Another Cloud Rat split that made the cut for me, this time with Chicago’s doom monster, Disrotted. Each band brings one song on this LP, Cloud Rat doing an 18 minute epic (something they didn’t try before) and Disrotted being Disrotted for 22 minutes. In Holding The Picture, Cloud Rat pretty much fires every single item in their arsenal at the listener, but for the biggest part the song is a melodic, almost post-metal kind take on sludge, with some fast parts thrown in here and there, but unlike in most of their efforts, here they’re only there to help build the atmosphere of the song, which is quite strong, i must say. They try to keep the song as “colourful” as they can, and if you look at the cover, it goes really well with the track they have here. Disrotted, on the other and looks to suffocate any speck of colors that might incorporate their slow drone/funeral doom, and damn, are they successful. There are really a few bands that can catch such a ritualistic dark atmosphere (maybe they’re close to Khanate if you look at this), so it’s really recommended to listen to this in a dark room with headphones. This split is really good, probably the best of the three Cloud Rat was involved in last year.
