ALBUM REVIEW: Cave In – Heavy Pendulum

Relapse Records

Released: 20.05.22

It would have been perfectly understandable if, after the release of Final Transmission, completed in tribute to the late Caleb Schofield, Cave In had decided to call time. Instead, with Converge/Old Man Gloom member Nate Newton stepping in on bass, they’ve returned with the defiant Heavy Pendulum.

Their first double album, while there are tilts towards their Jupiter/Antenna-era space rock pomp, it’s the heavier end of their catalogue like Until Your Heart Stops and especially White Silence that the band reference here. Fans will rejoice at the likes of midpoint highlights Careless Offering and Blinded By A Blaze, but the unnecessary length of the thing (not to mention the suspicion that a lot of this sounds like Mutoid Man offcuts) keeps Heavy Pendulum from the band’s top tier.