Review by Shadowdoom9 (Andi) for Cave In - White Silence (2011)

I've explained all this before and I'll explain it again. Cave In made their breakthrough with their prog-ish metalcore breakthrough Until Your Heart Stops in 1998. Then they dived into spacey alt-rock in the early 2000s that included a brief stint with a major label. Even though Perfect Pitch Black was almost as exhausting as the two albums before it, the more metal/hardcore sides were building back up. One hiatus, EP, and compilation later, they came back with album #5, White Silence.

With this album, Cave In has taken many of their elements to a more merciless level. The spacey atmosphere has been punched through by their earlier technical riffs and rhythms. Late bassist Caleb Scofield's screams and guitarist Stephen Brodsky's cleans are a stunning blend and having nearly the same ratio as their debut.

The title opener attempts to emphasize vocal distortion but sadly really butchers it. We get the first revisit of their early hardcore in "Serpents" that ends up turning out bland. "Sing My Loves" makes up for those short mishaps as an 8-minute epic. While having more in common with Deftones, there's still some hardcore fun to make the time fly by. It's not the total best track of the album though, I would pass that torch to the next song...

The grind-ish metal/hardcore blitzkrieg that is "Vicious Circles" has some of the band's most vicious aggression since the debut. Horns up, y'all! "Centered" is a bit jarring, being all noise-ridden. "Summit Fever" has more of the vocal distortion, this time combined with classic heavy riffing to make another standout.

The softer yet more epic "Heartbreaks, Earthquakes" has some prog alongside more of Brodsky's cleans, taking a pleasant break from Scofield's seething growls from the first half of the album. "Iron Decibels" is one of the strangest tracks I've heard from this band, though it isn't as bad as the aformentioned title opener. The acoustic finale "Reanimation" ends it all sounding haunting yet somewhat soothing.

Seems like the band is slowly rebuilding themselves since returning from the void. It would take some time to get back to their earlier glory despite regaining their roots. White Silence has given the band a new groove filled with hardcore grooves....

Favorites: "Sing My Loves", "Vicious Circles", "Summit Fever", "Heartbreaks, Earthquakes"