Review CAVE IN ‘Heavy Pendulum’

Cave In, hailing from Methuen, Massachusetts, is a band with a foundation date in 1995. This was the start of a first era of Cave In, a period with four releases. The biggest success in this era was the release of the ‘Antenna’-album which showed the band experimenting with a wider sound that opened the gates towards a larger target group.

In 2006, Cave In went on a hiatus that lasted for three years. The band returned in 2009 and recorded with ‘Planets of Old’ a new EP. This was the beginning of a next phase of Cave In. In July 2021, the guys inked a deal with Relapse Records and recorded their seventh longplayer. ‘Heavy Pendulum’ is the title of the record that will hit the shelves mid-May. ‘New Reality’ has been launched as a first single and it is also the roaring opener of the album. A booming bass, downtuned guitars and a mighty beat is what makes this song to a well-chosen start into the album. In a way, the title of this song can be also interpreted in various ways.

This record is the first one in a new reality without Caleb Scofield. The bassist died in a car accident a few years ago and forced the band into a new reality. Nate Newton filled in the vacant position, benefit shows have been played and work on the latest album ‘Final Transmission has been finished.

And we also know that we all live in a new reality too, with a pandemic that out the brakes on human interaction and slowly we get back to something new.

Now it’s time for ‘Heavy Pendulum’. Sometimes these days longplayers aren’t even worth to be described as ‘long’-payers since the scratch a thirty-minute length. Things are different here. Cave In launch a record that has fourteen songs and comes with a running time of 70 minutes. There is no question about the quantity factor and what it is thrilling that the songs are exciting too.

I mentioned already the opener, the leadoff song for an exciting album. Cave In cleverly used some interludes to create tension and interrupt the usual flow of songs. Those interludes are still heavy outbursts but also differ from the rest. One of these songs is the 12-minute closer ‘Wavering Angel’.

It’s a sadly singing acoustic guitar that starts the song, followed by melancholic vocals. The first half of the song stays clam and acoustic. A shade of grey wraps the song that gains heaviness in the second half. In a way the ‘Wavering Angel’ combines everything the album stands for. Well-crafted songs, great hooks, emotional depth and a strong passion for their music, that is what make Cave In’s new longplayer to an album you shouldn’t miss if you like music that doesn’t exactly follow the mainstream path.