Monday, January 2, 2012

My Top 5 Albums of 2011 - Number 5


White Silence by Cave In

For almost their entire career Cave In’s EPs have been harbingers of what’s to come for the band’s next full-length recordings. Creative Eclipse’s spacey experimentalism was followed by the supernova that was Jupiter, while Tides of Tomorrow’s more poppy leanings heralded the oft-maligned major label release Antenna. It should be no surprise then that after 2005’s almost retrospective sounding reunion album Perfect Pitch Black, 2010’s grinding Planets of Old EP would give way to 2011’s full-length return to metalcore White Silence.

Proving that you can always go home again, White Silence bellows, chugs, and grinds its way through 35 minutes of classic-sounding Cave In. This is a band that, despite taking some sonic detours in their time, has managed to take the best of all possible worlds and combine them yet again. While tracks like the titular White Silence and Vicious Circles sound more like a return to Until Your Heart Stops-era Cave In, the 8 minute space-metal monster Sing My Loves, Summit Fever’s almost progressive loftiness, and the comparatively quiet psychedelic strains of Heartbreaks, Earthquakes all owe something to the Jupiter era in some form and prove this is a band that has come full circle.

Is this the last Cave In album? Who knows? I doubt even the band members themselves know for sure. Having seen them on a small tour in support of White Silence however gives me hope. One thing is for sure: whether they keep making new albums or not, Cave In has risen from the ashes of major label ruination louder, stronger, and better than ever before.

Key Tracks: White Silence, Sing My Loves, Summit Fever

My Top 5 Albums of 2011 - Number 1
My Top 5 Albums of 2011 - Number 2
My Top 5 Albums of 2011 - Number 3
My Top 5 Albums of 2011 - Number 4

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