Saturday 8 June 2019

Cave In - Final Transmission (Album Review)


Release date: June 07th 2019. Label: Hydra Head Records. Format: CD/DD/Vinyl

Final Transmission – Tracklisting

1.Final Transmission 02:02
2.All Illusion 03:35
3.Shake My Blood 04:16
4.Night Crawler 03:12
5.Lunar Day 02:22
6.Winter Window 04:40
7.Lanterna 03:54
8.Strange Reflection 04:06
9.Led To The Wolves 03:12

Members

Stephen Brodsky
JR Conners
Adam McGrath
Caleb Scofield

Review

Final Transmission is the new album from legendary rockers – CAVE IN – and is the last album to feature Caleb Scofield who sadly passed away last year. Final Transmission acts as a fitting tribute to Caleb and is perhaps one of the best records CAVE IN have released in years.

The album takes you on quite a journey with the band playing different elements and sounds they’ve played through their entire career. Though this album has their classic “Space Rock” sound they used early on in their career. CAVE IN still play a heavy mix of Sludge Rock, Noise Rock, Post Hardcore and Doomed Out Sounds for a richly rewarding and deeply engaging journey from start to finish.

The opening songs such as: Final Transmission, All Illusion and Shake My Blood – sees CAVE IN playing heavy psychedelic sounds with emotionally complex lyrics with excellent vocals to match. Shake My Blood is perhaps the standout song on the album as it fuses the classic “CAVE IN” sound with a more progressive space rock style of music. The gloomy atmospherics allows the song to soar to greater heights and leaves you wanting more.

CAVE IN don’t forget their Metalcore or Post-Hardcore roots on this album. As the band play a chaotic style of those genres on the later stages of the album and allows Final Transmission to grow naturally. The band seem keen to play with people’s expectations with this record as the album doesn’t follow the standard CAVE-IN journey. However, Final Transmissions is a much bolder album that I originally expected.

The most aggressive songs on the album are Night Crawler and Led To The Wolves as CAVE IN unleash waves of aggressive Post-Hardcore sounds that show you the band haven’t forgotten to play more direct and angrier songs.

Though it’s the more psychedelic moments on the album where CAVE IN ultimately impress the most. The Post-Rock/Post-Metal atmospherics is quite beautiful to listen to at times especially on Lunar Day, Latena and Strange Reflection.

The production on Final Transmission is first-rate and offers the listener an exciting and vibrant sound that only CAVE IN can deliver. If this is the last ever album that CAVE IN release, then they can go with their heads held high knowing they’ve delivered one of their most powerful and dynamic albums of their career.

Words by Steve Howe

Links: