THIS IS A STANDOFF - Be Excited
All of Canada was in grief when the popular melodic punk band Belvedere announced their split after ten years of existence (1995 – 2005). Two former members resumed playing music together, hired two more people from the bands Forty Cent Fix and Deville, to form This Is A Standoff. Their debut Be Excited is published in Europe by several small labels, with Funtime Records being responsible for the Benelux area.
Comparing Be Excited to the last Belvedere CD Fast Forward Eats The Tape, you’ll hardly notice any striking changes. Even if this were disappointing for a lot of bands, there are some bands like AC/DC, Motörhead and Bad Religion that have the right and privilege to release the same type of album over and over again. Like Bad Religion, This Is A Standoff consist also of punk veterans. Both bands even share more or less the same musical direction. Be Excited is aimed at those who are into catchy pop punk tunes, wonderfully arranged choruses with layered vocal lines, great hooks and rocking guitars. Their songs are played at a remarkable speed without ever risking to get close to hardcore regions.
The album’s twelve songs are rarely longer than three minutes. Although there’s some repetition on the album, their exceptional vocalist and the tremendous songwriting save Be Excited from being just a good album. Better Than All Of Us, You Won’t Pass, There’s A Little Lemoncello In Everyone and Silvio are just a few standout tracks that have chances to win an award for best punk song of the year. This album rocks!