Nominative determinism always meant I was going to review a lot of heavy music. Nominative determinism can tell you a lot about Caving Grounds, “Become Soil” too. Caving Grounds blends old school death metal with sludgy hardcore to make a heavy, nourishing fertilizer with “Become Soil.”
Michigan hardcore band Caving Grounds has been experimenting with increasingly metallic hardcore since their debut album “Abasement” in 2023. “Become Soil” is their 2nd EP, proceeded by the single “Are You On Fire?” blazing an agressive path with an effective and consistent release strategy.
When Caving Grounds is giving us simple, old-school death metal riffs along with the throat shredding hardcore vocals, and high and snappy snare drum we get a bastard version of thrash metal that I absolutely love. Seriously, that over-tuned snare is incredibly satisfying and and strong production choice. Speaking of, the production is simple and impactful, and more importantly to me, in the age of ultra-clean machine metal, the production here feels human and naturalistic with a generous sprinkling of old-school dramatic sampled speech intros.
At four songs I don’t necessarily have a favorite track, but I have quite a few favorite moments; the slow death metal riffs in “Rotmaxxing,” the intro speech to “Black Mold,” the doomy drum intro to “Become Soil,” and that sweet sweet over-tuned snare.
Caving Grounds “Become Soil” is satisfying and competent metallic hardcore, and arguably their most cohesive work to date. It delivers heavy, old-school flavored metallic hardcore with raw and impactful production. In the age of too polished everything, it’s nice to feel the necessary points and edges all the way from Michigan’s northern front.
Check Caving Grounds out August 8th at Glow Hall in Kalamazoo with Archaea, Sticky Rat, and Dirty Work.
Their Socials:
My Socials:
Dirt Witch Records 
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