I first heard Cave In when I was a freshman in college. They released Until Your Heart Stops and it was so pummeling and blistering that I was blown away. (Then I found out they were my age and I felt like a huge failure in life.) And here we are, twenty-five years since that initial full length and the band is still putting out hard-hitting music. Sure, their albums aren’t as crushing as those early few in the ’90s but after going alternative for a bit in the ’00s, Cave In now fits comfortably back into the metal genre. I would’ve thought their previous release, Final Transmission, would’ve been the band’s last, especially since the death of bassist Caleb Scofield. However, I’m glad they brought Nate Newton of Converge and Doomriders into the fold. And that’s not just for his bass skills but also his contributions on vocals. His fierce voice, along with Stephen Brodsky’s singing and the occasional contribution from guitarist Adam McGrath, give Cave In richness on the vocal front. Musically, the band’s sound on the fourteen tracks of Heavy Pendulum come in somewhere between ’90s Cave In, Baroness, and Mastodon. It’s heavy, sharp, and produced by Kurt Ballou, so of course it sounds great. Everything comes together really well on Heavy Pendulum. It’s certainly among the band’s best work. –Kurt Morris (Relapse)