Review :: Billy Talent II

Billy Talent :: Billy Talent II

Introduction: I decided to take on my lil' bro, Ridhwan's challenge of doing a review of a rock band instead of the usual Pop/RnB I usually do, so okay fine. I must admit, I'm not a rock fan, but Red Flag, one of the songs from the album sounds awesome! Through careful promotion, Ridhwan managed to get me hooked. Okay, enough. So here are the four members of Billy Talent. Benjamin Kowalewicz with the lead vocals (used to be drums), Jonathan Gallant on the bass, Ian D'Sa, the guitarist and Aaron Solowoniuk on the drums. I admit, I only heard of Billy Talent this year but damn man, they got some history in their hands. Billy Talent used to be "The Other One" then they broke up, and joined forces with Ian (from Dragon Flower) and formed Pezz, later to be renamed as Billy Talent. Furthermore, Aaron has been diagonosed with Multiple Sclerosis and the song This Is How It Goes is written about Aaron's battle with the illness.

The vocals are to die for, I've to admit.

What's Different: Like I said, I ain't no fan of no rock music, LOL, but Billy Talent definitely stands out. I like them, so I think that validates a lot. MEH. It's just that I never really can compare them to another rock group. It's either that or I don't want to confuse with punk rock or whatever. I don't want to seem ignorant, so I'll start reviewing now, lol. Oh yah, they sound like an awesome Indie band.

I'm reviewing four tracks, Red Flag, Devil in a Midnight Mass, Fallen Leaves and Surrender
(To hear the songs, click on the song titles before the review)

Red Flag starts with heavy drums, then vocals with the chorus, then hearing the guitar and bass. The chorus itself is highly addictive. With this part, "Cast off the crutch that kills the pain/The red flag waving never meant the same/The kids of tomorrow don’t need today/When they live in the sins of yesterday" and the chorus is seriously stuck in my head. The song talks about politics, basically about the future children will be living in the mistakes of past rulers. What I think, personally, the song is standing up for your right before anyone controls you. A big clue is the continuous chanting of "We don't need them!", suggesting we don't need the mistakes of past rulers or the controlling attitude of others towards us. The music is awesome, the vocals are great - I love this song. Favourite song of the moment - no lie!

Devil In A Midnight Mass; I thought, hell, I ain't never gonna hear a song with the devil in it, lol, but I gave it a chance. When I first heard the song, I thought it was a direct attack at Christianity, with lyrics like, "He preyed behind stained glass/A memory of Sunday class" and "The holy water in his hands/Can never wash away his sins" but I was wrong. After doing some research, the song was to point out that the events which led to the molestation of a child by a priest did happen! Metaphorical, I like! Okay, elaboration: A priest was convicted of molesting 150 kids over a 30 year span and while he was serving his sentence another inmate broke into his cell and murdered him, pointed in the lyrics, "Your bed is made, it's in the ground". The beats on this song is on point, the screaming at the end is a bit off, maybe because I'm an RnB head, but other than that, song's hot! (Though the metaphorical side of the song draws me closer to the band!) "Silent night, for the rest of my life!" - is definitely my favourite line from the song.

Fallen Leaves. Upon pressing the play button, the beat is to die for! LOL. I listened to this song for the first time, and read the lyrics, "Just one more hit, and I’ll be fine/I swear to God, this’ll be my one last time!" and I know only drug addicts (or any kind of addict) say that line! LOL. I myself included. Another line, "I left my best friends, or did they just leave me?" Shows a lot, you know? I did my research and yes, this song is about a drug addict. Taken from Wikipedia: "Fallen leaves, fallen leaves, fallen leaves on the ground" is a metaphorical view of the drug addict himself, and how he begins healthily at the top of the tree, but becomes weaker as the addiction grows, dying slowly, like the leaves from a tree do as they fall to the ground." I love the song. It's so metaphorical, plus the fact the music and the lyrics are so awesome!

Surrender every word, every thought, every sound. I'm not doing research this time round. Wow. This song hits kinda close to home, man... I was in a way, this person in the song. "She needs support and I've become the crutch./She'll never know how much she means to me./I'd play the game, but I'm the referee" Before meeting someone new, the girl will always go to this person for support and calling himself the referee means that he is nothing but just her best friend. "I'd travel time and confess to her,/But I'm afraid she'd shoot the messenger." Why didn't you just tell her in the first place, dumbass?! It's sad when you know people who is going through this. Their feelings never gets acrossed due to fear. Fuck fear, man! However, this line, is just awesome, "I think I found a flower in a field of weeds./Searching until my hands bleed,/This flower don't belong to me." Just like me, searching like hell, but even so, we don't always get what we want, no? "I never had the nerve to ask." Oh don't we all?

And that's all folks! The songs above are such awesome listens and I'm certain the rest of the album is great as well. Now I want to find this album in stores, I feel like getting it! Their writing style reminds me of Gwen Stefani. Very metaphorical and abstract. I'm a huge fan of that type of songs.

Album Rating: 9/10. I just love it so much. Especially Red Flag and Surrender. It's awesome.