Clouds
"Legendary Demo"
(2007)
Too bad Clouds' Legendary Demo didn't hit, oh, say about five years ago before the vested title of "hipster-metal" was birthed: Back in a time when indie-friendly loud-guitar rock shows consisted of spasmodic post-post-rockers like Rye Coalition and the Cherry Valence heftily hoisting Stooges/MC5 rawk to denim-wearin' kids too young to know who or what a Jim Dandy or a Foghat was. Because Clouds' boogie redux would've fit in nicely back then.
At their best Clouds kick up a controlled chaos of streamlined punky "party grunge"-- as they themselves call it-- best exemplified by the surprisingly titled "Party Grunge", where a rolling Cobain-pumpin' Bleach-era riff tumbles and shimmy-shakes via train-chuggin' hambone beats, not dissimilar from Hot Snakes. Similarly styled tracks like "Guardian's Eyes" and "Live It For Now" burn it up using the band's frequent arsenal of note-y stoner-rock riffs but merely as a bridge or fancy turnaround before returning to mouth-foaming, methed-out swagger.
Some backstory: Before Clouds took their current billowy formation, guitarist-cum-mastermind Adam McGrath logged time in one of Boston's key influential hardcore metal outfits Cave In. (They're currently slumbering in an undetermined hiatus with members being involved in a slew of offshoots: Stephen Brodsky's Octave Museum, Zozobra, Doomriders, and last but not least, the Clouds.) Cave In helped beget the terribly rote micro genre "metalcore." Don't blame them: Ahead of the curve and sniffing staleness long before it was stinking up Hot Topics and Ozzfest Second Stages, Cave In flipped the script, trying their hand at radio-reaching At the Drive-In–esque pop and something akin to arty stoner rock. -Pitchfork
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