Swedish conceptualist atmospheric doomers Cavern Deep push deeper with their third full-length, Part III – The Bodiless, out this week through Majestic Mountain Records and their own Bonebag Records. The plot thread is somewhat obscure, which will happen when you get into cave-goth ambience and start weaving storylines and themes across successive releases. To wit, 2023’s Part II – Breach (review here) took the listener to depths only hinted at by the band’s 2021 self-titled debut (review here), so of course they begin by soaring with “The Bodiless” to draw the audience into the procession of these six tracks of slow-churning, consuming, claustrophobic darkness.

Marty Harvey, drummer/vocalist of Northern Irish crushers Slomatics, cuts through the low tonality of Cavern Deep‘s slog to guest on lead voice early in “The Bodiless,” thereby introducing the central character of the album, who seems to undergo a sort of transformative obliteration that, well, sounds pretty lovely if fraught in the making. Monsters of Lovecraftian proportion and purpose are met and overcome — “Queen Womb,” “Putrid Sentry” — but rebirth means death first. Intended as the final installment of what at some point in the last four years became a trilogy, Part III – The Bodiless feels every bit like the culmination it’s supposed to be, while at the same time demonstrating just how much Cavern Deep have carved an identity for themselves in its 38-minute span, whether that’s guitarist Kenny-Oswald Duvfenberg and bassist Max Malmer (I think he’s a bass vocally as well) — I think maybe drummer Dennis Sjödin gets in on the action too — creating character and drama through the vocal arrangement of “Queen Womb,” or the solo topping the plodding culmination of the penultimate “Galaxies Collide.”

The keyboard of Johannes Behndig (Sarcophagus Now), who was a guest player on Part II and is now a member of the band, plays an accordingly larger role in setting the scope, as the backdrop for the Martin Ludl saxophone solo in “Mosktraumen” showcases, but if all the plunge and bleakness and slow-big-metal-gears-grinding of Part III – The Bodiless is leading to something — and, good news, it is — it’s to closer “Full Circle.” This not only represents the moment of rebirth for the record’s sans-body protagonist, but is a densely-weighted outbound march that underscores the grim psychedelic cast of Cavern Deep‘s brand of doom; ethereal like swirling smoke but poisonous to breathe. Granted they’ve been writing songs about monsters hiding in dark underground spaces for circa half a decade at this point, but Part III – The Bodiless does not overplay its hand in horror. It doesn’t need to.

Being able to tell a story in impressions is something else Cavern Deep have been working toward all along, but it’s been a strength from the first album on, and the then-trio-now-four-piece have always had a willful-seeming push toward individualism. They’re not just heavy, they’re their kind of heavy, and the difference is one of playing to genre or using elements thereof to shape something more your own. Cavern Deep continue to refine their songwriting processes in the latter methodology, and they’ve grown accordingly more spacious and broader in their reach for that. And no, I don’t just mean in terms of adding keys. The vocal arrangements are bolder and more confident here than they’ve ever been, and with two prior LP’s (plus other short releases, videos, etc.), Cavern Deep sound more sure of the plan they’re following than they ever have, and aspects of their sound that felt exploratory before feel internalized in this material. They’ve learned from what they’ve done up to now, in other words.

All of this ideal in terms of Cavern Deep realizing their project — the stated trilogy — even if it leaves one curious as to what whims they might follow next. Suitably enough, “Full Circle” ends the tale back where it started, with one archeologist and 49 miners headed below the surface to begin the whole cycle, as at the start of the self-titled. Literally and figuratively, Cavern Deep are a different band than they were when they made that first album, and if they are in fact leaving this storyline behind — plans can and do change — they do so with purpose and a sense of continued growth and artistic progression. This is why, whatever horrors might unfold from here, their trilogy as manifest is such a triumph.

Part III – The Bodiless streams in full below. Please enjoy:

Swedish doom/psych explorers Cavern Deep return with the final chapter of their epic concept album trilogy. Titled “Part III – The Bodiless”, the album is set for release on May 9, 2025 via Bonebag Records and Majestic Mountain Records, marking the conclusion of a story that has taken listeners on a dark and otherworldly journey since the band’s self-titled debut in 2021.

