Shortly after talking about “primitive man,” switching to a band whose moniker is Cavernlight may seem natural, but, in fact, the sludge exhibited by these Wisconsin musicians is quite different from the exacerbated version of the Colorado sonic extremists; As I Cast Ruin upon the Lens That Reveals My Every Flaw is the second full length, which comes five years after the previous As We Cup Our Hands and Drink from the Stream of Our Ache and presents an interpretation of the subgenre with post-metal overtones and quite varied in rhythms and solutions, while maintaining a constant and looming cloak of pain and sense of inadequacy towards the world around us is well perceivable. The opener Accepting the Fate I’ve Crafted, in its first few minutes, recalls the suffused progression typically found in the opening tracks of Eye Of Solitude or Clouds, with a delicate piano supporting a vocal style with evocative traits, before the sound appropriately roughens up to express to the fullest extent possible the despondency and despair arising from irremediable inner conflicts; it is a magnificent episode that serves as a viaticum for a work that is complex but marked by an intensity that never wanes along the eight tracks, resolving itself in less than forty minutes and commendably avoiding becoming dangerously heavy by resorting to an excessive minute-length. As I Cast Ruin Upon the Lens That Reveals My Every Flaw needs several listens before it shatters the listener’s defenses but, when it succeeds, it creeps poisonously into his psyche, leaving him with a sense of emptiness and bewilderment equal to the satisfaction of having discovered a band and a record of remarkable depth.

2022 – Translation Loss Records