Book of Caverns – Self-Titled

I don’t know what it is with this label, but they seem to have hit upon a mother lode of reasonably obscure but resoundingly awesome Canadian screamo bands. Fitting seamlessly into the genre, Book Of Caverns are one of those bands that allow their intensity to smolder, rather than flare bright and quick. They take their cues less from, say, Swing Kids’ spasticness and bombast and instead thread their brief freakouts with plenty of introspective, calmer moments, ala Amber Inn or Shivering. And it’s these moments that give the listener a bit of a breather that adds such depth to the cassette as a whole. That’s  what makes Book Of Caverns work so well – they remind me of the woefully underrated Pteradon in their ability to strengthen a song tenfold just with a little guitar flash here and there, or prop it up with a moment of interplay between bass and drums.

Dense and layered compositions – some of them actually akin to Lungfish’s well-tempered drones – that gives way to some searing and, dare I say, epic finishes. I mean, seriously, this shit is gorgeous. On one hand, it’s too bad that so few folks will get to hear this, and yet by the same token it’s great that it got released at all. I feel fortunate to have heard it. Songs like “Born In Salt” lend some legitimacy to the genre in the fact that it is indeed pretty goddamn emotionally moving. As with my review of the Crippled Children release on Bart, the fidelity on this is pretty muddy, but believe me, it’s worth cranking up.

Excellent release – I just wish there was a bit less obfuscation in the presentation. I don’t need twenty page treatises or anything, but, oh, song titles might have been nice. Limited to 100, with hand painted inserts. Pretty awesome release.