]]][[[ [AKA: A NEW HEAVENLY BODY]

This somewhat strangely titled 2010 release by Ben Sharp is quite a big leap forward from the previous releases. Personally, I wasn't all too happy about Cloudkicker's previous EP, portmanteau, which suffered from sounding too overwhelming, stiff and unbalanced. ]]][[[ still features some of these elements, but less overwhelming and dominating as they were on Portmanteau.

The first piece on the EP already shows a difference from the music on Portmanteau. A groovy drum pattern gets accompanied by distorted guitar and heavy bass, but the song doesn't tend to sound unbalanced or overly thick. Halfway through, the technical playing that is destinctive for Cloudkicker makes its appearance. While I find it a bit stiff and mechanical sounding at times, I can appreciate it much more in the context of this album than on Portmanteau, because of this release sounding more balanced and diverse. The second piece on the album, "%", is another great piece. The track is driving my thick distorted chugging guitars playing a climatic sounding chord pattern. I prefer the album opener over it, but this song is very likeable nevertheless. The third and final track of this short release opens in a more technical way than the previous songs and sounds more like most of the material on previously released material. The song turns out to feature some diversity as well though, in the form of slower sections and pleasant use of the drum machine.

Though I think ]]][[[ still suffers from elements that were also present on previous Cloudkicker releases, I feel that this is a significantly better release than Portmanteau. The EP is only 15 minutes in length, which is pretty short but I'll take it for what it is. The release can be legally downloaded (among other Cloudkicker releases) for free. So, you can't really go wrong by getting it.