Clocking in a just over 30 minutes, no one can accuse Bellafea of being flabby with their first long player. This North Carolina outfit have been in the noisy guitar business since the start of the decade, releasing their Family Tree EP in 2005 before retreating to their home state to craft their debut. A lot of exertion for a half hour of music; which sadly doesn’t actually seem to represent a whole lot of effort. The songs on Cavalcade occasionally exhibit flashes of quality, but on the whole the din smothers mud all over the good ideas, making you wish they’d held back a bit on the noise.There are some good songs here. "Telling the Hour" is delicate and subtle, full of yearning with a fine vocal and a groaning string accompaniment. Also special is "Arctic", the clipped guitar introduction leading into a sprawling but inviting mixture of ideas and musical patterns. These songs show a spark of originality, which is not to be found on the more sonically enhanced numbers, where each band member seem to clamour for attention to the detriment of the overall picture."Thornbird II" is a good case in point, where a noisy interlude which does nothing but slam on the handbrake to an otherwise interesting song, taking us into chaos and confusion. Drums struggle to keep time on "Run Rabbit Run", working against the urgency of the guitar line, the melody bending of "Geography" sounding more out of tune than experimental. As they say themselves on opening track "Depart" “Its good to be honest” and in my honest opinion this could have been so much better. 50%Bellafea on M