Cane Hill - Too Far Gone

I caught wind of Cane Hill in 2016 with their impressively to-the-tee mirroring of Slipknot’s and Korn’s brand of emotionally raw and ugly nu metal / alternative metal on their debut record, Smile. Aside from being practically impossible to disassociate from the nu metal icons the band clearly sought to emulate, Cane Hill’s debut’s lack of originality ended up being a strength for the album, answering best to the call of nu metal revivalists starved of new material by practically playing as a reincarnation of the Slipknot of old and the Korn of old. To me, it was some of the most solid retro nu metal I’ve heard come out of a band starting this decade.

Cane Hill’s sophomore effort takes them on a slightly different trajectory than what their first record had them set for. Quite noticeably, their practical masquerade as the Slipknot of this decade is much less copy-catted. The nu metal to alternative metal ratio is a lot more one to one on this record and it makes the band’s sound a bit less distinguished compared to when they were simply using Slipknot’s unique sound. Nevertheless, Too Far Gone keeps its stay short and to the point, at a definitely digestible length.

The greater presence of alternative metal elements gives more of a well-roundedness to the album and songs like “Lord of Flies” and “Singing in the Swamp” could easily have had a shot at dirty 90’s glory had they come out then. The alt metal styling doesn’t always pay off perfectly though; as “Erased” (punchy as its guitars are), “Why?”, and “It Follows” show the band capable of producing some pretty dime-a-dozen and irritating material through that formula.

“Hateful” is probably the heaviest and, fitting of its title, pissed off track on the record, one that channels Corey Taylor’s younger self into a barrage of throat bleeding slander. “10 ¢” bears a tasteful juxtaposition near its tail end of crushing nu metal riffing and hovering choral vocals above it.

The album’s bookends, its title track and “The End.”, unfortunately, are the least noteworthy songs on the record, with the title track kicking the album off sounding a little bit too generic and the last track closing the record in an atmospheric but unemotional/unexciting manner.

Cane Hill certainly haven’t slumped too low on their sophomore effort, but they have slumped and if they can’t channel more nu metal firepower for their third outing, I can’t see them going making much of a mark. Nevertheless, as far as modern nu metal is concerned, Cane Hill are still a good level or two above their few contemporaries. I think I’d just really like to see them work on their consistency in the future and play more to their strengths, going heavy and groovy as a priority before trying to integrate more spacey or moody characteristics.