Even though I'm proud to be a metalhead, I always liked the dark/gothic scene. Fortunately, relatively recently, I had the opportunity to open further my horizons as far as this scene concerns. CLOUDS BY NIGHT is a fresh band from Greece that belongs in that scene.

The band is the 'child' of Manolis and George and was formed in 2004. After the release of their demo, Waves Of Emptiness, the band started to look for new members to complete their lineup. After some live performances (one of them was at the first day of Playhouse Gotique n. 2 festival, here in Greece), the band just finished mixing their debut album, containing ten songs, four of which are included in this promo cd.

If you are looking for heavy riffs and straightforward Metal, this band is not for you. But if you like dark compositions and you are in the gothic scene you'll probably find this album interesting. The band plays 'pure' gothic music. If I had to write down some bands that their music brings in mind, I would say SUSPIRIA, THE MARY THOUGHTS, THE ILLUSION FADES and MORTEM VLADE ART. Most metalheads don't know those names, but Goth fans surely know them. The production is quite nice for the Greek standards, and I think that, for the music they want to play, they are in the right way. I can't judge the whole album from just four songs, but I believe that it is going to be a sincere release. The only thing I didn't like is that their compositions always reminded me of something else that I did listen to some years ago from the pre-mentioned bands.

But, firstly we have to listen the entire album to have a crystal clear opinion. The first samples are good. But the band has to keep in mind that, yes, you don't have the flexibility to experiment in this scene, but that doesn't mean that you don't have to have your own indentity.

P.S.: The band send a dVD, too, with a promotional video of Dreaming, featuring scenes taken from various live performances of CLOUDS BY NIGHT over the studio version of the song.