Cavedoll has released ten albums this year, 13 in all, and this review is as much a criticism of that mind-numbingly stupid idea as much as it is of their release No Vertigo. (It’s hard to tell if it’s their latest, keeping track of 10 album releases in a seven-month period isn’t easy.) The group is mostly a one-man show, with Camden Ray Chamberlain serving as the band’s guitarist, bass player, keyboardist and lead singer. He is also the sole creative force behind the scenes too, as he writes, produces, mixes and masters nearly all of the band’s songs as well. If you were to rank control freaks on a scale of 1 to 10, one being the communal vibe of Pearl Jam and 10 being the dominant assholery of Billy Corgan, Chamberlain has to be an 11 – he probably makes Roger Waters look like an open-minded ray of sunshine. It should be no surprise that No Vertigo is a massively uneven affair, filled with songs of varying in both style and quality. There are a few amazing tracks here, but there are also several duds, and the covers of “Paint It Black” and “Heroes” are filler on an already long album that has more than its fair share of useless tracks. Chamberlain probably thinks he’s doing something genius by releasing nearly every single song his band records, but he needs to remember that B-sides and outtakes exist for a reason. (Kitefishing 2008)
