Belvedere / Downway - Hometown Advantage

It's always nice to see two of your favorite bands team up for a split release. Chris from 206 Records has known about these great bands from Canada for about 6 years now, so isn't it time you get with the program? Downway played a show in my basement a long time ago and crashed on my couches on another occasion. I've also seen Belvedere play, and both bands put on awesome live shows. Needless to say, when this CD arrived in the mail I was excited to pop it in. Downway has come a long way since we played the Wu-Tang video game together. Musically, they've improved a lot, but they stick to their formula and continue to deliver great melodic skate-punk anthems. They kick it off with the typical Downway sounding "Forever is the End" and then the 80's metal influenced (with hints of Thursday in the breakdown) "Under the Same Sky" before slowing down with "August." "Designed for the Weak" is just what the title implies and then Downway ends with the average "Crash." I would like to see Downway a little faster and angrier, but they're still an awesome band that continue to put out solid albums. Belvedere has progessed so much more than Downway in the same ammount of time. They started out as a goofy skate punk band singing about Stone Cold Steve Austin and now sound more like Strung Out and Bad Religion. The songs on this disc aren't horrible, but they haven't grown on me yet. If you want some awesome Belvedere, check out their CD called "Angels Live in my Town." Overall, both bands should be faster and angrier - but at the same time both are awesome bands that you should check out. Buy this CD for a good sampling of 2 great bands!