{"id":75013,"date":"2019-01-18T15:00:10","date_gmt":"2019-01-18T15:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/?p=75013"},"modified":"2019-01-17T22:18:06","modified_gmt":"2019-01-17T22:18:06","slug":"review-desert-clouds-nothing-beyond-the-cage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-desert-clouds-nothing-beyond-the-cage\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Desert Clouds &#8211; Nothing Beyond The Cage"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/857197.jpg\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-75014 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/857197-300x289.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"289\" title=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/857197-300x289.jpg 300w, https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/857197.jpg 425w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a> Since their arrival to London in 2010, Italian rockers <strong>Desert Clouds<\/strong> have been aiming to breach the UK music scene with their &#8220;atmospheric grunge&#8221; rock. Their latest offering, <em>&#8216;Nothing Beyond The Cage&#8217;<\/em> follows up their 2017 EP <em>&#8216;Time Distortions&#8217;<\/em> and they aim to showcase their sound at its creative peak. Suffice to say, they seem to be far from it.<em><br \/>\n<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Opening track <em>\u2018The Outcast Trail\u2019<\/em> starts off with very quiet guitars and hushed vocals. It\u2019s dreary, to say the least. The first chorus comes in and somehow it doesn\u2019t pack as much of a punch as it should. This is probably down to the lacklustre mixing and mastering. <em>\u2018Speed Of Light\u2019<\/em> again starts with a monotonous lull, but does seem to pick up only slightly. The chorus does have a nice ring to it, but it\u2019s not anything to shout about. Two songs in and this album is slipping through the cracks. <em>\u2018Take Off\u2019<\/em> sounds like a rip-off of<em> \u2018Judith\u2019<\/em> by A Perfect Circle in the verses and doesn\u2019t really go anywhere in the choruses.<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"Desert Clouds - Speed of Light (Official video) 2018\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/qLWuG9dmDFs?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>The solo on <em>\u2018Under Tons\u2019\u00a0<\/em>is a highlight, although it&#8217;s spoiled by poor mixing, it still has a sharp bite to it.<em> \u2018Overmore\u2019<\/em> sounds more like the complete package, reminiscent of <em>&#8216;The Bends&#8217;<\/em>-era Radiohead with a solid Blues Rock solo that hits hard. The good times don\u2019t last very long, as the penultimate track is very bleak and doesn\u2019t really go anywhere.<\/p>\n<p>Album closer <em>\u2018Whistling In The Rain\u2019<\/em> is by far the best track on this album, almost as if the band saved it until the end. It&#8217;s a track that flows in and out of serene verses and a punchy chorus and ends with an exceptional razor-sharp solo.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s plain to hear that this album is a shoddy attempt at a 90s grunge rock revival.\u00a0 It\u2019s safe to say that <em>\u2018Nothing Beyond The Cage\u2019<\/em> is nothing more than a faint blip on the musical radar.<\/p>\n<p>2\/5<\/p>\n<p><em>&#8216;Nothing Beyond The Cage&#8217;<\/em> by <strong>Desert Clouds<\/strong> is released on 18th January.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Desert Clouds<\/strong> links:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.desertclouds.net\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Website<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/desertclouds\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Facebook<\/a>\u00a0| <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TheDesertClouds\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Twitter<\/a> |\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/thedesertclouds\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Instagram<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Words by Dylan Whitty (<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/rootsinwax\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">@rootsinwax<\/a>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;It\u2019s safe to say that \u2018Nothing Beyond The Cage\u2019 is nothing more than a faint blip on the musical radar.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":75014,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[5879,16452,16032,16453,16195],"class_list":["post-75013","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-album-reviews","tag-album-reviews","tag-desert-clouds","tag-dylan-whitty","tag-nothing-beyond-the-cage","tag-roots-in-wax"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - 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