July 2025 - Featured Release - The Gateway Edition

Cave In - Perfect Pitch Black (2005)

https://metal.academy/releases/1806

Nice choice, Saxy! This may not be Cave In's best metal work, but it's interesting enough for me to consider reviewing, along with the rest of their discography beyond Until Your Heart Stops. Reviews coming up this weekend maybe...

I've done my review, here's its summary:

Now this is something Cave In wanted to do, make a post-hardcore/alt-metal release that balances their earlier heaviness with the alt-ish tendencies they were sucked into. They started off with metalcore in Beyond Hypothermia and Until Your Heart Stops, adopted more of a spacey alt-rock sound in Jupiter and Tides of Tomorrow, and was signed to RCA to make the accessible Antenna. That last album was not worth it for the band and their longtime fans. Heading back to the more lenient Hydra Head, Perfect Pitch Black shows the band taking their sound from Jupiter and making it heavier, even adding in the harsh vocals last used in Until Your Heart Stops. If the objective was to regain their earlier fans with songs having a better balanced structure, they've done it. Though not by a long shot... I enjoy the heavier and well-structured songs of the album and Stephen Brodsky's soaring cleans have beautiful strength and wider range compared to the previous two albums. And then there are Caleb Scofield's cool growls. His screams and bass give some songs instant memorability. RIP... And of course, I've struggled with the shorter softer tracks. Perfect Pitch Black may not be Cave In's return to their 90s peak, but it's a slight improvement from their previous two albums and has more enjoyable tracks. A decent comeback to the earlier aspects they've revolutionized....

3/5