Video: Cave In Perform Doomy New Song, “Blinded”

One of the many treats of being a Cave In fan all these years has been watching the band evolve, following their creative instincts into new territory as they change as people. While big dogs like Slayer, Killswitch Engage, Lamb of God and countless others more or less write the same album over and over again (with all due respect to those bands and their legacies), Cave In have never done that, and it’s one of the characteristics that makes them so special.

The band performed at Brooklyn’s Saint Vitus Bar this past weekend as part of an East Coast mini-tour, and while much of the set focused on revisiting the band’s earliest material from their 1998 debut Until Your Heart Stops, they whipped out a new song called “Blinded” as well. Unsurprisingly given the band’s history, it sounds nothing like their early OG metalcore, mid-period space rock or more recent post-hardcore/sludge, dialing down the tempo into a doomier register than the band is typically known for. Stephen Brodsky’s voice is there to lead while drummer J.R. Conners, ever the master of finesse, is deep in the pocket, keeping it cool. The fan who shot footage with their fan stood in front of Brodsky so his guitar dominates the audio, but you can hear Adam McGrath’s high, atmospheric leads poking through at certain moments, a bit of a throwback to the space rock era. In short: I fucking love it!

I can’t quite make out Brodsky’s lyrics from the cell phone microphone, but I’ll tell you this: I think it’s a sad song. More on that once we hear the final version.

Give it a listen and watch below. “Blinded” will appear on Cave In’s next album, which the band just wrapped up. It will be their first without any material from bassist Caleb Scofield, who tragically passed away in an automobile accident in 2018. Nate Newton (Converge, Old Man Gloom) has filled in on bass since.