At least someone from Cave In is currently doing something with balls. And holy fuck does Zozobra have balls. Zozobra, the sludge/doom/skullcrushing brainchild of Caleb Scofield (also of Old Man Gloom) hasn’t waited long since last year’s Harmonic Tremors to follow up with a new album Bird of Prey, a punishing slab of metal full of fuzzed-out, low-end Isis-like riffs and an unmistakable sense of melody not heard since Cave In’s early work.* No surprise then that Bird of Prey was recorded and mixed by Isis drummer Aaron Harris, who also plays drums on the record.

MetalSucks can exclusively debut (at least for the 2 seconds it takes you steal, seed, and torrent it) the new track “In Jetstreams” from Bird of Prey. Enjoy this sucker.

Zozobra – “In Jetstreams” (mp3)

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* I love Cave In’s later work too, for the record, if not moreso. But it’s different, ya hear?

Seeing as I’ve been anxiously waiting 5 years for a proper new Cave In album (unless you count 2005′s stitched-together Perfect Pitch Black, which I kind of don’t), I was naturally shocked to find out yesterday via Metal Bastard’s MP3 Blahg that there was a Cave In song I haven’t ever heard before, “Inflatable Dream.”

Apparently the song never appeared on an album, and according to Cave In’s website it was never released. But judging from the sound of it, I’d gander it was recorded around the time of the Creative Eclipses EP (1999/2000). There are still elements of the band’s bone-crushing, metallic hardcore thunder, but atmospheric guitars and Steve Brodsky’s clean singing have crept in as well. It could also easily be post-Antenna… Who knows.

Whatever the case, it’s fucking awesome. I’ve listened to it four times already since yesterday!

Cave In – “Inflatable Dream”

If you dig Cave In, be sure to read the extensive, career-spanning retrospective I wrote about the band a few months back (with lots of MP3s!).

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According to Lambgoat, Hydra Head Records have announced the details for their SXSW showcase, to take place Friday (March 14th) at Red 7 in Austin, Texas:

Helms Alee
Everlovely Lightningheart
Stove Bredsky
Clouds
Dalek
Kayo Dot
Harvey Milk
Torche

“Stove Bredsky”? I think we can safely conclude that Cave In’s Steven Brodsky will be making an appearance at this show in some form or another, whether it be solo, w/ the Octave Museum, or some other incarnation. But why the mis-spelling? Either some poor intern was having a bad day when he wrote up the press release or there is something else afoot here. There’s nothing that explicitly suggests a Cave In reunion show, but wouldn’t that be sweet? Those in attendence (which, sadly, will be none of us) will be able to say “I was there.”

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Seminal Boston band Cave In have an intruiging history, one that took them from sweaty basement DYI hardcore shows to spaced-out progressive mettalirock to major-label bidding war and then all the way back, all within the span of a few short years. No heavy band from the Northeastern US seems to be as widely loved and respected yet criminally overlooked as Cave In.

Cave In started out playing a blistering, dense hybrid of hardcore and metal and morphed into progged-out, cerebral space-rock seemingly overnight. The band’s early sound filtered Metallica and Slayer riffs through aggro-calculus-core chugga-chugga akin to Converge and Dillinger Escape Plan, two bands whose histories are closely intertwined with Cave In. But what made the band so interesting was the way they grew over time to weave art-metal experimentation, melody and psychedelia into their otherwise brutal, mind-bending assault. The result was a truly progressive, artistic, brutal and most importantly one-of-a-kind sound that was unmatched during the band’s run and remains astonishing and relevant to this day.

Click to read more…

Because seriously, the Doomriders jam that Crustcake posted today is the most fun thing I’ve heard in a while. The members have some serious hardcore pedigree — what with Nate Newton of Converge and J.R. Connors of Cave In filling the band’s ranks — but this is no annoying hardcore breakdown-fest. It’s fast, blues-based, Thin Lizzy-tinged southern groove rock n’ roll. If I didn’t know better and the vocals were an octave higher I’d suggest some ’80s sleaze influence and it might even be up Allyson’s alley at Bring Back Glam.

According to Lambgoat they’ll be releasing their second full-length later this year, which is great news considering how much ass this track kicks.

Doomriders – “Black Thunder”

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