed that unless I say straight-up that something sucks - which I do a lot - anything that could sound negative is actually a positive. Wild, I know, right? So the description of what is probably a symptom of a mental health issue for your average person is, to me, a positive.


Anyway, so it's super floaty, it's very airy and easy to listen to, yet at the same time very emotional. The music is so brooding and yet the vocals so inviting and soothing, I have to imagine this is probably what the sirens that bamboozled Ulysses sounded like. I say it's easy to listen to because it's not music that will have you raising your eyebrows all the time, it's not too avant-garde, but it's still intellectual. Honestly, it's just a great ride, get in, get out, 20-minute dissociative state. It does really well what's it's trying to do, while sounding new yet relevant to the rest of Cloud Rat's work. I give it an 8.8 out of 10 Ilhams, which is one of the highest ratings I've ever given to an album I reviewed. Don't look that up.

So that's it; thank you, unnamed fanbase, for watching, and big thanks to Audible for sponsoring this video! Again, my promo code for a 30-day trial and a free audiobook of your choice is BADREVIEWS!

I hope you liked the video! I also hope you listen to the EP I so poorly reviewed for you, because I really loved it, and if you disagree or wanna tell me how bad at reviewing I am, tell me so in the comments down below! But before you do, please smash the like button and subscribe, and turn on the little bell so you can get notifications every time I post. I release new video reviews every coupla weeks - don't look that up either.