Pollinator, the new album by CLOUD RAT, is now streaming in its entirety via Kerrang!, ahead of its September 13th release on Artoffact Records. Stream it right now via Kerrang!
“In a couple of key ways, Cloud Rat are what every grindcore band should be. Their music is inexhaustible, spasming through elaborate rackets of heaving riffs, spit-flecked vocals, and berserk percussion without ever slowing down. At the same time, there’s an atmospheric creep to their music that gives it a hard menace, adding that pinch of heavy metal darkness to what could easily just be a lot of noise and sweat. In this way, the Michigan three-piece give listeners both sides of what they want from furious music: the tooth-grinding rancor and the hand-kneading darkness, indivisible.” –Kerrang!
Over the past ten years, Cloud Rat has established itself as one of the most compelling bands in the underground. Over a staggering number of releases – four full-length albums, eleven EPs and splits, a live album, and various other comps, in one decade – the Michigan band has made a name for itself via sheer emotion and musical freedom.
Emerging from the space where hardcore punk spirals into grindcore, Cloud Rat is that and so much more. The band knows no limits and incorporates influences from across the map – black metal, noise, doom, goth, folk, and beyond – all while retaining its realness and urgency.
Cloud Rat guitarist Rorik Brooks has stated, “Pollinator is our most complete and accomplished work yet.”
As a companion piece to Pollinator, Cloud Rat has devoted an entire EP to its more experimental leanings: Artoffact will release Do Not Let Me Off the Cliff as the second disc in a 2-CD digipak version of Pollinator.
Pollinator was recorded and mixed by JC Griffin and Rorik Brooks at Lakebottom Recording House in Toledo, Ohio, and mastered by Brad Boatright at Audiosiege (Full of Hell, Torche).
Cloud Rat is on tour now.
Sep 12 – Raleigh, NC @ Maywood
Sep 13 – Baltimore, MD @ Metro Gallery w/ Pig Destroyer
Sep 14 – Hudson, NY @ Basilica Soundscape
Sep 15 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Mr Roboto Project
May 2020 – Baltimore, MD @ Maryland Deathfest
