Adventurous, epic and mesmerising – these are just three words that can be used to describe the brand new release from Cave Of Swimmers, Reflections. It’s impossible to quite pigeonhole them into one genre, as there’s elements of classic heavy metal, prog and power metal…and that’s just for starters! Cave Of Swimmers have found a sound of their own that doesn’t quite sound like anyone else, and it really works for them.
Admittedly the vocals do take a little bit of getting used to at first – they’re a little overpowering on opening track The Prince Of The Power Of The Air and the balance is a little off as a result, but there’s no faulting the emotiveness and colour to the vocals. Besides, the more you listen, the more they grow on you and you’ll soon find yourself singing along to the earworm of a chorus at the top of your lungs!
Moving onto the instrumentation, the musicianship on Reflections honestly can’t be faulted. At points it sounds downright sludgy and dirty, at others it’s deliciously riff-tastic and there’s even some fantastic and complex solos that will leave your jaw dropping at how striking they are.
As a whole, Reflections is a bit of a mini-masterpiece and is a release you will keep wanting to return to – this is a job well done.
9/10