Formed in 2019 by members of Zonaria and Gudars Skymning, Cavern Deep has built a reputation for crafting captivating, atmospheric doom soundscapes, blending crushing heaviness with eerie psychedelia. Their debut album, released via Interstellar Smoke Records, introduced a unique storytelling approach that continued with “Part II – Breach”, a critically acclaimed release on their own Bonebag Records.

Now, with “Part III – The Bodiless”, Cavern Deep brings the saga to a dramatic and haunting close, pushing their sonic boundaries further into the abyss. The album is expected to deliver the band’s signature slow, hypnotic riffs and cavernous atmospheres, while weaving a final chapter that explores themes of transcendence, transformation, and the unknown. It features Marty Harvey from Slomatics as the vocalist of the title-track “The Bodiless”, and Martin Ludl on saxophone playing on the track “Moskstraumen.”

—

The concept synopsis is as follows:

1. The Bodiless

The transformation is complete. It enters the ungodly realm through the pulse, now without physical form. A shimmering image of nerves, energy, and vibrant rage moves through starless space. The bodiless is greeted by the never-ending hordes of shapeless beings, awoken for the sole purpose of ending its journey. They will all perish.

2. Queen Womb

Traveling between nodes of passage, covering the vast distances of void, the queen rises. Its children disintegrated, now itself decaying. Facing the bodiless with the desperation of a grieving mother, it unleashes a spewing tidal wave of pure hatred. It is futile. The struggle is short. All that remains is an empty husk. A floating dead mass.

3. Putrid Sentry

Enter the looming watcher of the outer rims, the putrid one. Bestower of unfathomable grief. The commander of a million shapeless minions now gone. It spreads its dark, suffocating energy across the vastness, like a mighty bellow. It wants to consume all. The bodiless seeps into its veins like a lethal promise, soon rendering its deadly cloak pierced and useless, shattered throughout dead space.

4. Moskstraumen

The bodiless slowly drifts into the maw of the maelstrom. Almost depleted. Nearly spent. Soon its purpose is fulfilled. This is the cradle of prime evil. As the ancient swirling mass begins to gnaw away at every ethereal nerve ending of the bodiless, its final offering is released in its full glory: the last light. Burning. Consuming. The grip on the entire realm withers away as the great whirlpool bellows in dying agony.

5. Galaxies Collide

As oozing wounds of ungodly matter bleed out and fade, space itself starts to crumble. Violently colliding with itself, tearing rifts in the very fabric of existence. The bodiless is pulled towards the dead black center of it all. The eye of the storm. Drifting to sleep. In peace. Flickering like a dying lantern.

6. Full Circle

The fail-safe. The curse. The testament. The bodiless is sucked into the deep at the center of the chaotic collapsing reality surrounding it. It is trying to draw breath. It is becoming. Images are rushing back like an unstoppable flood. There is flesh… One archaeologist and 49 brave men stand at the gates, staring down into the bowels of the mountain. It is time to begin the descent.

Line-up:
Kenny-Oswald Duvfenberg – Guitars & Vocals
Max Malmer – Bass & Vocals
Dennis Sjödin – Drums & Backup Vocals
Johannes Behndig – Keys

Cavern Deep on Facebook

Cavern Deep on Instagram

Cavern Deep on Bandcamp

Cavern Deep website

Majestic Mountain Records store

Majestic Mountain Records on Instagram

Majestic Mountain Records on Facebook

Bonebag Records on Facebook

Bonebag Records on Instagram

Bonebag Records website

Atmospheric narrative conceptualist doomers Cavern Deep have set a May 9n release for their third album, Part III – The Bodiless, which will be issued through their associated imprint Bonebag Records as well as Majestic Mountain Records. Initially a trio and now a four-piece, the band are following the thread from their last offering, 2023’s Part II – Breach (review here), and they give a first glimpse of the depths to which they’ll plunge in the new single “Queen Womb.” Spoiler alert: it’s dark.

There’s a video for the just-about-six-minute track now, and I’ve got the audio below in case you want a different sensory experience. One thing I’ve found interesting about Cavern Deep to this point is that they’ve grown, progressed in a sound and even now changed configuration, and they’re consistent in the story they’re telling, even as the number of ways they have to tell it is growing. The development of the band, then, becomes a secondary plot to everything they do, expanding their reach musically, lyrically, and in the case of “Queen Womb,” building in the dual-vocal approach and making that part of the ambience throughout.

