Belvedere

Hindsight Is The Sixth Sense

Written by: MAK on 24/05/2021 12:57:24

2020 was meant to be the 25th Anniversary for Canadian punks Belvedere, however, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the celebrations were put on hold and tours that were meant to happen through Europe, Canada and Mexico were postponed. This gave the punk veterans the perfect time to write the follow up to their fifth album, 2016s “Revenge of the Fifth”. Album number six also contains an amusing play on words in the title, aptly named “Hindsight Is The Sixth Sense”.

With this latest offering, Belvedere offers up their usual brand of breakneck-paced technical skate punk that is laced with both a hard-hitting attitude and an impressive array of hooking melody to balance it out. Right off the bat with “Happily Never After” we feel the urgency with the rampant drumming and fast shreddy hooks. Vocalist Steve Rawles sings through gritted teeth but unveils some nice cleans for some catchy segments. “Elephant March” comes at us like a punky metal song, like Avenged Sevenfold playing a NOFX track. The riffs are deeper and crunchier but performed in a quirky way that it's not too heavy. The beats are more intricate and the leads are a lot more fiddly. It’s a fun track, it just packs more of a punch and showcases more the Belvedere’s technical capabilities.

Between the release of this album, and the last, the world has drastically changed politically, we’ve had Brexit, two new American presidents and a stronger lean towards right-wing politics. With that, the views of Belvedere come across strongly, the likes of “Good Grief Retreat” attacks corporations and capitalism, while in “Comrade”, Rawles preaches “Left and right will go to war, all while the ruling class evades us”. In both, the vocalist rallies for people to be united instead of divided.

“Retina” stands out as the complete package musically in what Belvedere deliver. With erratic galloping drum patterns played like a metal track and tension building forceful riffage to grab your attention, the track breaks off into an infectiously catchy skate punk hit with nice singalong choruses and wonderful technical melodies to entrance you. The pairing of “Automate” and “heartbreaker” back to back however pricks the ears with some of the more uplifting hooks on the release. Both charging at you in breakneck pace track for the most part with perky vocal segments and bouncy rhythms.

Not exactly a gamechanger, but a steady album, nonetheless, providing some nice fast punk tracks and some influential technical prowess. Overall, there is a sense of more passion in the delivery and more angst than the predecessor, with certain tracks pulling you in hard. However, as a whole, the album doesn’t fully grab your attention, the album is definitely more of a grower than an instant hit.

6

Download: Elephant March, Retina, Comrade
For the fans of: Propagandi, Adrenalized, A Wilhelm Scream
Listen: Facebook

Release date 14.05.2021
Thousand Island Records / Lockjaw Records

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