White Silence

The sign of quality in a Cave In record is whether its title refers to death by cave-in or not. Beyond Hypothermia and Until Your Heart Stops were brilliantly crushing albums that expanded the boundaries of metal and hardcore, bringing in radical rhythmic shifts, elements of psychedelia and much more. Later records journeyed into the cosmos, adorned with titles like Jupiter, Antenna, and Planets of Old, and were substantially less heavy, and less rewarding, than the band's earliest work. White Silence seems to return to the cave-in/snowed-in theme, and while it's not a full-on metal assault in the vein of Beyond and Until, it's still a terrific record. The music runs the gamut from the almost Deftones-ish "Sing My Loves," which never feels eight minutes long, to the grinding hardcore of "Vicious Circles," one of the hardest, most aggressive songs the band has ever recorded. "Centered" is a jagged burst of noise-rock, while "Summit Fever" combines distorted vocals with a huge, almost classic rock riff. The album concludes with three pastoral, indie friendly, acoustic-guitar-dominated songs in a row. Cave In has always been a multifaceted band, but their stylistic range has never been as thoroughly explored as it is on White Silence.