Did I mention it’s dark? Good. The rest of the info came in a Bandcamp email, which I’d rather get 1,000 of per day than spend five minutes finding this shit on Facebook. Have at it:

linktr.ee/caverndeep

We are very happy to announce that our Bonebag Records is joining forces with Majestic Mountain to release our next concept album “Part III – The Bodiless” the 9th of May. The Bodiless will be the final album to complete the trilogy of the archeologist, which we first meet in our debut album.

This is the first single “Queen Womb”. It is one of our favourites of the album, and it comes with a very murky music video which we hope you all will enjoy. The synopsis of the song is as follows:

Traveling between nodes of passage, covering the vast distances of void, the queen rises. Its children disintegrated, now itself decaying. Facing the bodiless with the desperation of a grieving mother, it unleashes a spewing tidal wave of pure hatred. It is futile. The struggle is short. All that remains is an empty husk. A floating dead mass.

Cavern Deep is:
Kenny-Oswald Duvfenberg – Guitars and Vocals
Max Malmer – Bass and Vocals
Dennis Sjödin – Drums, Backup Vocals and Keys
Johannes Behndig – Synth

https://www.instagram.com/caverndeep/
https://www.facebook.com/caverndeep
https://caverndeep.com/
https://caverndeep.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/bonebagrecords/
https://www.instagram.com/bonebagrecords/
https://bonebagrecords.com/

http://majesticmountainrecords.bigcartel.com
http://facebook.com/majesticmountainrecords
http://instagram.com/majesticmountainrecords

Cavern Deep, “Queen Womb” official video

Cavern Deep, “Queen Womb”

As they’ve now established their own label in Bonebag Records and overseen the release of last year’s sophomore LP, Part II – Breach (review here), as well as an outing from Troy the Band and one impending from Terra Black — the news of which I haven’t even had a second to post here yet — it likely won’t be super-duper long before Swedish conceptualist epic doomers Cavern Deep start the gears grinding to issue their next album. Since their 2021 self-titled debut (review here), they have shown a creative urgency well-suited to the increasingly DIY ethos with which they operate.

Nonetheless, whatever shape their next record takes — and the reason I’m even talking about such a thing is because they finished recording it a month ago — in continuing the creepy, dark and engrossing narrative, there’s a decent chance it could be out before the end of 2024. You wouldn’t hear me complain. Likely recorded during those same recent album-three sessions, “The Peeler” arrives as a standalone single with an accompanying stop-motion animated video by Bob in Dope — might be like a stoner-doom Flat Stanley, if you have any idea what that is? — and is duly unsettling in its vibe. Stately in the manner of traditional doom, Cavern Deep‘s sound resonates an exploratory feel all the more as the band introduces Johannes Behndig (Sarcophagus Now) as their now-full-time synthesist.

You can certainly hear Behndig adding to the drama as “The Peeler” culminates, finding new breadth in the grim surroundings of the atmosphere cast around it, pushing deeper into the subsurface-horror narrative that has threaded through Cavern Deep‘s work to-date (a couple of covers notwithstanding). Behndig played on Part II – Breach as well, but it seems reasonable to expect him to become more of a presence in the songs by virtue of, you know, he’s actually in the band now rather than doing a guest spot. Being in the room when the song is written makes a difference.

I wouldn’t call myself early on posting it by any stretch, but if you haven’t seen it out there yet on the big wide internet, enjoy the “The Peeler” clip below. PR wire info follows after:

Cavern Deep, “The Peeler” official video

Swedish Doomsters CAVERN DEEP Hunt Monsters on Gripping New Single ‘THE PEELER’

Hailing from Umeå in Northern Sweden, the trio have carved out a name for themselves in recent years with hulking doom that has got the underground listening… ‘The Peeler’, the brand-new single from Cavern Deep is out now via Bonebag Records

Founded in 2019 by Max Malmer and former members of Swedish death metallers, Zonaria, and retro rockers, Gudars Skymning; Sweden’s Cavern Deep has established itself as one of the Scandinavia’s finest new doom metal bands.

