Cave In's Heartbreaker

SINGER/GUITARIST STEPHEN BRODSKY TAKES YOU INSIDE THE BOSTON ROCKERS’ BITTERSWEET MASTERPIECE, FINAL TRANSMISSION

- Gregory Adams

THE ARRIVAL OF Cave In’s long-awaited sixth album, Final Transmission, is tragically bittersweet. Just as the alt-metal exploring quartet were tightening up demos in the spring of 2018, longtime bassist Caleb Scofield was killed in a traffic accident in New Hampshire. Just a month earlier, he had texted his bandmates a particularly affecting voice memo of himself humming along to an oaky and ruminative acoustic lick. The pure, unaltered phone recording acts as the opening title cut to Final Transmission, the rest of the group opting to let the late musician’s playing shine in their absence. Meanwhile, they completed the rest of the album as a tribute to their friend.