Cerebral Ballzy
Jaded & Faded
Reviewed by: Brian Roser
This album lives on the border between hard rock and incoherent screaming. Of course, I cut my teeth on Guns and Roses and Alice Cooper, so I mean that as a compliment. To be fair, they owe less to the big hair bands of my youth and more to the Sex Pistols of the 70s. Cerebral Ballzy is high on energy, but a bit low on being understood. One of the tracks has a warning for explicit lyrics, so I assume there are bad words in there somewhere, I was just not able to tell exactly where.
Cerebral Ballzy started in Brooklyn, about six years ago and takes their name from an incident involving a slice of pizza dropped on the subway tracks. The members are Tom Kogut on drums, Mel Honore on bass and Mason and Jason Bannon on guitar. They’re headed up by Honor Titus on vocals and yes, as far as I know, that is his real name. Jaded & Faded is their second album and it’s pretty terse. Half of the songs are under two minutes and longest is just over three. This isn’t a criticism; for all my love of Gun and Roses, “November Rain” is not my favorite song. There is something to be said for heavy metal brevity.
Eighteen-year-old me would have loved this album. It inspires disaffected youth to find the nearest mosh pit and start head banging. I’m afraid that at this point in my life, it’s a bit much, but I’m giving my rating based on the me with acne, not the me with a 401k. I may even listen to it again someday, but right now I need a couple of aspirin.
Rating: 
