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Final Transmission Image
Metascore
82

Universal acclaim - based on 7 Critic Reviews What's this?

User Score
7.0

Generally favorable reviews- based on 5 Ratings

  • Summary: The sixth full-length studio release for the Massachusetts alt-metal band is its final album with bassist Caleb Scofield, who died in a car accident in 2018.
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Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 7 out of 7
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 7
  3. Negative: 0 out of 7
  1. The Wire
    Jun 6, 2019
    80
    The end result is the closest Cave In have ever come to revisiting the stellar stream of 2000’s Jupiter – the space rock monolith that boosted them into the wider consciousness. [Jun 2019, p.52]
  2. Jun 6, 2019
    80
    Final Transmission feels like an intimate farewell letter to a lost friend, and a fitting tribute to former bass player Caleb Scofield.
  3. Jun 6, 2019
    80
    As a tribute, it is wonderful, but even without the terrible context in which the album has come about, Final Transmission is superb. [8 Jun 2019, p.54]
  4. Uncut
    Jun 6, 2019
    80
    The extent of [Caleb Scofield's] bandmates' shock and grief is palpable throughout the eight songs they built up from the demos recorded with Scofield. All that sadness and fury adds further turbulence both to the more melodic likes of "Winter Window" as well as "Led To The Wolves." [Jul 2019, p.26]
  5. Jun 7, 2019
    75
    The album touches on all eras of the band's varied back-catalogue, which serves as a pleasing send off should this indeed be Cave In's final transmission. However, there is a nagging sense that had it not been for Scofield's passing this could have been their best record since Jupiter
  6. Jun 12, 2019
    74
    Even with an eight-year gap between, it's easy to think of Final Transmission as a sister album to White Silence. The facts of each album's creation are remarkably similar, down to being nine-song hitters largely recorded in practice spaces rather than a recording studio proper. The difference, of course, is that Final Transmission is short and raw by necessity rather than choice.
  7. Jun 10, 2019
    70
    Final Transmission is a touching tribute to the life of Scofield, allowing his immense talent to be enjoyed by the world one last time.
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 1
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 1
  3. Negative: 0 out of 1