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Unsgined / Self-released
Words: Craig Hartranft
Added: 03.07.2015
Friends since the 4th grade, and making music together for a long time are Guillermo “GE” Perez (Guitar, Voice, Synth) & Arturo “Toro” Garcia (Drums, Percussion), also known as Cave Of Swimmers. They offer their second album, Reflection.
Honestly, at first I didn't quite figure out Cave Of Swimmers. What are two obviously talented musicians from Miami, via Venezula, who look like pussy hipsters, doing making Seventies heavy rock? What happened to salsa or joropo? Just kidding, fellas. Their music is mash up of Seventies heavy psychedelic rock, traditional stoner rock, with some touches of doom and sludge metal. It's boiling pot luck concoction of everything from Black Sabbath to Queens of the Stone Age to Cathedral and Candlemass. But the duo whip out some groovy tunes.
You really have to skip over The Prince of the Power of the Air. It's merely heavy rock and short lyrics, repeated over and over. The rest of the songs reveal a strong combination of heaviness, melody, groove, and sometimes even some technicality, like progressive rock. Tempos are definitely twisted about. Perez is a fine guitarist, traditional, yet dramatic and soaring it times. He also has that heavy occult rock warble to his voice, but it seems to fit. Actually, and not that I'm asking them to be an instrumental band, I liked the music and it's musicianship over the vocal and lyrical aspect of the album. My favorite song was the instrumental title track, Reflection.
Then there's these obvious religious references to Christian biblical theology. Being from South America, the subject matter is likely more informed by Roman Catholicism, which is not the same as biblical Christianity. There's references to "The Prince of the Power of the Air" aka Satan from Paul's letter to the Ephesians 2:2. The Skull likely refers to "Golgotha" where Jesus Christ was crucified. Then, in the third part of the album, Still Running, Swimmers offer Purgatory, a uniquely Catholic concept, and dedicated to somebody named John Francis III. Here's hoping he's not biding his time in that place. This is followed by Parousia, the Latin word for the second coming of Jesus Christ, yet to occur in the future.
Still, there's something about the lyrics, an obtuseness or vagueness, that makes you wonder if Perez and Garcia actually believe any of this stuff. They almost come across as some occultic christian band, like the opposite of Ghost. Maybe Garcia and Perez need to rub their Rosary totem and say a few more Hail Marys to get back into their proper Catholic groove. Otherwise, I liked what I heard, definitely interesting at times, even if sounds like a blast from the past blown up in the 21st century.
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Honestly, at first I didn't quite figure out Cave Of Swimmers. What are two obviously talented musicians from Miami, via Venezula, who look like pussy hipsters, doing making Seventies heavy rock? What happened to salsa or joropo? Just kidding, fellas.
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