Alvarius B / Cerberus Shoal
Split CD
North East Indie
What a dark cloud that hangs over me! I thought Cerberus Shoal was a spastic math/emo band, playing music similar to Julia, Shale, Rodan, etc. How much more wrong could I be? I swear I used to have a Cerberus Shoal record, and it was really aggressive San Diego style mathcore • weird!
So what we have here is some arty, acoustic, suicide soundtrack music, meant to stir the blackest regions of our souls. Alvarius B’s lead singer croons like a second-rate Nick Cave, so their three songs are totally lame. The Cerberus Shoal tracks are disappointing, yet intriguingly enjoyable. This band, at one time a fierce bunch of spastic rockers, now plays weird, chanted, spiritual music that sounds like it should be played either at a funeral, or a human sacrifice ceremony. There’s a certain charm, though, to the pure melancholy and sadness of their songs that make them almost good.
However, for the most part, I am bored to no end with this little split CD I’m sure the art kids will enjoy it, as will fans of Nick Cave and other perpetually downtrodden musicians; this just makes me tired.
North East Indie: http://www.northeastindie.com/
