Cave In - Final Transmission

Artist: Cave In
Album: Final Transmission
Year: 2019
Rating: 91/100

On March 28th, 2018, Cave In bassist Caleb Scofield was killed in a fatal car crash when his truck hit a toll booth in New Hampshire. Before he left this mortal coil, he recorded a final album with his Cave In bandmates Adam McGrath, Stephen Brodsky and John-Robert Conners. This album was called Final Transmission.

So how does it stack up? Despite the fact that it feels as if it was cut short (for obvious reasons), it has all the hallmarks of Cave In that we know and love. Stephen Brodsky brings some of the grittiness of Mutoid Man to proceedings with his guitar playing, adding a bit of bite to the spaced out tones of the album, that evoke what was arguably Cave In's finest musical hour, Jupiter. Tracks such as "All Illusion", "Strange Reflection" and "Shake My Blood" wouldn't have been out of place on that album, with Brodsky in fine voice as always and his cohorts making every note that eminates from their instruments count.

Caleb Scofield may not be on this mortal coil any longer, but with his Cave In (and, of course, Zozobra and Old Man Gloom) bandmates, his musical trajectory hasn't half been an enjoyable one. Having gone to Jupiter and back (no pun intended), and despite it feeling like it had been cut short for obvious reasons, his and Cave In's Final Transmission is a memorable one, for all the right reasons. A fantastic addition to Cave In's canon.

Track listing

1. Final Transmission
2. All Illusion
3. Shake My Blood
4. Night Crawler
5. Lunar Day
6. Winter Window
7. Lanterna
8. Strange Reflection
9. Led to the Wolves

SINGLE REVIEW: Hidden Mothers - The Longest Journey Yet

Artist: Hidden Mothers
Single: The Longest Journey Yet
Year: 2019
Rating: 8/10

Sheffield based black metal shoegaze quintet Hidden Mothers are an interesting and invigorating proposition. The band's members were in such bands as Hayfever, Ba'al, Relics, and Fly On Bird, Fly On, and assembled as Hidden Mothers through a mutual love of bands such as Downfall of Gaia, Deafheaven, Alcest, Converge, Oathbreaker and Amenra. "The Longest Journey Yet" is their debut single. How does it stack up?

Well, it's a finely executed balance of post-metal atmospheric sounds that you would associate with bands like MØL, Year of no Light, Sumac, and Rosetta, on the one hand, and on the other hand its assault is more traditional black metal fare: coruscating buzzsaw guitars, vocalist Steffan Benham's banshee howl delivery and fierce blastbeats from drummer Adam Kossowicz. It might not be a wholly original musical idea, but the delivery is superb, and clocking in at four and a half minutes long, is sufficient to get the listener interested enough to wish for them to record an EP. Give them a listen, it's worth your time.