The Black Clouds
Better Days
Independent Release
2013
The Black Clouds is a band from New Jersey, USA. They formed in 2004 and “Better Days” is their second album release after “Whishing Well” which came out in 2008. I googled up how far New Jersey is from Seattle; it turns out it’s 2.873 miles away, in other words around 1 day and 19 hours of driving. To tell you the truth, after listening to “Better Days” I could have sworn that it was only half an hour away.
I could not figure out from their press release or their facebook page if Dan Matthews or Rob Blake is the lead vocalist (they may both be), but whoever it is, saying that he isn’t a fan of Kurt Cobain would be the understatement of the century. I mean, when “No Reason” came on (the second song of the album after “Prelude”, the instrumental intro) I wanted to run out on my balcony and shout “My God! He’s alive! Kurt’s alive!” Of course this is not the first time nor the last that a singer has been influenced a bit too much by his idols, and it is not the end of the world when that happens. But it seems like the rest of the band have fallen into the exact same trap, and therefore, most of the music in “Better Days” sounds like a shameless rip-off Nirvana’s music. I mean I challenge anyone to look me in the eyes and tell me that the chorus of “Again” is not “copy-paste” from the chorus of Nirvana’s “Breed”. I do not mind when there is a general Nirvana vibe in a song, like in the cases of “Breathing”, “Defective Mind” and “All or Nothing” (by the way there’s a little bit of Mudhoney in there as well). However, I think that songs like “No Reason”, “Again”, “I’ll Be Gone” and “Rid of Me” (in which I guess they were going for a “Rape Me” kind of intro) sound like Nirvana B-Sides played by ear by The Black Clouds.
Don’t get me wrong, they are not bad songs (that is why I gave them a 5 out of 10) but they sound too much like someone else’s songs, and that puts me off. There are some pleasant surprises here and there in “Better Days”, like “Fray” and “Whereouts Unknown” in which the band seems to have left the straight-up grunge sound at rest and set themselves free to experiment and write personal and original material, which is not bad.
The only impact that “Better Days” had on me (and mind you I listened to the whole album three times from beginning to end), was to make me want to dig up my Nirvana and Mudhoney albums. Nothing more. And it is a shame because it sounds like those guys know how to play and (judging from “Fray” and “Whereouts Unknown”) they are capable of writing good music. Next time try to compose something original instead of trying to rehash somebody else’s work.
I could not figure out from their press release or their facebook page if Dan Matthews or Rob Blake is the lead vocalist (they may both be), but whoever it is, saying that he isn’t a fan of Kurt Cobain would be the understatement of the century. I mean, when “No Reason” came on (the second song of the album after “Prelude”, the instrumental intro) I wanted to run out on my balcony and shout “My God! He’s alive! Kurt’s alive!” Of course this is not the first time nor the last that a singer has been influenced a bit too much by his idols, and it is not the end of the world when that happens. But it seems like the rest of the band have fallen into the exact same trap, and therefore, most of the music in “Better Days” sounds like a shameless rip-off Nirvana’s music. I mean I challenge anyone to look me in the eyes and tell me that the chorus of “Again” is not “copy-paste” from the chorus of Nirvana’s “Breed”. I do not mind when there is a general Nirvana vibe in a song, like in the cases of “Breathing”, “Defective Mind” and “All or Nothing” (by the way there’s a little bit of Mudhoney in there as well). However, I think that songs like “No Reason”, “Again”, “I’ll Be Gone” and “Rid of Me” (in which I guess they were going for a “Rape Me” kind of intro) sound like Nirvana B-Sides played by ear by The Black Clouds.
Don’t get me wrong, they are not bad songs (that is why I gave them a 5 out of 10) but they sound too much like someone else’s songs, and that puts me off. There are some pleasant surprises here and there in “Better Days”, like “Fray” and “Whereouts Unknown” in which the band seems to have left the straight-up grunge sound at rest and set themselves free to experiment and write personal and original material, which is not bad.
The only impact that “Better Days” had on me (and mind you I listened to the whole album three times from beginning to end), was to make me want to dig up my Nirvana and Mudhoney albums. Nothing more. And it is a shame because it sounds like those guys know how to play and (judging from “Fray” and “Whereouts Unknown”) they are capable of writing good music. Next time try to compose something original instead of trying to rehash somebody else’s work.