Cave of Swimmers: Cave of Swimmers (2013)

Retro

If The Sword actively pisses you off, maybe you should stop reading this review right now. (Unless you like to get pissed off about things like that. It's a marginally free country.) We'll wait until you've left the room.

. . .

OK, now that they're all gone, let me ask you this: How great is the 70's retro-rock thing? From time to time I get fed up with it, and try to dig for some gem that's actually from the 70's. But with only a few exceptions, the retro acts of today are at least as good as the obscure acts of yesterday. And Cave of Swimmers is another great addition to the growing legion of really entertaining classic rock bands who will be accused of being hipsters.


Without a bass player, Cave of Swimmers isn't as heavy as some of the other bands of this subgenre, but their music is no less catchy. Opener "Hangman" has a catchy chorus that bears some similarity to Red Fang's "DOEN," while the rest of the record is more simple rock and roll complete with clean vocal melodies not too tough to sing along. The only real curveball, "Materia," heads in a slightly Candlemass direction, but the vocals don't quite cut it, and the way they just stab the guitar over and over in the verses doesn't cut it.

The biggest weakness of this record is the songs are longer than necessary. But then, that was a problem in the 70's too.

The Verdict: 3.5 out of 5 stars