It seems the latest trick in the book for bands to gain publicity is to break up, reunite, and then repeat the process several times throughout their career. If they need our love that much, why don’t they just say so? However, in the case of Cave In a tad of creativity was applied to the typical scheme, as they only reunited to release the Planets of Old EP so far and play some shows, and no news was announced concerning their future. Good one, Cave In!
But looking past meager witticisms surrounding their career, the future is looking bright for the Massachusetts post-hardcore outfit – if they choose to continue that is. Planets of Old features a drastic shift back to the Until Your Heart Stops era with “The Red Tail”, characterized by pounding D-beat rhythms (though they’re not accentuated over other instruments, like a great deal of D-beat is), and spastic mathcore riffing reminiscent of the metalcore scene they were once a part of, along with core-colleagues, Converge. On the other hand, much of the sound they had since Jupiter, as well as elements from other projects they’re involved with, is ever-present throughout the release. In fact, to expand on the latter point, the opening track “Cayman’s Tongue” is so shaken with Zozobra influence, that it’s very much astounding to see the band going in such a direction. The remaining songs bring less that is new to the table, but are nonetheless solid tracks, on a release many fans probably thought they would never see following Cave In’s break up.
Though it’s difficult to find much wrong with bands like Cave In, who consistently release good albums and grace us with their presence in various other projects, it wouldn’t hurt to see them play further on the sludge elements they incorporated on this release in the future, rather than continue in a similar direction to their last few albums. Planets of Old presents a fiery, aggressive Cave In with a new found energy, and promise for a different full-length release – now we just have to keep our fingers crossed.
(7.9/10)
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