Cerebral Ballzy

The kids are hungry and the beasts need feeding. What better food for thought than a face fuck full of bone crunching bass, live fast die young riffs and lyrics and stick snapping rhythms. Cerebral Ballzy; New York’s skate punk brethren released their self titled debut album on the 26th of July through independent label Williams Street Records. In amidst the chaos on the streets of London and throughout the world, this abortion of a band really bring back the skate and destroy ethos, with influences such as Bad Brains and Black Flag showing that all they want to do is eat pizza and skate all day. Front man Honor Titus never said he wanted to change the world; he did say however ” I can’t turn my head without someone trying to influence me” and ” You don’t know what’s best for me and I do, even if I don’t I’ll find out soon.” Adults may say that the lyrics of this album are of the misled youth and teenage angst, maybe even cliché, but I understand what their saying. I feel the tension and hate in the music that oozes out of the strings and skins. ‘On The Run’ starts the album with rhythmic build up that releases into an almost blast beat motion. The melodic side to the album is far and few between however it is used to the right effect with the guitar parts in “Insufficient Fare.” Even the love in this album is self-destructing with the track ‘Junky For her’ which is an overdose of over lapping riffs and piercing protest. The album as a whole uses a traditional hardcore punk structure, 12 short tracks (which live at the Camden Crawl brought incredible energy and great showmanship). Ultimately a face-paced album with a don’t give a shit attitude, it’s a great one to let go to.

By Ash Moore