| Heavy Pendulum | |
| Type: | studio |
| Artist: | Cave In |
| Cover: | Heavy_Pendulum.jpg |
| Released: | May 20, 2022 |
| Recorded: | January–February, August 2021 |
| Studio: | GodCity, Salem, Massachusetts |
| Genre: | |
| Length: | 70:30 |
| Label: | Relapse |
| Producer: | Kurt Ballou |
| Prev Title: | Final Transmission |
| Prev Year: | 2019 |
Heavy Pendulum is the seventh studio album by American rock band Cave In, released on May 20, 2022, through Relapse Records.[1] This is the band's first album with bassist/backing vocalist Nate Newton, though late bassist/vocalist Caleb Scofield still has a presence on the record.[2]
In July 2021, Cave In signed to Relapse Records and announced its seventh studio album will be released through the label.[3] The album's title was revealed as Heavy Pendulum with the release of the single "New Reality" on March 15, 2022.[4] The album's second single, "Blinded by a Blaze", was released on April 5.[5] The album's third single, "Blood Spiller", was released on April 26.[6] The fourth single, "Reckoning", was released on May 10; the song was written entirely by guitarist Adam McGrath.[7]
The album was produced by Converge guitarist Kurt Ballou, who produced Cave In's debut Until Your Heart Stops.[8]
"New Reality" features a riff that was written by late bassist/vocalist Caleb Scofield in 2011. Additionally, "Amaranthine" features lyrics that were written by Scofield.
Revolver described lead single and opening track "New Reality" as leaning "into the quartet's sludgier inclinations."[9] Jon Hadusek from Consequence referred to the song's riff as "heavy sludge and stoner metal."[10] Second single, "Blinded by a Blaze", has been described as post-metal.[11]
Nicholas Senior of New Noise Magazine described the album as stoner metal, comparing it to Red Fang. Additionally, the album has been noted as having a strong grunge influence and "employing a wide-ranging amalgam of brooding post-grunge and "Creeping Death"-era Metallica thrash".
"Blood Spiller" was written in response to several events that occurred in 2020. Frontman Stephen Brodsky stated:
If you laid out the timeline for 2020 like a recipe, it might look something like this: global pandemic + lockdowns + worldwide protests over the wrongful death of George Floyd + election year = cocktail for end times. Somewhere in that concoction, we found ingredients for a new Cave In album. Blood Spiller is the sound of us swallowing it, getting ripped on the horrors within, and coming down to reflect on it through song.[12]
Cave In