Menu:

Review: Cavo

By Nathan Ruby
Monday 2nd November 2009
Champagne anyone? St. Louis, Missouri based “Cavo” has been popping many corks since their single, named after the drink, caught the ears of hard rock playing radio stations across the United States. Soon after the original spins, Reprise Records (The Smashing Pumpkins, The Used, Greenday, and Fleetwood Mac to name a few), got hold of the quartet and signed them on to record their debut album “Bright Nights Dark Days”. While waiting for their album to drop, due to Reprise’s Warner Brothers affiliation, Cavo was able to put one of their favourite songs, “Let it go” on the ‘Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen’ soundtrack. Their live show is also top notch. Especially in this decade, many groups cannot perform live, let alone sing in tune while doing it. Cavo can do both, and well. With this qualification well tucked into their belts, they were selected to play on Crue Fest 2 featuring harder rocking groups like Motley Crue and Drowning Pool. Drummer Chad La Roy, when asked about being called upon to perform, divulged, “You don’t say no to Cruefest!”  From 2001 till now the band has released two collections of songs, EP, “A Space to Fill” in 2002, followed by a self-released full-length album “The Painful Art of Letting Go” in 2006. Finally on August 11 2009 their new album, “Bright Nights Dark Days”, featuring both ‘Let it go’ and ‘Champagne’ dropped. While this album is no breakthrough for the post grunge genre, it is filled with fist pumping songs, a couple of moshers, a ballad or two, and meaningful words for those who know how to live.  At times more than a few songs give off a “wall of sound” feeling, that can somehow manage, to my annoyance, slip by a producer’s ear. Luckily for Cavo, Casey’s beautiful voice breaks through this wall with vocal guts, purity and an exciting range that carries above and beyond that of lesser vocalists; very reminiscent of an aggravated Brandon Boyd. This album and band rocks hard with 90’s esque pop sensibility. The album is a definite pick up for fans of Creed, Seether, and to a certain extent Incubus’ “Light Grenades” album. Make a tab for these guys as they have the charisma and talent to be around for quite sometime and is an excellent choice for right now.