Bellafea Issue #36

Cavalcade (Southern)

By Matthew Siblo
Published: August 1st, 2008 | 11:05am

“I’ve got bones to pick!” proclaims Bellefea’s Heather McEntire on Cavalcade, the North Carolina band’s latest. After a flurry of activity a few years back, most notably a split single with the musically like-minded Des Ark, Bellefea’s fiery return shows the band following a similar path but now with a newfound confidence.

Bellefea’s intensity has always been palpable but it’s a loose energy, one that the band ropes in at will. They aren’t afraid to take chances or allow their songs to simply fall apart as with “Thorn Bird II," which deconstructs midway, abruptly shifting in time signature and mood. The band flirts with a richer sound here, to its greatest effect on the mournful “Telling the Hour.” The song’s tense strings and echoes give its bleak subject matter a dark sense of brooding. The lull doesn’t last as minutes later McEntire is back in attack mode shrieking, “They don’t really care who you are unless your record sells!” Her lyrics are often pointed and accusatory — which perfectly compliments the band’s terse aggression.

Cavalcade’s potency is in Bellefea’s understanding of its own strengths; the songs are emotional without being sentimental, forceful but never a hollow assault. Nine songs in 30 minutes don’t allow for much filler and the band uses this to its advantage, never allowing its songs to stay on the same course indefinitely. Even at its most straightforward, the undeniably catchy “Arctic,” the band momentarily shifts gears from driving guitar to airy string arrangement only to refocus upon its conclusion. With Cavalcade, Bellefea achieves a rare feat: maturity that feels earned instead of forced.