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Album Review
by SashaS
19-3-2003
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| Cave In are tuned into the vast cosmos |
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Cave In: 'Antenna'
(RCA)
Cave In: Best Rock CD contenders
Pop sure makes a racket these days, metal boys are working their kerrang!, Hip-Hop crews drop the noise, teen sensations explode with their trailblazing career antics; there is nu-soul of Alicia Keys, R&B galore, there is a calm newcomer like Norah Jones… But then, take Linkin Park, The Used, Kelly Osbourne, Sum 41, add Good Charlotte and Avril Lavigne and you have a recipe for rot.
Rock and punk (corpo edition) appear to be no less manufactured than pop acts; perhaps more covertly but certainly made-to-measure for a perfect zeitgeist fit. Thus, having lived with the Cave In’s fourth (first major) album for several months, I can promise you plenty of genuinely rocking instances to happy-tize your misery hours. ‘Antenna’ is such a huge collection of tunes that only blinded-by-status-quo fans of the band may find it objectionable.
‘Antenna’ presents a giant step for the band: gone are the underground and shaky obscurism to be replaced with the valiant embracing many an element that interested them before but were too green to effectively incorporate into one killer entity. Until now, obviously: after somewhat restrained opening with ‘Stained Silver’, they really fire it up on ‘Inspire’ – magnificently, loudly, colossally dosage’d. Then, ‘Joy Opposites’ slowly opens the gates for the flood of sounds to spurt out… ‘Beautiful Son’ is an acoustic track with Beatles-que harmonies disturbed by noisy breaks and effected guitar weaving around – a delish!
‘Anchor’ is a straight-forward punkoid rockng, later joined by similarly paced ‘Rubber and Glue’ but a catchier chorus, it gets almost U2-ish on ‘Youth Overrided’ with its wavy guitar sound; ‘Breath of Water’ proves again, no disrespect to the rhythm section, that this is the singer and guitarist’s album. Stephen Brodsky muscles out his lungs, Adam McGrath guitars with enthusiasm not heard since the early Tom Morello days!
‘Lost In The Air’ almost pays homage to the AudioSlave six-stringer's acrobatics by playing all over the track that is less intense and more of a progger, its rousing arrangement taking you higher and higher until one is a glider. (Get your cans out, space cadets!) ‘Woodwork’ plays with its complex arrangement by altering bluesy passages with detonations as if soundtracking the Armageddon!
Still, it would have been better if album ended with the 8-plus minutes of ‘Seafrost’ because it shows the band’s true potential. A mixture of Led Zeppelin, King Crimson and Yes-like ending – or, Tool, for the younger readers – you can hardly get it any better without a prophylactic; there are echoes of inspirations and tonal similarities but it is far from a mere regurgitating the past. ‘Seafrost’ is a sheer bloody epic to make ‘Antenna’ sound as modern as tomorrow and makes you feel like a part of their (sonic) gang.
Considering that the same company is home to Avril Lavigne and, even, Will & Gareth, Cave In (after Foo Fighters, naturlich) more than balance the other rubbish! They are one of Dave Grohl’s favourite (current) bands and you can’t buy such recommendation even if you had a Coke-sized advertising budget.
8.7/10
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Tour dates:
07 May – Wedgewood Rooms, Portsmouth
08 May – University, Liverpool
10 May – The Venue, Edinburgh
11 May – Cornerhouse, Middlesborough
14 May – ULU, London
SashaS
19-3-2003
Cave In’s album ‘Antenna is released 17 March 2003 on RCA/BMG
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