Review by Shadowdoom9 (Andi) for Cave In - Beyond Hypothermia (1998)
As perfect as Cave In's actual debut Until Your Heart Stops is, Beyond Hypothermia is, similarly to Botch's Unifying Themes, an underrated compilation of demo tracks that any metalcore fan should have. When I got on the computer this morning for this reviewing session, I was blown away by this offering as much as I was the first time I heard it a few years before this review. It's hard to imagine that this metalcore album is by a band that would later become atmospheric alt-rock/metal.
Some of the tracks from this album came from split EPs. A few more spawned from some demos. And the remaining few were fresh from this album's recording sessions. There are different members in each recording session, with can cause some obvious lack of cohesion. Still there are high-quality tracks that can't be ignored...
The opening track "Crossbearer" is my favorite here, already giving you what to expect from this band. There's the usual metalcore structure within the riffing, screams, and occasional cleans. If there's anything to plant the seed for metal/mathcore bands like The Dillinger Escape Plan, 2000s Converge, Botch, and Skycamefalling, this is that. Everything about this song is memorable, from the intro to the clean bridge and the rifftastic chaos in between, with those vocals hooks embedded in your head. Truly an epitome of classic metalcore! The kick-A thrashy metalcore riff-fest is only just starting, "Chameleon" marks one of two 6-minute epics in the album that displays more of that metalcore guitar assault. The intro and bridge of "Capsize" have some dissonant feedback from the guitars.
"Stoic" marks a jarring change in quality, and it's not just because it's from a different recording session. It causes the release to lose some power as the weakest sh*t here. "Programmed Behind" has some melodic thrash that The Haunted would later have, but everything sounds more programmed than naturally performed. "Flypaper", the other 6-minute epic, is one of the earliest tracks by the band and can be considered a classic of metalcore riffing insanity. No matter how great you think that song is, you can never put down the riffwork. "Mitigate" is another decent track, though still not so great.
Highlight "Pivotal" is a frenzy of earth-shattering mind-stopping leads. Again making a sharp turn in quality is one of the new tracks "Ritual Famine", which is bland but not a total disaster. The 11-minute "Crambone" is more of a collage of different tracks. First we have one of the most ridiculous songs besides BTBAM's "The Man Land". Then we have an ambient noise section sounding like something from a horror movie, human screams and all. Finally, after some silence, the hidden track comes on. It's the band's own cover medley of 3 Metallica songs. Those songs are two of them from the Ride the Lightning album, "Fight Fire With Fire" and "Creeping Death", and my favorite one from their debut Kill 'Em All, "The Four Horsemen". Although I'm not too much of a fan of Metallica, that is quite a treat for me and any other metalhead. By the way, the only other time I've encountered the word "Crambone" is when it's sung by Uncle Pecos from that one Tom and Jerry cartoon, just some indecipherable singing and then "Crambone!"
Cave In have already proven their talent before their actual breakthrough in Beyond Hypothermia. Despite not being so cohesive and having a couple tracks that could've been better, it's put alongside some of Botch and Coalesce's releases as an underrated metalcore classic. For all you Revolution followers out there...
Favorites: "Crossbearer", "Chameleon", "Capsize", "Flypaper", "Pivotal", hidden Metallica medley