I'll start off with the Downway

The Downway material is amazing. Everyone on the site who has reviewed it has not given them enough credit. Downway uses some of the best pop-punk song writing compostition i have heard in awhile, with lyrics everyone can relate to I would've paid the same price for just the downway.

Now on to the belvedere

After only hearing FFETT, i had expected this to be somwhere along the same lines of some very very technical punk rock with excellent composure, but nothing could have prepared me for what i heard.

The belvedere was absolute bliss. Its not as heavy as the material on FFETT, and more leaning towards the side of some extremely solid fast pop punk.

They start off with Home Ice Advantage. A lot of people said this was there favorite song on the cd, and with good reasoning. While not following the straight forward fast punk drum scheme we all know, the enroute a similar yet completely different sound that sets this song aside from everything on FFETT. "Taken for granted every single gift that we've been given". And Excellent first track.

After that they go to Paradise. Now this is my favorite song on the cd. A lot of good vocal attributes along with an awesome guitar line drive this song all the way home.

Next is Seconds Away, which is the heaviest song on this cd. A tad of screaming and some hardcore/punk riffs make this an excellent song, and if this is your first Belvedere cd, it is a good preview of what to expect on Fast Forward.

Next is Brandy Wine. They redid this song for fast forward, so i heard the second version of it before i heard the first. I definetly prefer this version. It is a lot less polished, and with a couple different lyrics. The thing i did not like is that the drum line wasn't as technical as the one Graham did for Fast Forward (they switched drummers between the 2 albums). Not to be rude, but Graham definetly displays a lot more talent. Still an excellent song, and a perfect first song to listen to if your trying to get into belvedere.

Last but certainly not least is Distress. This song kicks so much ass. It's a lot like Al's War by Less Than Jake, in the way that its an anthem about something we should all think about, but the song is about a totally different subject. I believe its about an abusive relationship, from lines like "here's a classic situation, i've seen it all before, she's lives in fear of the one who's supposed to to care". A great song, and an excellent way to en the cd.

One of my favorite cd's. Thanks Belvedere, Thanks Downway. Deff. pick this one up!