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
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
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 –Breachstreams 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
Posted in Whathaveyou on June 5th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
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.
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
At 11 minutes long, there’s plenty of time to hear the progression in sound from Sweden’s Cavern Deep in their new single “The Attuning.” Aside from boasting a guest appearance from Monolord guitarist/vocalist Thomas V Jäger — something that was teased in October when they unveiled their take on Philip Glass’ “Koyaanisqatsi” (premiered here) — the rolling and atmospheric progression of the new song feels very much built out from their 2021 self-titled debut (review here), and as a teaser of their impending second album, it is substantive and informative in kind.
That first record wanted nothing for patience, unfolding based around a narrative concept of an archaeologist exploring beneath the surface and finding essentially another, darker world, with all the inherent metaphor showing up musically. Atmosphere was central to the storytelling on the record and it is in “The Attuning” as well, the extended runtime of the song and the patience of its roll serving as a bed for the melodic flourish that comes through in the first half vocally before an ambient bridge serves as transition to the arrival of Jäger‘s recognizable and echoing voice. In another context, one could relate such an undulating lurch to the ocean or something aquatic — and the talk of a “distant wave” in the synopsis from the band echoes this — but true to their name, Cavern Deep are more concerned with the ground and what lies beneath it, and their breadth serves them well in that regard here. “The Attuning” has a scope that feels linear and depths enough to get lost in, and speaks to the strength of intention on the part of the still-pretty-new band, who have only shown consideration for the tale they’re telling thus far into their tenure.
With the hope of more to come as we get near the Spring release of their second full-length, here’s Cavern Deep’s video for “The Attuning,” followed by the aforementioned comment from the band on where it finds the story in progress.
Please enjoy:
Cavern Deep, “The Attuning (feat. Thomas V Jäger of Monolord)” video premiere
This spring we teamed up with Thomas V Jäger and recorded this song called “The Attuning”.
It follows The Archeologist on his journey from the cave of the first record into the realm of the second record.
The synopsis is as follows:
”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.”
We will soon release another of these one-off singles, and then we are on to release our second album which is now done and ready.
Cavern Deep is: Kenny-Oswald Duvfenberg – Guitars and Vocals Max Malmer – Bass and Vocals Dennis Sjödin – Drums, Backup Vocals and Keys