Having released their first album in 2021 on the Polish label Interstellar Smoke Records, the band has since formed and issued music under their own Bonebag Records imprint, most recently releasing their latest record, Part II – Breach, to critical acclaim across Europe.

Returning this month for a one-off release, new single ‘The Peeler’ was originally intended to be a bonus track on the band’s forthcoming album. But while all good things come to those who wait, some things are too awesome to not share immediately. For those impatient souls itching for new material from the Umeå trio, this sleeping giant of a track focuses its attention on a lost mythical monster who resides in the deep cavernous realms of a long-lost civilisation. A hideous beast that hypnotises and oozes slime from its jaws, peeling skin from its still-stirring victims, and feeding off them piece by piece.

Towering guitars and drums soundtrack the ensuing chaos and seek to capture the creature using stark riffs and crushing strokes of colossal doom metal. Coupled with fantastic stop motion footage – assembled, and animated by artist, “Bob” – for the single’s visualiser video, ‘The Peeler’ is out now via Bonebag Records – bonebagrecords.com

Cavern Deep is:
Kenny-Oswald Duvfenberg – Guitars and Vocals
Max Malmer – Bass and Vocals
Dennis Sjödin – Drums, Backup Vocals and Keys
Johannes Behndig – Synth

Cavern Deep, “The Peeler” (2024)

Cavern Deep, Part II – Breach (2023)

Cavern Deep on Facebook

Cavern Deep on Instagram

Cavern Deep on Bandcamp

Cavern Deep website

Bonebag Records on Facebook

Bonebag Records on Instagram

Bonebag Records website

And when I say hint above, they’re kind of smacking you in the face with it. Fair enough that the Swedish conceptual doom storytellers would bring a full-time keyboardist into their lineup. Atmosphere and mood-setting has been a big piece of what they’ve done across their two-thus-far long-players, 2023’s Part II – Breach (review here) and the prior 2021 self-titled debut (review here), and no doubt they’ll put those keys and expensive looking whatnots in the picture they posted to their socials to foreboding use on the upcoming collection, which will be out… well…

Pardon me if I don’t hazard a guess, but it was more than a year from me posting about the recording being done to the actual release date. A big difference between 2024 and 2021 in that regard is that now the band have their own label in the form of Bonebag Records — they released their own second record and just put out Troy the Band‘s Cataclysm (review here) like a week ago — and pandemic-era vinyl pressing times have returned to something approaching normalcy. So I’m not being coy. It might be six months, it might be tomorrow or the next Bandcamp Friday and it might be never. I’m just a caveman, as Phil Hartman occasionally said in the ’90s.

But progress is progress and I feel pretty safe trusting Cavern Deep‘s next full-length will continue their forward creative push and progression, and whenever it shows up is fine so long as it does.

A quick blurb from the social media:

Part III is done and recorded! It is the most ambitious album we’ve done so far.

We also might have a new member in the band. Any ideas about what instrument he might be playing?

https://www.instagram.com/caverndeep/
https://www.facebook.com/caverndeep
https://caverndeep.com/
https://caverndeep.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/bonebagrecords/
https://www.instagram.com/bonebagrecords/
https://bonebagrecords.com/

Cavern Deep, Part II – Breach (2023)

Swedish narrative doomers Cavern Deep — whose narrative, yes, is at least in part about a deep cavern — released their second full-length, Part II – Breach (review here) on July 14, and have accordingly been making their way through the album in a series of lyric videos. They did similar with their 2021 self-titled debut (review here), producing a series of lyric and live performance videos. Working under the banner of their own imprint, Bonebag Records, they can pretty much roll out whatever they want on their own schedule. So here we are.

“The Pulse” closes Part II – Breach, and brings the second guest vocal spot from Susie McMullan, best known for her work in Brume. She appears earlier on the album in “Primordial Basin” and her return for the closer gives a symmetry that corresponds to the fluidity of the storyline. It is a course of depressive, downer doom, an ending even if the story will go on. There’s an orb, flesh is obliterated, you know the deal. It doesn’t work out well. They call it their favorite track on the record, and while it would be exactly my kind of humor for a band to put out videos for every song on their album and call each one of them, individually, their favorite, I believe it about “The Pulse.” That atmosphere is so dense you feel like you can swim through it.

