Review by Shadowdoom9 (Andi) for Cave In - Jupiter (2000)

Cave In started off strong with their deathly atmospheric metalcore album in their first couple releases, complete with powerful riffing and screamed vocals. Then in 1999, they released the EP Creative Eclipses. More like Creative Differences! That EP took on an entirely different sound of alt-/space rock, and fans were wondering "What the f*** just happened?!" Unfortunately, any hope for that to be a one-off experiment was diminished the following year...

Their attempt at pop-ish alt-/space rock in their second full-length album Jupiter has more in common with U2 than anything else. Everything sounds so clean, dreamy, and happy-sappy. Frontman Stephen Brodsky dropped all of his screaming for just clean falsetto, like a more strained Matt Bellamy from Muse.

Beginning the journey is the sweet innocent title opener. Then "In the Stream of Commerce" shows the band balancing on the line of hard rock, sounding OK in the Stone Temple Pilots-infused chorus. However, the verse has too much guitar reverb and that d*mn falsetto. I respect their talents and all, but that just comes out as re- er, stupid. Next, "Big Riff" is a bit of a struggle, from at least it throws back to their earlier heavier sound with occasional heavy riffing along with growled vocals by Caleb Scofield (RIP).

Following this is "Innuendo and Out the Other" (what does that even mean?!?!) which is too much like a chorus-less Soundgarden track. The more stoner-ish "Brain Candle" takes on drug-metaphors that sound like they're relatable but, of course, I never do drugs.

While the previous track has structure, this one, the 9-minute epic "Requiem" doesn't need one to be one of the only tracks in this album that I like. The doomy climax is a little odd when put together with the lyrics, though I enjoy it a lot. "Decay of the Delay" is just a useless 4-minute interlude. "New Moon" starts off sounding like a boring love ballad, like their own futile attempt at Extreme's "More Than Words". However, its heavy two-minute ending took me by pleasant surprise.

If Jupiter is their way of making a more mature work of art, I can recognize that. I just think this is the wrong direction for them to take. Their debut Until Your Heart Stops is far more listenable than their sh*tty exploration in spacey alt-rock....

Favorites (only songs I like): "Jupiter", "Requiem"