Started in 1995, Belvedere wasn't even supposed to play a show. But with their debut album, “Because No One Stopped Us” in 1998, they broke into the punk scene. But because they lived in Calgary, they didn’t have much of a crowd and not many people knew who they were. This album only sold about 3000 copies. A few years later they released “‘Twas Hell Said Former Child”. This melodic and really fast punk album had about 20 minutes of music with only 10 songs. With these 2 albums they started to get a fan base and started to get more popular. In 2003 they released a split album called “Hometown Advantage” with another band called “Downway”, which was another band from Calgary. This album was released in 2003 and has 10 songs on in. Finally in 2004 they made their final album called “Fast Forward Eats the Tape”. FFETA is by far their greatest album and longest. With its 15 tracks and over 45 minutes of music, they finally made their perfect album. It has more of a pop-punk feel to it but has the fastest riffs for that pure punk feel. It has great guitar licks, good vocals and lyrics, solid drumming and my favorite part of it, the bass is incredible in here. Jason makes awesome bass lines that go perfect with every song and always adds something to the riff for difficulty, style and skill. He always has to add that extra note or octave which makes it sound so much better. I love his little bass fills he adds everywhere and I can’t get enough of it. Now here’s my track by track review of “Fast Forward Eats the Tape”.
Graham Churchill – Drums
Scott Marshall – Guitar/Lead Vocals
Jason Sinclair – Bass/Background Vocals
Steve – Lead Guitar/Background Vocals
1. Subhuman Nature: Great opening song to the album. It starts off with an easy guitar line and then goes heavier and faster in the Verse. I love how the first words he says to the song is “F*ck you!” because it adds more of a faster and heavier punk song. The guitar solo in this song is really sweet if u listen to it in your headphones because it starts off in the left speaker with one guitar playing, then after that measure the second guitar comes in the right speaker and plays the same line but in a higher octave which sounds great. Sweet opener. 8.5/10
2. Three’s a Crowd: This song has a cool little guitar fill right off the start of the song and then everyone comes in. I like the vocals in this song. Not as fast as Subhuman Nature but still a great punk song. Pretty basic instrumental wise but has a good sounds to it. Good song. 7/10
3. Closed Doors: I love the little bass intro to this song. So sweet. After that everyone jumps in the song and starts rockin’. There’s a cool scale at the end of each measure that sounds great with the song. Chorus is good. The bridge is also good because it slows everything down and then starts back up again. This is the first song I heard from this album before I got it and I still love it now. Great song. 8/10
4. Unplugged: This song has been released on another one of their earlier album. I’ve never heard the original one before but I guess the one on FFETT is a lot better and sounds more clean. This song isn’t one of my favorites but is still a good Belvedere song. It’s pretty basic and doesn’t have anything extraordinary in it. If your going to show one of your buddies a Belvedere song, make sure it isn’t this one because they are so much more then this. Average song. 6.5/10
5. Quicksand: By far worst song on the album. I always skip this song unless I really want to hear it. This song is about geography and like plants and trees and stuff and about how we’re polluting the world and we can’t escape or fix it. It starts out with drums and stays about the same tempo mostly throughout the whole song except for the outro which is a little quicker. Fades out at the end of it. Another average song by Belvedere. 6/10
6. Two Minutes For Looking So Good: Now this is where the album starts to get faster and heavier and more of that punk feel to it. This is the second track on FFETT that has been taken and redone from a previous album. I’ve heard the original one before I even owned FFETT and I loved it back then. When I heard it for the first time on FFETT, I was stunned and shocked on how good they totally redone the song. It’s a lot cleaner, heavier and faster which is all positive things in my book. The lyrics are about a hockey player from Calgary that I’ve never heard of(I’m surprised because I’m a big hockey fan)and describes how good of a player he is. I love the lyrics. My favorite line is “He’ll meet you at the boards and end your day”. It’s fast guitar/bass/drum riffing all the way through but does a nice job changing from Verse to Chorus. Amazing song, by far in my top 3 favorite songs from this album. 9.5/10
7. All About Perspectives: A slower more serious Belvedere song but great lyrics in this one. Start off with “The remote control feels like a shotgun. Discharging more nonsense through my head. No more solidarity in what we are and what we see. I want to smash the screen and throw away the batteries”. I love those lyrics for an intro. It plays it once slow with just guitar mute and drums then plays it again as a verse with everyone and a faster beat to it. Good chorus and interlude make this song a more melodic and serious and is a good change from all the fast punk action they usually play. Good song. 7/10
