Cavern : "Powdered"

The band's 4th  album and their first as a trio. My first time hearing them, but it seems this is a progression from past releases which either were in a more Baroness direction or Russian Circles. This puts them in the same zip code as Gold. The vocals of  Rose Heater can be soulfu rather than despondently drone the melody. She serves the song and never  goes into diva land by overdoing it. These guys are more metal than Hum, but not by alot. Their is a mathy guitar part to "Grey" , though it is not without power and dynamics . They good at giving her plenty of room to sing out as needed. It woud be easy with some of the angular guitar parts to comes across as awkward with the melodies. This is not the case.

The title track almost works of a post punk tension, though if these kids are anything they are post punk. "Red Moon" is both moody and has movements. The drummer is pretty good, but overshadowed in the mix by the guitars. The vocal are more forward in the mix than they normaly are with this sort of thing, but in this case I feel it is justified as it serperates them from other bands, The lyrics are the standard alternative rock metaphors. Midway into "Red Moon" things begin to get more progressive. Perhaps not as proggy as early Marriages so think more along the lines of Russian Circles here, which will be familar to long time fans.,

"Dove" finds not a formua in place , but a sound they have cemented by this point in the album. Synths color the background so it is not like some new sounds are not still being produced. The only thing I would do differently in the mix here is bring the bass up. At some points in time I can not hear it all and as a bass player I isten for that.  The melody on the last song is more somber to match the tense of the song. I will give this album a 9.5 and see how it grows on me, I know that I can leave it on and let it play which is a good sign.