Article By: Leanne Ridgeway
Two of our Riff Relevant writers enjoyed the Clouds Taste Satanic release ‘Glitter Of Infinite Hell’ so much that they both chose to cover it. Taylor Waring has a brief review and interview with Steve Scavuzzo about the album, and Pat Riot has his in-depth review. There are also some photos from CTS’s show at Ode To Doom in NYC. Enjoy!
By: Taylor Waring
I recently got to chat with Steve Scavuzzo (guitar) of Clouds Taste Satanic about ‘The Glitter of Infinite Hell‘, the band’s fourth release. Before we get to Sir Patrick’s proper review of New York’s DIY doomsters on Riff Relevant, I’ll catch you up to speed.
‘The Glitter of Infinite Hell‘ is a four-part opus focused on sonically reenacting Dante’s Inferno — the classical epic poem about a poet’s descent into hell. The icky, punishing world that Dante envisioned is represented by sludgy and stony riffs galore. The album starts out with a slow, punishing 18-minute track, “Greed” and the album gradually builds tempo, culminating in “Wrath”.
Needless to say, if you’re into doom riffs in all their hellish manifestations, this is a record worth blaring and wallowing in for an entire season.
For some behind-the-scenes insight into the album’s creation, check out our very serious conversation below, as you listen via the Bandcamp embed, then check out Pat’s full-bore analysis review.
RIFF RELEVANT [Taylor]: What’s your favorite punishment in the Inferno?
CLOUDS TASTE SATANIC [Steve S.]: Being force-fed doughnuts, but I think I got that from a Simpsons episode.
RIFF RELEVANT [Taylor]: How did you go about transferring the elements of Dante’s Hell into the sonic realm? Were there key points you wanted to focus on or scenes you found yourself visualizing while writing?
CLOUDS TASTE SATANIC [Steve S.]: It’s easier to start from a word reference rather than an entire concept, which is why I personally found Dante’s 9 Circles both interesting and inspiring. The titles of each circle gave us inspiration to move certain parts of the music in certain directions.
It’s more complicated than soundtrack work, where a movie will give you an actual visual image, which you then seek to interpret musically. When you are watching the movie, it’s easier to make the connection between the music and the visual image.
With instrumental music without visuals (our actual videos notwithstanding), the connection is harder to see, but it also allows more freedom for your mind to conjure up its own images.
The word “greed” has a specific dictionary meaning, but it can also provoke numerous images in your mind, depending on who is doing the interpreting. For us, ‘Greed’ invoked a slow moving monster that spreads and consumes. We applied that interpretation to our Greed in regard to tempo and riff choice.
RIFF RELEVANT [Taylor]: Like Dante, I think there’s a tongue-in-cheek element to your work that I find refreshing in the often i-am-very-sad-and-serious world of heavy music. Glitter. Bosch. It’s all over the top. Why the whimsical approach?
CLOUDS TASTE SATANIC [Steve S.]: We love evil imagery and the bad guy is always the most interesting character, but at the end of the day, unless you are religious enough to believe that these things are real, you have to accept the fact that Satan is probably just character in a great story. Once you accept that premise, you can enjoy the frightening elements, but also not take it too seriously.
Having said that, there is a fine line between whimsy and comedy and we have no interest in the comic elements. I find bands that are too tongue in cheek to be annoying. We don’t like comedy music, comedy lyrics or joke bands, that stuff wears thin real quick.
Our band name is meant to be thought-provoking, not a Flaming Lips joke. Bosch is always cool and always compelling, and everything looks better with Glitter. That’s just a fact.
By Pat ‘Riot’ Whitaker
I first discovered New York’s Clouds Taste Satanic back around the time of their second release, ‘Your Doom Has Come’, in 2015. So impressed was I, that I went and got hold of their ‘To Sleep Beyond The Earth’ 2014 début, and their third effort, ‘Dawn Of The Satanic Age’, as well.
Now, I have a confession to make. It comes in the admission that I am very on the fence about many solely instrumental bands. However, it is a true “it’s not you (them), it’s me” deal, to be honest. I just have a hard time getting into most bands that are sans vocals… MOST bands, mind you.
Such just is not the case with Clouds Taste Satanic, as I have thoroughly gravitated to each of their records like metal to a magnet. That alluring pull still holds true, as I have been repeatedly jamming the crap out of their Halloween 2017 offering, ‘The Glitter Of Infinite Hell‘.
One of the truest powers of Clouds Taste Satanic is that you do not miss any vocals, to begin with. I am serious as a heart attack on my claim, their music is so enthralling that it first grips and then engulfs you. Once there within its otherworldly musical phenomenon, it holds sway over you to such a degree that nothing else is relevant.
The harrowing, just-right riffs that resonate as the taut, rhythmic tides ebb, flow, and ultimately consume you. It all begins with the magnificent composition that is “Greed“, a gluttonous buffet of eerie vibes and pulsating psychedoomadelia. Your mind will wander as the expanses of atmospheric heaviness flicker and flutter about you. At almost nineteen minutes running time, there is much to be explored and your guides, Steve Scavuzzo, Sean Bay, Greg Acampora, and Brian Bauhs are more than able to show you wonders you knew not.
Admittedly, “Greed” is my own favorite track of the four, but the remaining three, “Treachery“, “Violence” and “Wrath“, more than adequately match up. “Treachery” is another long-running tune of creepy proportions and hellish excesses. It drives me to imagine all sort of miscreant beings lurking around, shadowed, and just out of sight enough to deliver your own worst nightmare slash mind-fucking. Its varied tempo alterations have the aftereffect of providing disparaging moments of a quite crestfallen feel.
In fact, “feel” is exactly what Clouds Taste Satanic are about… now, then, from the start, live on stage… may it and they never cease. The band always provides music for which you must feel by, either outright or provoked. Their music makes you feel things, some of which are momentarily frightening at times, sure, but mostly what you feel is fantastic.
Eureka! That is it, folks. Clouds Taste Satanic and ‘The Glitter Of Infinite Hell‘ make you feel fantastic, so do not hesitate, hit play on the Bandcamp embed provided above and get to feeling fantastic. Right. Damned. Now.
Clouds Taste Satanic:
Steve Scavuzzo
Sean Bay
Greg Acampora
Brian Bauhs
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Check out live photos from Ode To Doom in NYC, on 11/18/2017 in this [gallery]
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