"It’s time to move up from being an insider tip to a spot on the pedestal next to all the other bands from the Massachusetts area. I for one cannot wait to see where they go in the future when they distill the formula of this album down to perfection"
This band has been through a lot. From being a critically acclaimed hardcore band, to turning into a rock powerhouse on a major-label and touring with the Foo Fighters, to their demise because they failed the labels expectations, and the band basically became nonexistent for a couple of years (even though they never broke up). The untimely death of their bass player and songwriter Caleb Scofield may have been the worst these guys have ever gone through, but they came out stronger in the end. It is a miracle that this band pulled themselves together to release a new record, especially as this might be the best they sounded in years. To fill in the shoes of their fallen comrade they recruited Nate Newton (Converge, Old Man Gloom, Doomriders) and recorded some of their strongest songs to date, but also some of their weakest but let’s not jump ahead of ourselves...
The new Cave In record Heavy Pendulum starts off remarkably strong with the groove driven riff monster that is New Reality. While still catchy this is easily the meanest sounding piece of music this band has created in ages. If this is an indicator for things to come we are in for a treat. The Songs on this album range from straight up hardcore songs that other likeminded bands wish they could write, to almost proggy or krautrock territory. While in the past you could always pinpoint the musical direction and specific influences of each Cave In record, this time it feels like they pull all of them together to fire on all cylinders. Ultimately this is the records biggest strength as well as its biggest fault. While all songs sound cohesive and written from the same group of people, sometimes the gap between the heavier and the more melodic side is just a bit too much, but that could just be the kid in me which fell in love with Until The Heart Stops (probably their heaviest record ever).
What I do appreciate is their will to experiment with different soundscapes within their own sound cosmos and the willingness to just get very weird from time to time, Pendulambient is the perfect result of that. The 70s called and they want their hallucinogenics back!. Also the lyrical themes are a bit more on the optimistic and positive side of things, which is very refreshing when you compare this band to their peers. I think this is probably the result of the stuff this band has gone through. I remember an interview specifically stating that these guys always felt like they went to war together and came back alive.
The record could have been so much more of a ride if it would just be a bit shorter. While a 71-minute playtime sounds impressive on paper, towards the end of it the fillers become more and more apparent, and the songs start to meander a bit. Thankfully Cave In decided to put some bangers near the end of the record for a pay off, but is it a pay off when some of the material beforehand missed the mark? I’ll leave that up to you to decide. Another point of critique I have seen over the last few days was the voice of singer and guitar player Stephen Brodsky, but that is a sentiment that I cannot echo, I love this man’s voice and he could serenade me to sleep for the rest of my life.
Even though not their best record this is still a strong effort and probably their best sounding in years (Kurt Balou of Converge worked his magic again). Also, I am just glad that a band like Cave In exists and finally gets the attention they always deserved. It’s time to move up from being an insider tip to a spot on the pedestal next to all the other bands from the Massachusetts area. I for one cannot wait to see where they go in the future when they distill the formula of this album down to perfection. If this record is an indicator the best Record of Cave In may just be around the corner.