Review: Billy Talent

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Billy Talent
“Self-titled”
(Atlantic)

Remember the first time you heard a band that totally kicked your ass? A band that didn’t sound like anyone else and was completely different? That’s exactly the way I feel when I pop in the debut from Billy Talent. I get the same feeling when hearing this disc as I did when I first heard At the Drive In.

Stealing their name from one of my all-time favorite Canadian movies “Hardcore Logo”, Billy Talent is everything I had hoped for and ‘Line and Sinker’  was stuck in my head all last week with the line: “Today I don’t feel pretty/and when I try to fit in/don’t think you’re so great/cause being good must suck!”. Can’t really explain what it is about this band that I find so infectious but I can’t seem to get it out of my CD player.

Singer Benjamin Kowalewicz sounds like the bastard child of Mike Patton on crack, while the band backing him is a combination of alt-rock genius and At the Drive In. Honestly I can’t say enough good things about this band because they fucking blew me away. I was kinda pissed when I heard they stole the band name from one of my favorite movies but after hearing the album, they surprised me and actually did the flick justice. Billy Talent is definitely worth the price of admission.