Billy Talent - 'Billy Talent' (Atlantic)
4/5
By: Thomas Hannan
Cedric and Omar might have been getting bored of At The Drive In, but Lord knows the rest of us weren't. In fact, many were just discovering how much fun this so-called 'emo' lark could be. Finally, with the arrival of Billy Talent, we can stop twiddling our thumbs and latch on to something that's racing the blueprint of where ATDI left off into dangerously exciting, uncharted waters. There's some town called 'Melody' on the horizon, perhaps we're heading towards that? Regardless, the enjoyment comes in beating down the path to its gates.
From the opening, tortured notes of the 'Talent party programme 'This Is How It Goes', it just builds and builds to epic proportions without ever once sounding pompous. They're edgy, abrasive and harsh on the ears with yelping screams and jagged guitars in plentiful supply, but even with this blatant uncompromising nature, one thing can't be escaped - Billy Talent write anthems. Not little underground anthems you understand, we're talking proper, potentially stadium-rocking juggernauts here. There are at least ten of them on this one debut album. Heck, the other two tracks aren't bad either.
They've a whole host choruses so contagious you'll think your speakers are itching. The draft seems to be to take melodies so frank and straightforward they may as well be playground taunts (the stunning 'The Ex' for example) and just go at them with relentless passion and red-faced determination, not resting until all these tunes are locked in heated battle for airtime in your head. It sounds so simple, and that's because it is. Damn them.
Often too, it's so catchy it borders on comedy. But it's this sense of humour combined with a lovable vulnerability found on 'Living In The Shadows', 'Line & Sinker', 'Standing In The Rain' and a host of others that somehow endear you to bear so much time for Billy Talent. They switch from the light-hearted to the morose quite regularly, most of the time masters of the art of wearing your heart on the sleeve.
Not always, though. Read into it what you will, but there are tracks here about troubled childhoods - one is an awesome, faultless (and a host of other adjectives all meaning similar things) song called 'Try Honesty'. That's right, the one you've heard on the radio. The other, 'Nothing To Lose', follows a similar theme but in a much less formed, more childish and whining way. It's the only thing you'd want to change about the album, the only moment when self-pity overtakes blind rage. Thankfully, they only do it the once, because Billy Talent, when unleashing their full wrath, are unstoppable.
It's an exhausting listen, something that leaves you out of breath just because you've sang the entire thing from beginning to end by the first time you've heard it. Admittedly, in time we may want some additionally developed hooks and there is some room for a little more lyrical maturity, but we never asked for perfection. We're lucky to have got this close so soon. At The who, now?
Artists in this article: Billy Talent
Your Feedback
Login to post your comment