Even if this is the last track on the record, it’s probably not the last lyric video they’ll do, so keep an eye out. I’m not usually one for pushing such things, but subscribing on YouTube might be handy. They give kind of a vague summary of where the story is at by the time the album heads toward its ending, but if you want to dig further (pun not initially intended, but definitely left in on purpose), hit up the review linked in the first sentence of this post, which has the full album stream (also below if you’re feeling lazy) and all the track descriptions from the band. As much as you want to put in, effort-wise, Cavern Deep are ready to meet you on that level.

Here’s the clip. Bring your own oxygen:

Cavern Deep, “The Pulse” (feat. Susie McMullan) lyric video

Vinyl Pre-order:
https://bonebagrecords.com/products/cavern-deep-part-ii-breach-12-vinyl-pre-order
CD Digipack Pre-order:
https://bonebagrecords.com/products/cavern-deep-part-ii-breach-digipack-cd-pre-order

This is the last song on our latest record Part II – Breach, it is slow and features the haunting vocals of Susie McMullan of Brume. It might be the most odd track on the album, but it is our favourite.

The Synopsis is as follows:
This is it.
The release.
The soothing of the inner ache.
The organic matter is peeled off layer by layer as the being passes the rift.
The glowing orb withers away and sinks into the sea.
The pulsating passage lays bare.
It is liquid.
Lethal.
Bodiless.
It is ready.
They are doomed.

The concept album “Part II – Breach” is out now.

Cavern Deep is:
Kenny-Oswald Duvfenberg – Guitars and Vocals
Max Malmer – Bass and Vocals
Dennis Sjödin – Drums, Backup Vocals and Keys

Cavern Deep, Part II – Breach (2023)

Cavern Deep on Facebook

Cavern Deep on Instagram

Cavern Deep on Bandcamp

Cavern Deep website

Bonebag Records on Facebook

Bonebag Records on Instagram

Bonebag Records website

This Friday, Swedish conceptualist doomers Cavern Deep will release their second full-length, Part II – Breach, through their own Bonebag Records imprint. Beginning with its title-track, the follow-up to the band’s 2021 Interstellar Smoke-released self-titled debut (review here) offers epic doom with Candlemassian fluidity and grace of riff and a marked attention to atmosphere that splays out across the 46 minutes of the album-proper, a total runtime that’s brought to 58:49 when the bonus track “The Attuning” (premiered here) is considered.

The Umeå-based DIY-recording three-piece of guitarist/vocalist Kenny-Oswald Duvfenberg, bassist/vocalist Max Malmer and drummer/keyboardist/backing vocalist Dennis Sjödin recorded Part II – Breach in 2021, reporting that it was finished even as they were still making videos for the debut. In addition to the multimedia presentation of that initial LP — two video series were made; one of the band performing the songs live and a set of lyric clips to focus on the narrative aspect of the work — Cavern Deep offered covers of Captain Beefheart and Frank Zappa (posted here) and Philip Glass (premiered here), and showed a readiness to reach beyond themselves and to build on what the first record established as their sound. They do exactly that, bolstered by guest appearances from Susie McMullan of San Francisco’s Brume, guitarist Johannes Behndig of Umeå prog instrumentalists Sarcophagus Now, and Monolord‘s Thomas V. Jäger on the aforementioned “The Attuning.”

A certain rough stateliness suits “Breach” and the album that follows it. The story — detailed by the band below — ends at the beginning with “The Attuning” bringing the character of ‘the archaeologist’ to an unceremonious conclusion before “Primordial Basin” picks up from the opener’s slowed-down-the-already-slow-nod ending and brings McMullan‘s contribution on vocals. Slow-rolling and churning, down, down, down goes “Primordial Basin” until it quiets for the verse, sparse noise from even deeper in the mix than the whole song seems to be around the two-minute mark. McMullan‘s echoing delivery, swaying and sad at first and growing more forceful as the song shifts back to its weightier riff and oozes through a midsection that’s a whole-album highlight. The burner of a guitar solo that leads into the duet crescendo returns after and Cavern Deep make their way through the feedback and into the ambient start of “A World Bereaved,” which feels even more lurching.

