PORTMANTEAU

I remember the first time I listened to Cloudkicker's "Portmanteau," I was shocked, and pleasantly so. After expecting another re-hash of the sound found on "The Discovery" and "The Map is Not the Territory" (which, I admit, I would have been 100% okay with), I discovered that Cloudkicker has evolved his sound. While retaining the dense atmospherics and confusing signature changes that define him, Cloudkicker has added in more traditional progressive elements into the music, making it sound more like rock than metal. The pieces are less straight-ahead Meshuggah-esque grooving and instead feature a variety of sounds. While his original sound is retained, Cloudkicker shows again that he's taken the album format into consideration--it plays like one continuous piece rather than separate tracks. Overall, I was pleased beyond expectations at the sound change and the cohesiveness of this effort. And, best of all, it's free to download, so you've got nothing to lose here!

Portmanteau is the second EP release by Ben Shrap under the name Cloudkicker. The EP features four songs and is 20 minutes in length. The EP can be legally downloaded for free along with the rest of Cloudkickers discography. Cloudkicker's music features a heavy and thick guitar sound most of the time, backed up with a drum machine.

Apart from the often very heavy guitar driven metal, there are softer, atmospheric moments on the EP too. These moments are an excellent addition, as they give the EP a much more atmospheric feel. The heavy parts of the album often are very technical, featuring several guitar tracks creating a thick wall of sound. Sometimes this wall gets a bit too thick in my opinion, and makes me unable to fully enjoy the music. Another reason for this is the sound of the drum machine, which sounds very unbalanced at times. Definitely the cymbals sound incredibly overwhelming most of the time. This all doesn't mean I can't enjoy the EP. No, Ben Sharp is a very talented musician and he really shows what he is capable of here. Unfortunately I feel that the EP could be a much more enjoyable effort with a better and more balanced production.

I rate this EP two stars. It's still a somewhat enjoyable EP at times and one must keep in mind as well that it's released as a free download. Because of that, people should bear in mind that you can't really go wrong downloading it.

'Portmanteau' - Cloudkicker (8/10)

While the feature length offering probably takes the cake in terms of being Cloudkicker's brightest and most fulfilling effort, 'Portmanteau' was definitely the one that knocked me off of my feet the fastest. While the brevity of this EP and the others make it feel like it's not worth being treated as an independent work, 'Portmanteau' actually ends up functioning as an epic piece of sorts, much like Meshuggah's 'I' EP. While the recording is broken up into four different songs, they end up complimenting each other as sections of the bigger 'Portmanteau' suite. Each track flows seamlessly into one other, and this ends up being one of the Extended Play's biggest achievements.

Starting out with an almost shamanistic percussive approach, it soon bursts out into the typical polyrhythmic fury those with Cloudkicker experience have come to expect already. The difference here is that throughout, while the overall cohesion and writing is some of the best this project has ever released, the dense wall of sound can make some of the already-heavy sections sound a bit noisy. In the more melodic-metal sections though, the massive layerings of sound can lend a bit of a Devin Townsend feel to the music, which only adds.

The highlight here is definitely the second track; 'Modulator/Demodulator' which also tends to be the most diverse track. There is the typical rhythmic experimenting, but it starts out with one of the most beautiful post rock intros I have listened to in a while. The density of the record might prove to be a bit of a downer for some; especially those who thought that Cloudkicker was too chaotic to begin with! This is evidence though, of Ben Sharp's willingness to expand his boundaries and try out new things with his talent. To my ears, this was a successful experiment, and a very good (if flawed) testmament to his skill.

Here's another off the ol' checklist. Portmanteau is the second EP by Ben Sharp's Cloudkicker. Realizing now just how much material Sharp put out in these first few years. Here in the album details, it mentions drum sequencing, which I found interesting. Not like it's a big deal, because if it sounds good who really cares, but I'd be surprised if what I'd heard before was effectively a drum machine. I'd be mighty impressed. I've heard real drums mixed far worse in the past haha. Anyways, this came out when I was like 15, and for better or worse I had no idea about this sort of thing back in the day. I'll count my blessings /s.

I feel a lot safer, realizing this album has nothing over 7 minutes in length haha. We start off this little journey with "Fourteen Nights", with rim-hits playing consistently as strangely beautiful feedback (and more) builds. Pretty heavy then, with that highly effected feedback still ringing out until nearly minute 2. Cool idea here, with the slight laxing of the guitar. And from there, we immediately build with intensity once more. Nothing else happens. We walk right into "Modulator/Demodulator", working off of a soft, reverbed guitar arpeggio. Here, I got bored, skipped ahead, and found something of interest, which starts shortly after its second minute. This shifts again and I'm hearing, for the second time in my Cloudkicker kick, a riff that could be found via Mastodon. I feel pretty good about this one. But not great. Any wins this track has are all in its second half.

Cohesiveness continues on as we seamlessly make our way to "Of Smoke and Fog". In its heaviness, and I feel this sounds odd, it's awfully atonal, or something? Maybe the opening riff, as simply put as possible, is chromatic. As I type this, the composition morphs and the china gets a nice smacking. This song is almost, like... breathing? Almost though we get these moments of intensity and then the composition itself gives its response. And here I am, even through its ambient close, finding myself enjoying this'n most thus far. Finally--I say with a greater kindness than I could muster with his first EP--we get to "God Be with Ye" [And assuming God isn't anti-Semitic, this has revealed itself to be a very thoughtful prayer of hope haha /s]. The rhythm section is pretty gargantuan, the bass at least, I felt perhaps, mixed a little too loud for my liking. There's a galloping kickdrum and a super-effected drone from the guitar(s). The middle section is pretty cool... Ok, I'll take that back. What I thought was the middle was just... the end. What a drag. Fade to black should have come at least 2 minutes sooner.

With the moments I most expected to be strong, it sort of let me down. Yet this turned out to be the best, perhaps most cohesive release of Cloudkicker I've yet heard.