Rollicking bass, tight drums and gritty vocals contribute to the musical make up of Lake County locals Cereboca, a band with a sound that is somewhat of a throwback to 90’s grunge but manages to refrain from seeming too outdated. The charismatically dubbed Fuzzy, Bull, and Moons, are past members of Poor Pauly, 86 Strict, Hole Shot and Overtone and released their first full-length, Fight a Stranger in the Alps in the last year.
The eleven-track album features a lot of in house efforts, from local mixing to sleeve art by drummer Aaron Mooney. As a collective whole the album is a pretty good time- all your rock n’ roll requirements of chugging bass, solid beats, and big vocals are present, with variations here and there.
Fight a Stranger in the Alps features a few ballads, from the more standard “The Lie” to “Miracle”, a track with a little more of a pop vibe going for it, particularly in its guitar parts. “Miracle” won us over with its guitar riff two minutes into the song, and the big build delivered towards its end.
Tracks that didn’t quite get us were “Like That”, even though we did enjoy its blunt enough to make you blush lyrics such as, “I’ll make you squeal, scream, and say my name”. The semi-spoken word vocals came off a little flat and lackluster, and after a while even the racy lyrics just didn’t hit us right.
Nonetheless, Fight a Stranger in the Alps prevails through songs like “Next” and “Chi Town” which both have a distinct punk vibe going for them. In fact, the album as a whole takes on a more punk persona than we would have expected upon hearing the first released demo tracks, and that is more than okay with us. “Jellyroll” has a fun and fast psychobilly/rock hybrid working for it, and we felt like this instrumentally aggressive track, along with the rolling, chugging bass in “Nawbridge” was the best demonstration of what Cereboca can do.
A band made for those that want to rock and have a good time as much as Fuzzy, Bull, and Moons want to, Cereboca is a fine addition to Lake County rock. Look out for the boys April 24th over in Lake Villa, and keep tabs on their website to see where you can rock with them next.
Tags: Album Review, Local Music, Upcoming Show