Multi-tracked vocals at the outset — I think it’s Duvfenberg and Malmer both in the initial verse, then the latter over the quieter stretch — are placed well after “Primordial Basin,” and “A World Bereaved” is even more patient in its unfurling. The full-volume lumber comes back as they move through the song’s middle, but their willingness to dwell in that minimal space for as long as they do underscores the growth they show in craft, even as they recorded concurrent to the first release. Suitably morose, “A World Bereaved” seems to collapse shortly before hitting six minutes into its total 8:42, with the guitar, bass and drums working into a dark-blue psychedelia, an organ solo presumably from Sjödin distinguishing the piece soon answered by howling guitar. There’s no comedown as they stop cold, but some residual feedback cuts off as the energy-kick chug of “Skeletal Wastes” starts, the silence there used to give it all the more of a bursting feel.

“Skeletal Wastes” is also the assumed start of the vinyl’s side B, and the faster tempo helps build momentum as the trio plunge deeper into the storyline. Behndig has his appearance in the song’s second half, playing an effects-laced lead over steady bass and drums that grow more insistent as keyboard is added and a rhythm that reminds of King Buffalo‘s “The Knocks” subtly enters beneath the swath of effects and/or synth floating around the ceiling of the mix. Some pointed thuds cap, as they will, and “Sea of Rust” indeed begins with wave samples ahead of jumping into its lead-topped intro, which returns to the classic doom feel of “Breach” itself. As with the opener, “Primordial Basin” and “A World Bereaved,” “Sea of Rust” has a break in its first half, but also as with the others, it is distinct sonically — that is, even when following a similar structure, Cavern Deep are mindful in shifting sounds — and it grows especially grim as it turns into its chanting-esque middle, the subsequent solo and key melody fading out long and churning, viscous, mournful.

That aura hopelessness mirrors where the story is at that point — a dead world — and sets up the resonant melody that tops the drawn-out doom of “The Pulse” as McMullan returns for a corresponding vocal spot on side B. It’s the shortest inclusion on Part II – Breach at 6:23, but feels like an arrival nonetheless, and while the lyrics aren’t necessarily narrating the action taking place in the material — that is, there’s no “the engineer goes here and does this or sees this dead thing”; the presentation is more obscure, impressionistic — the endpoint of the journey is enhanced by synth over a procession of sorrowful guitar, bass and drums, a definitely doomed but not entirely lightless void carried through the last March. Shades of later Type O Negative in the guitar tone give over to a sustained synth note that concludes. And “The Attuning” is pure slog, a riff righteously slow covered with a screaming solo setting the stage for Jäger‘s vocals later and bringing Part II – Breach down like the tape ran out just as they wrapped up, which for all I know is how it went.

After an ambitious first record, an ambitious second. Cavern Deep very obviously came out of Cavern Deep with a clear idea of what they thought worked and what they wanted to try to expand on, and Part II – Breach does that, while branching off in terms of narrative in such a way as to let it stand apart from its predecessor, so one doesn’t necessarily need to have heard the self-titled to understand where they’re coming from now. Or two years ago, anyway, since that’s when it was recorded. Foremost, Part II – Breach finds Cavern Deep digging — pun absolutely intended — further into their take, and emerging with an all-the-more individual sound for it. I don’t know where the story is headed from here, or if it’s done or what, but for the band itself, they still seem to be just getting started realizing their potential.

Part II – Breach streams in full, followed by a track-by-track explanation of where the songs bring the narrative. Note, these are not the lyrics, which you can find in the image above if you zoom in and squint hard.

Please enjoy:

Cavern Deep’s new record “Part II – Breach” is out July 14 on all platforms. CD and Vinyl are distributed by Bonebag Records.

Breach is Cavern Deep’s second album. It is, just as the first album a concept album which follows the story of the first.

The synopsis is as follows:

1. Breach
The archaeologist is no more. Engulfed.
As the ungodly withering sentinel feasts on his flesh and mind, something is opening.
Picked up by a violent current, the bare essence of the man is plunged through the strange spaces in between worlds.
It is reshaped. Traveling in its primal form with the monstrous being as a conduit. Its heart is blank. Mind is void.

