Review Summary: Cave In continues to evolve with their ever changing musical tastes.
My first listening experience with Cave In was when
Antenna came out back in 2003, and I had no idea they were a metal outfit back in the late 90s. I just thought it was a solid rock album and never really looked into the band again until earlier this year. I bought
Until Your Heart Stops (which was a little jarring for my ears after hearing
Antenna first) and was convinced it wasn't the same band and I had made a mistake in my purchase. After a little research, I started to buy more of Cave In's albums and have been playing catch up ever since. It's rare to see a band go through so many genres in only a little over a decade's time and is a pretty impressive feat.
Planets of Old is just a snippet of Cave In's multi genre approach to their music. Two are of the heavier nature ("The Red Trail" and "Cayman Tongue"), full of riffs and harsh vocals from all 3 vocalist, and the other two ("Air Escapes" and "Retina Sees Rewind") have more of an upbeat alternative/pop punk feel to them prominently featuring Stephen Brodsky's singing. "The Red Trail" actually hits all of these notes, being a balls-out metal-hardcore punk infusion and doesn't let up until the last note is played. "Cayman Tongue" is definitely a highlight with traded vocals between Bassist Caleb Scofield and guitarist Stephen Brodsky, but I find the spacey interlude kind of annoying, and I think it breaks up the flow of the song. If it would have been an actual instrumental break instead of a bunch of random noises and effects, it could have been an even better offering. "The Red Trail" edges it out though, featuring guitarist Adam McGrath screaming his head off in a fit of rage, while getting some occasional back up from Scofield and Brodsky, for a quick two minutes of riffy hardcore bliss.
Planets of Old is a strong EP for Cave In, and I am always interested to see what they are going to try next.
