Band : Billy Talent
Album Title : Billy Talent III
Label : Warner Music
Distribution : Warner Music
Release date : October 2009
Review : CD

First of all, a bit of band history to make things clearer. Originally, the band we now know as Billy Talent was called Pezz. They formed in 1993 in Toronto, Canada and released the album Watoosh! in 1999. Due to a threatening lawsuit from an American band with the same name, Pezz changed their name into Billy Talent. The album Billy Talent I came out in 2003 and earned some success with the singles “Try Honesty” and “River Below”. The real international breakthrough followed with their second album, Billy Talent II (2006) and the hit singles “Fallen Leaves” and “Red Flag”.

So, Billy Talent III is the fourth studio album of these Canadian rockers for whom the grunge-era was a big influence. Billy Talent like to cultivate their musical roots and have defined their own sound. A mix of genres, like for instance grunge, hard rock and post-hardcore. But certainly not with too many punk or emo influences.
Singer Ben Kowalewicz came up with catchy singing lines and the songs breathe a certain emotional range. Compared to the previous records, “Billy Talent III” sounds a bit more commercial and the tempo went down. Maybe that’s the influence of legendary producer Brendan O’Brien (whose credits mention for instance Pearl Jam, Stone Temple Pilots, Rage Against The Machine, Korn, The Offspring, Papa Roach, Bruce Springsteen, Incubus, Audioslave, Velvet Revolver, AC/DC, Mastodon, Killswitch Engage).Billy Talent III contains 11 songs and has a playing time of 43 minutes. Highlights of the album are the opening track and second single “Devil On My Shoulder”, the first single “Rusted From The Rain”, “Tears Into Wine”, “The Dead Can’t Testify”, “Diamond On A Landmine”, “Turn Your Back” and “Sudden Movements”.

Due to planning problems, Billy Talent had to cancel several dates of their European tour in November 2009. I guess they will make up for this cancellation by planning new European dates in 2010, be it on festivals or in clubs.

85/100

Erik.