2. Primordial Basin
She is watching patiently.
The engineer.
The last of its kind.
The theft of this essence from the otherworldy refuge was the final attempt.
Embedded in the being below her is the code.
Her design.
Her revenge.
Deep down in the basin, the putrid water stirs as the being breaks free from its membranous nursery.
The engineer watches in silent triumph from afar as the being destroys everything in its path in blind newborn rage.
Wading through the festering amniotic fluid it is pulled by an inner voice to the east.

3. A World Bereaved
No more memories of its earlier existence than glitching, flickering images.
Like waking up from distant clouded nightmares. Skin is thin, sore, still growing as it lumbers
through desolate landscapes. No signs of life to be seen. The ground is torn by sickly pulsating spirals,
shooting up in the thick clouds above. Passing former displays of architectural grandeur;
now caved in like hollow skulls. A sense of purpose is shaping inside as it finds its paths through the wasteland.

4. Skeletal Wastes
Before it, an ancient war ground.
It is vast and dreadful to behold. The last big battle of a dying civilization.
The last gasping breath.
The being makes its way through labyrinths of giant dead abominations and remnants of war machines
since long put to sleep. Picking up pace. Slowly burning from inside with an ever-growing sense of meaning.
It is the final solution. The retaliation of many. The faint glow in its veins extends to a cord.
The hovering placenta is feeding it in a steady rhythm, preparing the being for its passing.

5. Sea of Rust
The Sea. Dead.
Acidic.
This is ground zero.
It knows all.
It was here above the greatest of cities they broke through.
Drawn by the greed of kings and queens and their ever-growing thirst for the primal energy beyond their realm.
It was they who forced the few remaining to take refuge in a distant cold world, destined to wither away in
subterranean darkness. Everything is lost. Sunken. All but rust. The engineer gives up a sigh as she from afar
witnesses the being floating above the red watery mass towards the pulsating rift at the horizon.
It is starting to shed.

6. The Pulse
This is it.
The release.
The soothing of the inner ache.
The organic matter is peeled off layer by layer as the being passes the rift.
The glowing orb withers away and sinks into the sea.
The pulsating passage lays bare.
It is liquid.
Lethal.
Bodiless.
It is ready.
They are doomed.

7. The Attuning (bonus track)

At the end of his cavernous quest the archaeologist forfeit his life and slowly becomes one with the ungodly usurper.
His mind is suddenly touched from afar.
A distant wave snags him from the void currently closing around him, throwing the leftovers of his scattered essence into turmoil.
Into the stream.
Becoming something else.

Cavern Deep is:
Kenny-Oswald Duvfenberg – Guitars and Vocals
Max Malmer – Bass and Vocals
Dennis Sjödin – Drums, Backup Vocals and Keys

Cavern Deep on Facebook

Cavern Deep on Instagram

Cavern Deep on Bandcamp

Cavern Deep website

Bonebag Records on Facebook

Bonebag Records on Instagram

Bonebag Records website

With substantial chug, comfortably soaring melody, and a video that’s hypnotic in its use of AI processing while also kind of silly in the actual performance of the band itself — at least as regards guitarist/vocalist Kenny-Oswald Duvfenberg, who’s very clearly having a good time (and that’s awesome; I hear really great things about fun) — the thematic/atmospheric doomers Cavern Deep herald their second album with its second single. Sorry not sorry, but it’s clear in listening and watching that the Swedish three-piece are digging deeper into their sound on the follow-up to their 2021 self-titled debut (review here), the long stretch of synth ambience offsetting and complementing the central chug in kind.

Part II – Breach is the name of the album, and it continues the narrative thread that the first record started, while marking a new beginning for the band, who’ll release it July 14 through their own label Bonebag Records. The sophomore LP has been in the can since the debut came out, and between the two releases, Cavern Deep have unveiled covers of Frank Zappa/Captain Beefheart (posted here) and Philip Glass (posted here), and collaborated with Monolord guitarist/vocalist Thomas V. Jäger on a single (posted here) that will feature as the bonus track on the album. This in addition to (I think) two video series, launching the label, and playing live. They are the very definition of keeping busy, and while I don’t like to speculate, as we move toward the July release of the second album, I would not be the least bit surprised to find they already have the next thing — whatever it might be — in the works.

