CABLE sound the part: a refined, high precision jolt of forward energy. This compilation is a final distillation of their work, the band having broken up with its release. Altogether the mix of live, unreleased and previously recorded tracks forms a wholly successful sixteen-song argument for why we should care. As a nice bonus, the accompanying DVD documentary provides the visual aid for the audio evidence. "Last Call" opens with the title track, apparently the last song the band recorded and, more importantly, a poundingly high-intensity loaded gun aimed squarely at the listener's temple. CABLE play dense, rhythmically hypnotic metal, progressive in the best sense. A series of live tracks follow, all from from the band's last show at CGBG's in New York. It made me wish I was there, to fully experience what sounds like an orchestrated tempest of mass emotional exorcism, the vocal chords stretching to the breaking-point. Stoner, doom, hardcore, Southern rock and noise elements keep the dynamic consistently effervescent.

Former tourmates BOTCH, CAVE IN, DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN, EYEHATEGOD and TODAY IS THE DAY provide useful reference points. "Buy Me a Drink" is even a ragged, heartsick anti-ballad. I'm not sure what the vocalist is on about most of the time, but song titles like "I Love It When You Crawl, "Pigs Never Fly" and "Human Landfill"--plus the three titles referencing alcohol--indicate some prime concerns. There is a recurring high-concept art-metal feel to the proceedings ("Battle of the Asses," despite the title, is a deeply majestic epic comparable to ISIS or NEUROSIS) but never to the detriment of the band's primary mission: finely-honed, transcendent, no-bullshit pulverization. As a career retrospective, CABLE pulls no punches. This is what words like visceral were made for.

- Shragge

OFFICIAL SITE: myspace.com/cablerock

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