Their latest album, Final Transmission, is the newest piece of music we have received from the Massachusetts based band known as Cave In. Last year, their bassist, Caleb Scofield, was killed in an unexpected car accident. The band decided to release the album and deal with their loss in a more public manner. In the nine-track record, Scofield is found playing on each of them, causing the album to act as a tribute to their lost band member. 

            Cave In has seemed to really find their sound in this album. In previous records, the emotion is just as raw and aggressive, but in Final Transmission, the bass lines are copious and go beyond the line of belligerent. The lines hit strong and thrust the album forward with much more confidence than the sound of their earlier projects. Most of the emotional pull that is felt throughout the album comes from the fact that every song on this was meant to be a demo. There were no lyrics until after Scofield’s death. The more you listen to the record the more you start to collapse into yourself. The sound starts to break, and you feel less centered than when you began. This album is unsurprisingly, a bittersweet listen. From the lyrics in “Shake My Blood”, in which Stephen Brodsky sings ‘Don’t leave / Don’t leave without saying goodbye’, to the ashy and grounded bass line in “Strange Reflection”, it is clear that the core of this album is laid out in the most basic of human terms. 

Final Transmission Track List:

1. Final Transmission
2. All Illusion
3. Shake My Blood
4. Night Crawler
5. Lunar Day 
6. Winter Window
7. Lanterna
8. Strange Reflection
9. Led to the Wolves

Article by Destinee Gates-Stepro