I’ll be streaming Part II – Breach on July 12 ahead of its official release, so keep an eye out, and in the meantime, the clip for “Skeletal Wastes” is at the bottom of the post. Preorder links and all that follow as per the PR wire:

Psych Doom act Cavern Deep releases “Skeletal Wastes” track/video

Before it, an ancient war ground. It is vast and dreadful to behold.

The last big battle of a dying civilization. The last gasping breath.

The being makes its way through labyrinths of giant dead abominations and remnants of war machines since long put to sleep. Picking up pace. Slowly burning from inside with an ever-growing sense of meaning. It is the final solution. The retaliation of many. The faint glow in its veins extends to a cord.

The hovering placenta is feeding it in a steady rhythm, preparing the being for its passing.

The concept album “Part II – Breach” is out the 14th of July.

Vinyl Pre-order: https://bonebagrecords.com/products/cavern-deep-part-ii-breach-12-vinyl-pre-order

CD Digipack Pre-order: https://bonebagrecords.com/products/cavern-deep-part-ii-breach-digipack-cd-pre-order

Cavern Deep is a slow, heavy band, founded 2019, by members from Zonaria and Swedish retro riffsters Gudars Skymning. The band released its first self-titled concept album through Interstellar Smoke Records to critical aclaim topping on #7 on The Doom Charts.

The second album is called “Part II – Breach” and is a continuation on the concept of the first album and features Susie McMullan of Brume, Johannes Behndig of Sarcophagus Now and Thomas V Jäger of Monolord (on the bonus track).

The first single “Primordial Basin” is out now and the full album will release the 14th of July. Pre-orders for the vinyl and the Digipack CD is now available through Bonebag Records and the Cavern Deep Bandcamp.

Cavern Deep is:
Kenny-Oswald Duvfenberg – Guitars and Vocals
Max Malmer – Bass and Vocals
Dennis Sjödin – Drums, Backup Vocals and Keys

https://www.instagram.com/caverndeep/
https://www.facebook.com/caverndeep
https://caverndeep.com/
https://caverndeep.bandcamp.com/

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https://www.instagram.com/bonebagrecords/
https://bonebagrecords.com/

Cavern Deep, “Skeletal Wastes” official video

Cavern Deep, Part II – Breach (2023)

A band deciding to release their own music isn’t necessarily news. It happens daily if not hourly if not on a minute-by-minute basis. What distinguishes Cavern Deep‘s new imprint Bonebag Records is that they’re open to signing other bands, so it’s more than just a logo to put on their own outings — and by the way, I wouldn’t have a problem with it if it was; if you feel you have the gumption to release your own music on a professional-esque basis and handle everything that goes into that, including talking to jerks like me, a logo on back of your record is well earned — but they’re here giving out their email and basically calling for demos like it’s 1995. Goes without saying, but yeah, I dig that ethic.

And good for them deciding to handle their own release as well. You might recall, after issuing their self-titled debut (review here) in July 2021 through Interstellar Smoke Records, they finished recording their second album the next month. They’ve had a few singles out since — including “The Attuning,” which premiered here and can be heard and seen in the video clip at the bottom of this post (yes, it’s got Thomas from Monolord on it) — and I assume they continued to work on the record after the basic tracks were done, but even so. Last I heard they were talking to different labels and so on, and everybody’s pretty much in the same boat on release delays over the last couple years, so starting your own label? It’s not the easiest way to do it, but if, as they say, they want to give a little something back more than just music, that’s a way to do it. I’ll look forward to what comes of it. And also that second Cavern Deep record.

Here’s word from the PR wire:

Psych Doom act Cavern Deep starts their own record label

“After having been active in the heavy music scene for a while, we thought this was a great time to try and start a label of our own. For one it is great to have the luxury of working on our own terms and our own schedule. This will enable us to release more music and to put in the work ourselves to realize it. We are also hoping this is going to be a way for us to give something back to the music scene that has embraced us.

We are looking forward to putting out a lot of good releases, our first one is going to be the next Cavern Deep album. It is due for release this summer.

If you as a musician want to pitch a band or a project to us, feel free to do so at: info@malmerproductions.com.

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Cavern Deep, “The Attuning (feat. Thomas V Jäger of Monolord)” official video