There are times where reviewing certain bands constitutes more than just an item on a to do list, where it is less ephemeral than it may often be. There are some bands, that transcend our corporeal existence, and stick like cholesterol to the valves of your heart, like sweat to your brow, like Marmite to your fingernail. Cave In, are one such band for me, having come late to the party some six or so years ago, this band now occupy a special place in my heart. I was lucky enough to review their last album 2019’s ‘Final Transmission’ which was caked in a melancholic raw sadness that cloaked the entire album like a fine mist that sat at the peripheries of your mind, drenching your soul. Recorded in the aftermath of the tragic death of Cave In’s bass player Caleb Scofield, it used demo versions, half-finished ideas, and pieced them together to create a collection of heart rendering, howling eulogies that whilst not quite reaching the dizzying heights of much of the band’s finer moments within their illustrious back catalogue, they were painfully raw vignettes that showcased what a special, talented and essential band Cave In are.
And so, to this, their latest album, which see’s Caleb’s bass duties divested to Converge’s Nate Newton who, to his credit, carries his own bags in terms of the percussive, warmth and driving rawness of the bottom end, which forms much of what is great on this album, as well as adding his own monstrously barked backing vocals. As with all Cave In’s previous oeuvre, there is a depth and spectral element to it, which you cannot hope to get to the bottom of in a few listens, even today, I still find musical passages in their back catalogue that I am a hundred percent certain I have not heard before, that lend favourite tracks, an additional dimension and flavour. It’s a skill leveraged by only the very most talented bands, who can create a piece of work that continues to evolve for the listener over time, changing form, and continuing to surprise and enlighten. Upon the first four or five listens, this is Cave In 2.0, with Boss PS-3 pedals set to stun, expansive space rock, segues to girder strength riffs that hurl themselves at your face with no apologies, before offering to bandage your broken teeth in a soft, warm blanket of sultry guitars, soaring leads and Stephen Brodsky’s lush vocals. None more so than on ‘Blinded by a Blaze’ that channels its inner Alice in Chains with that indominable ‘Cave In’ sound that is so instantly recognisable, featuring as it does, a wandering prehistoric beast of a central riff, that roams the hinterland looking for love.
As the album progresses, it waxes and wanes, pivoting between sturdy rockers with more expansive flights of fancy, songs turn on their heads in an instant before escaping down rabbit holes you did not see coming. Other songs are a ‘little’ more straightforward such as ‘Nightmare Eyes’ and ‘Searchers of Hell’ that in other less talented bands hands, would come across as album fillers, but Cave In somehow seem to be able to elevate the basics and create something, magical, unexpected and glorious. Penultimate song ‘Reckoning’ has guitarist Adam McGrath take up lead vocals for the first time, helming a folksy, blues influenced western ballad that may lack some of the blunt force trauma of some of the heavier moments on this album, it recalls Jerry Cantrell’s languid tone and delivers further proof that Cave In have more than one string to their bow. It all ends in spectacular fashion with the twelve-minute behemoth that is ‘Wavering Angel’ which bastes itself in rock pomposity in the vein of say Queen or Pink Floyd, but manages to come out the other side of its running time as a fully formed, precision tooled slice of rock magic
In summary, this has the potential to be Cave In’s finest hour, but, given the seventy-one-minute running time, and the fact that this is best listened to in chronological order and in its entirety, some may find it takes some time for Heavy Pendulum to settle and coalesce into something manageable BUT, that said, this is could well be Cave In’s magnum opus.
Cave In’s more metallic, post hardcore/metalcore stylings are still audible, sprinkled through-out the album, like a judiciously seasoned broth but are given time to breath, to extrapolate and complement rather than jar against the more delicate passages featured on the album. Heavy Pendulum simply confirms (again) that one of rock’s most enduring, complex, contrary and musical schizophrenic bands, have simply done what they intended, which is to please themselves and confound expectations all over again. Take your time, breath the music in, close your eyes and luxuriate in this album’s sublimity.
(9.5/10 Nick Griffiths)
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