It’s very difficult to not be excited by This is a Standoff‘s debut album. While I was late to the Belvedere party and only really started to get into them after they’d split up, This is a Standoff are a band that, while their own separate entity, continue the very good work laid down by their predecessors. While not quite as metallic as Belvedere, TIAS rock the fuck out like it’s 1999…or whichever year the likes of Bigwig and various other skate-punk bands peeled out exciting riff after riff.
In short, ‘Be excited’ features some of the best guitar riffery the genre has seen and heard for a while. It’s fast, it’s furious and it’s very, very fun. There are singalong moments and bits where you want to just stop what you are doing and either strap on your air guitar or air drum to your heart’s content. ‘There’s a Little Lemoncello in Everyone’ and the awesome ‘You Won’t Pass’ are two very good examples of this band at work, but to be fair every song is passionate and energetic and well worth a listen. The closing ‘Dream Beater’ is every bit as good as opener ‘Better Than All Of Us’, with very little filler in between.
Fans of Belvedere will love this band, but there’s more than enough to suggest a whole new army of fans will be converted by ‘Be Excited’.