(2022) Cave In - Heavy Pendulum
Review:
The veteran Massachusetts-based rockers’ first proper set of new studio recordings in a decade – 2019’s largely stitched-together Final Transmission served as a potent eulogy for fallen bassist Caleb Scofield – the Relapse-issued Heavy Pendulum is a robust and relentlessly creative beast that distills all of Cave-In‘s influences into sonic totality. The group’s inaugural outing with Converge bassist/screamer Nate Newton, the generously stacked 14-song set has its highlights but achieves maximum fluidity when consumed in a single sitting. Aptly named opener “New Reality” sets a blistering pace, pairing blazing riffs and larynx-shredding declarations of intent with moments of pure stadium rock splendor. Employing a wide-ranging amalgam of brooding post-grunge and “Creeping Death”-era Metallica thrash, Heavy Pendulum is stocked with a generous amount of slow-burning midtempo pieces. “Blinded by a Blaze,” “Reckoning,” and the title cut are anchored in the expansive sludge/doom emissions of guitarist/clean vocalist Stephen Brodsky’s Old Man Gloom project, while the Sabbath-leaning “Blood Spiller” feels more in line with his work in Mutoid Man and Converge. It’s the latter group’s presence that casts the longest shadow, especially on more progressive-minded fare like the epic 12-minute closer “Wavering Angel.” Heavy Pendulum could have been a slog, but the band is so invested that even its most meandering moments feel vital. Cave-In have crafted a dense, lengthy (over 70 minutes), and rewarding work that’s both mindful of the past and focused on the horizon.
Track List:
01 - New Reality
02 - Blood Spiller
03 - Floating Skulls
04 - Heavy Pendulum
05 - Pendulambient
06 - Careless Offering
07 - Blinded by a Blaze
08 - Amaranthine
09 - Searchers of Hell
10 - Nightmare Eyes
11 - Days of Nothing
12 - Waiting for Love
13 - Reckoning
14 - Wavering Angel
Media Report:
Genre: post-rock
Country: Massachusetts, USA
Format: FLAC
Format/Info: Free Lossless Audio Codec, 16-bit PCM
Bit rate mode: Variable
Channel(s): 2 channels
Sampling rate: 44.1 KHz
Bit depth: 16 bits
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