8. Elementally Regarded: A very short song. Just a little bit over a minute but is one of the fastest song on the album. It’s pretty much and all out song that has lots of speed. The highlight of this song has to be the last 10 seconds. They do the sweetest little scale/fill thing. It doesn’t sounds anything like the song and almost seems like it doesn’t fit in, but if you listen to it a few times you’ll get to like it. My friend told me this is the last song that they play end their shows if that helps you knowing what song this is. Great fast punk song. If it were longer I would give it a higher score but because its very short I have to put that in with it too. 7/10
9. Brandy Wine: Yes I love this song! Every time I hear this song it just gets me in a good mood. This is the third song redone from another album. I’ve heard the first version of it and they sound almost the same. The only little differences that I found was the bass. In FFETT, Jason adds a few more fills and notes here and there and makes it sound better in some odd way. The intro is kept the exact same which is good because it’s one of the best part of the song. Second best bass intro in the album and is my favorite song to play on bass. There’s good pre-verse and pre-chorus parts in this song. The interlude is a good one with the bass repeating the second part of the intro. The chorus is awesome vocally. He sings it really well and has a higher pitch voice in it. I also like how in the last chorus all the instruments stop and its just him singing alone. Sounds really good. Finish’s off with a cool little fill. Sweet *ss song. 9/10
10. Stain: By far my favorite song on the album and has one of the sweetest bass intro’s I have ever heard. This song is perfect in everyway. The highlight in this song is Jason and his sweet fills and added octaves he puts in everywhere, especially in the chorus. If you listen closely you can hear how crazy he goes. Every part of the song is great. Not much more to say. If your going to load a song off FFETT, make sure it’s this one. Amazing song. 9.5/10
11. Slaves To the Pavement: Every one that I know says this song is awesome. Personally I don’t. It has a sweet guitar riff for the intro, the verse is really good(has a off beat drumming thing going on here)but the chorus is where I find it loses it. The singing is weird here with the pitch of the guitars. I don’t know, maybe it’s just me. The interlude is sweet because it has a killer guitar solo. Not the craziest I’ve ever seen but sounds good with the song. There is also a video to this song. Above average song. 7.5/10
12. Early Retirement: Another fast minute long track with the sweetest intro. The notes they hit in the intro are cool and it doesn’t sounds like they’re playing in standard tuning I find. The lyrics are about pretty much what the title says. Too bad it wasn’t longer because it has room for another few riffs. Wonder if they would ever redo this song and make it longer… Great song. 7.5/10
13. Popular Inquiries Into Everyday Disasters: A slow guitar intro that sounds pretty blame and depressing. Good enough chorus but where this song shines is the last minute. It goes all instrumental and does a few great riffs. Sounds really nice after going through a few minutes of easy beat guitar riffs. Love the outro but needs a better intro. Good song. 7.5/10
14. Bad Decisions: This song’s intro almost sounds exact to the outro of the previous song. But then in the verse it goes way different and you can tell it’s a totally different song. I like this song. Some good guitar lines and bass fills makes this song sound nice and clean. Good song. 7/10
15. Anesthetic: F*cking best guitar/bass intro. Starts off with some guitar playing clean chords, then the drums kick in at the same time as the bass. Jason plays along but doesn’t play the root notes of the chords Steve is playing and doing sweet little fills and off beat stuff, and at the same time Scott is doing something totally different on his guitar and all of this makes a great intro. It lasts about a minute and then the verse has some screaming vocals in it. Throughout the whole song, Scott screams the lyrics pretty much and sounds really good for a none screamo band. Where this song shines is instrumentally. Every part his different from the last and there isn’t really a Intro/Verse/Chorus/Verse/Chorus/Bridge/Outro feel to it but more of creating a new riff for every part which sounds awesome. Fade out at end. Great way the end the album. Amazing song. 9/10
There you have it, my review of FFETT. Sadly, this is Belvedere’s last album but they will be playing one last show in Calgary so if you live in that area you should really check them out. This was my first review ever and I’m open to any suggestions on making this review or any of my up coming reviews better.
