In the mid 1990s, some hardcore bands got together and started playing shows in and around the Boston area before eventually landing deals with local Hydra Head Records. One of these bands was Converge, who by the end of the decade had risen to the apex of the revitalized genre on a wave of polyrhythmic insanity. Another group of guys called Piebald stopped screaming altogether and unexpectedly shifted focus to pop structures and wistful songs about their tour bus.
Cave In, whose Merrimack Valley Hardcore is easily on par with Converge and the Piebald, cranked up their reverb and set off in yet another direction. While their experiments with space rock and slow-building rhythms seem, at first, to set them apart from their contemporaries’ sonic choices, their strength through the years had resided in their willingness to let their past and present coexist in their ever-developing sound.
On Planets of Old, their first release in nearly five years, Cave In are even less concerned than usual with genre adherence, covering almost all of the ground they explored in fifteen-plus years on four near-perfect tracks.
Fans of 2000s Jupiter should have few gripes with “Cayman Tongue,” a huge, crawling epic six minute lead-in loaded with tons of echo and loud, loud guitars. On the opposite end of the spectrum, the abrasive vocals and frenetic energy of “The Red Trail” reference the band’s early hardcore days. The other selections fall neatly in the middle, adding hooks and melodies to the auditory overload.
Is this, then, a comeback record? I’d say no.
Planets of Old merely marks yet another release by a band that has consistently valued quality over quantity, even if it takes a vacation or two. This is well worth the five years.
Also Check Out:
Deftones: Deftones
Piebald: We Are The Only Friends That We Have
Converge: Jane Doe
