Cave In is back! Yes! The band makes its comeback known with the four-track twelve inch EP, Planets of Old, much to the excitement of long time fans and those that have yet to experience the four piece outfit (with drummer JR Connors rejoining the fold). Considering the chameleon like shifting of the band's sound over the years, the question on many listeners' lips may be, "What Cave In are we all going to hear on Planets of Old?" From the raw chaos of Beyond Hypothermia to the much lauded metal of Until Your Heart Stops to the genre throwing and fan base demarcating Jupiter to the major label Antenna to the semi return to their roots of Perfect Pitch Black, the men of Cave In never allow themselves to be bound to the masthead of any particular genre. Even the bands EP's are full of varying sounds and moods. With all the hub bub, it is nice to know that some things never change as Planets of Old plays the same game that all of the band's other material does.
Pounding drums and a rumbling bass hold the guitars to earth as they harmonically wail through the din; this is Cave In mixing the aggressive nature (even the brutish bellowing and screaming vocals make a dramatic appearance) of their earlier material with the more spacey sounding material (think Jupiter era), and it is wholly impressive. The blistering riffs that make up "Retina Sees Rewind" cascade from the speakers and Steven Brodsky's vocals may seem more plaintive with a false sense of almost urgency; "Air Escapes" feels like a throw back to the more poppy era of Cave In (some of the song reminds me of the "Lost in the Air" single) while adding a bit more rhythmic backbone or maybe the bass is just a bit more pronounced in the mix. The lone miss step to be found on Planets of Old for me is "The Red Trail", and although the music is pretty decent, the majority of the screeching vocals just really makes for some difficult listening.
Hearing this record brings a smile on my face ten miles wide as nostalgia mixes with the reverberations emanating from the slab of vinyl spinning on my record player to remind me that Cave In still possesses the ability to craft deft melodies woven in the midst of aggressive tempos and bits of coarse sound. And while Planets of Old is not the Cave In of yesteryear, I definitely ask myself, "Do I want it to be?" For now, this EP is spinning quite a bit around my house and making my long wait worth every minute of wondering if the band would ever put another record out; I will surely take Planets of Old as "Cayman Tongue" will definitely enter my regular rotation of songs that I anxiously await to hear the next time Cave In rolls into town. Yes, Cave In is most definitely back!
