Neverendless

The Chicago group Cave return here with some trademark psych jamming. They exhibit here a pounding sound that takes influence from krautrock in particular, but also post-punk, post-rock, and prog. The whole thing is covered in a psychedelic glaze of overdriven amps, wah pedals, and hard-charging rhythms. Cave wisely rely less on the tired instrumental rock formula of loud-quiet-loud and instead go for a loud-louder-loudest formula that leads to a consistent energy build-up on tracks like opener “WUJ” and closer “OJ”. Their song structures are also consistently building, making tracks like the 14-minute “This Is The Best” much more exciting than the latest opus from yesterday’s post-rock titans. Cave have created a unique sound for themselves, something that’s become a harder feet to pull off nowadays in the instrumental rock landscape. This record’s not perfect, as things do tend to ramble (as is to be expected on a 5-track full-length), but it’s a very solid effort from a very good band.