Lost Caverns – From Within EP

by Mark 'Yeti' Richard · April 6, 2025

Lost Caverns is a heavy riff rocking band from the Shenandoah Valley and surrounding Blue Ridge Mountains in West Virginia. It is a new project featuring the unmistakable vocals from Dan Soren, who sang in the tremendous Sixty Watt Shaman, The Mighty Nimbus, and Stillhouse, to name a few. The other band members include: Mike Beggs, Chris Baker, and Jason Budman. From Within is their debut EP which came out on March 9th 2025. It contains six tracks in thirty minutes and was released on Megalithic Media.

“Conquest Of The East” kicks things off with a heavy dose of riff rocking metal fury. Dan Soren’s vocals sound as good as ever. The bluesy, aggressive, and vibrato-esc tones are unmistakable. The music has a hard southern grove that propels Soren’s voice to soar with the riffing. Heavy desert style and fuzzy rhythms infused with powerful guitar leads and thunderous drumming. The almost seven minute first track gets the juices flowing and the head bobbing. “Dead Man’s Hand” strikes next with a metal drive on a razor rocking course. The cool accents and guitar fill rhythms are a heavy metaler’s delight. Soren’s vocals derive an intense yet elegant power that rifles through the riffing like a bullet in the cosmos. The shredding leads at the midpoint of the tune are ferocious and breaks up the song nicely.

The third track entitled “Digging A Hole” has a punch of hardcore swagger in its mid rocking style. Being the shortest track on the EP, it has a reckless and raunchy rhythm backed by engaging vocals. “Mothman” has a heavy and doomy swagger infused with a metal groove. The thrashy rhythms have fragments of prog movements spliced in. The guitar leads are classic metal sounding designed to peel the paint off the walls. Soren displays some brief spoken lines at the end that adjoins the doom riffing with his dynamic vocals throughout. The fifth track is called “I Built A Spaceship”. Its tone and riffing is retro-fied in classic seventies rock. Lost Caverns does a bang up job mixing in the rock with the metal and this song has both elements going on in spades. The grungy riffing and lively solos are all in accord accompanied by the dynamic, raspy, and bluesy toned vocals. It’s yet another great song that captures a more raw and vintage sounding piece that escalates the mood of the recording.

The sixth and final track on From Within is called “Conquest Of The West”. Like the first track “Conquest Of The East”, this song is another seven minute monster. However, the cut boasts a doomier sound that has a lot of grit and gravel in the rhythm. The bass sound is more punchy on this one and provides some great running bass lines too. The drums let loose a bit with fantastic fills which keeps the sound fluid and vibrant. More exploding guitar leads graze the presence of this beast and the cool bridge of drums and bass after the solos is magnificent. The song shares an exuberant rawness like “I Built A Spaceship” that crystallizes the vibe of the vintage sound. The vocals are almost haunting yet melodic and powerful, simultaneously. It’s a great track to complete this six song excursion. I especially like the abraded production on From Within. The last few songs have a dirtier audio prospect that really elevates the Lost Caverns sound, in my opinion. I am impressed with this debut EP and I look forward to hearing what the band does in the future.