Clouds Taste Satanic – Berlin 2023

by Mark 'Yeti' Richard · March 26, 2026

Clouds Taste Satanic are a heavy psychedelic, instrumental stoner/ doom band from New York. The quartet formed in 2013 and consist of Steve Scavuzzo on guitar, Brian Bauhs on guitar, Greg Acampora on drums, and Rob Halstead on bass. They have released eleven full length albums so far, including: 2014’s To Sleep Beyond the Earth, 2015’s Your Doom Has Come, 2016’s Dawn of The Satanic Age, 2017’s The Glitter of Infinite Hell, 2019’s Evil Eye, 2019’s Second Sight, 2021’s Cloud Covered, 2023’s Tales Of Demonic Possession, 2024’s 79 A.E. They also released a Christmas EP– 2023’s All I Want for Christmas Is Your Soul, a single- 2020’s Funeral For A Friend, a compilation- 2021’sThe Satanic Singles Series, and 2025’s Birmingham 2024.Birmingham 2024 was a first in a series of “live in studio” recordings of the band’s set lists for that touring year. The second installment of those live recordings was just released on March 6th 2026 and is called Berlin 2023. It contains four tracks at forty one minutes long.

I can’t think of many bands that can deliver a twenty plus minute song that keeps me fully engaged and captivated with every riff and melody executed. Well, Clouds Taste Satanic are one of the few bands that achieves just that. The opening track “Second Sight”, taken from the 2019 album of the same name, injects an onslaught of glorious psychedelic doom into their music. The barreling drive of heavy riffs and flavorful leads are the magic that makes up this epic track. The subtleties that the band carve out musically with every riff change and movement is spectacular! Flowing, heavy rhythms into cosmic harmonies of doom and heavy psych are very organic and natural for this band. Whether it’s the drums, bass, or guitars, gliding each arrangement into different sections, “Second Sight” is a completely cohesive and enthralling musical experience on how a song can be written and performed.

The second track on Berlin 2023 is called “Sun Death Ritual (Parts 1-3)”. It is from their 2023 album Tales Of Demonic Possession and it’s excellent! It’s an alluring ten minute sonic adventure of groove style riffing, complemented by divine guitar lead textures over the rhythms. The swinging drum beats and bluesy leads a-join perfectly with the heavy fuzz-laden riffs. Musical dynamics and buildups come naturally for Clouds Taste Satanic and the way they are able to tell a story with their music is remarkable. The third song, “Spirits Of The Green Desert (Part IV)” is the shortest track on the album and it is also from the Tales Of Demonic Possession record. Beginning with the drums for several measures, the chorded accents give the track a stormy doom sound united by the eerie guitar noises. The slow brewing tones are enhanced with electrifying leads as the track meanders to the end.

The fourth and final composition on Berlin 2023 is an older classic called “Beast From The Sea”. It was on the band’s second album, 2015’s Your Doom Has Come and it sounds magnificent! Heavy slabs of stoner riffs doused in doom, the song has a plentiful amount of leads coloring the track too. It is a colossal closer and it would be a great way to end a set. The sound quality and production of this recording is amazing! Similar to last year‘s Birmingham 2024 (review here) record, this live recording is massive, and each instrument is mixed to perfection. There are no studio overdubs or trickery found on this whole record. Clouds Taste Satanic just jam together as if they were playing a show. The level of talent and precision is quite remarkable! Regretfully I’m not super well-versed with the band’s back catalog and only discovered them with last year‘s Birmingham 2024 release. I actually prefer the sound quality on these “live in studio” recordings more than the originals. The thunderous drum sound and guitar tones work especially well for what these songs are intended for, in my opinion.

Clouds Taste Satanic are masters of their craft and this recording is proof of that. I can’t hear any mistakes with their playing which tells me that there either wasn’t any or that the musicians are so in tuned with how they play together, they can can weave them into their sound so meticulously and cover them up. Either way, I think this is one of the best instrumental heavy underground bands around today and I can only hope that we will get the honor of hearing more recordings like this one in the future.