Billy Talent // Dead Silence

For an album called ‘Dead Silence’, Billy Talent’s newest offering is the very opposite. Irony maybe? Not to say the album is some kind of rowdy mess, each track has it’s own cleverly orchestrated punk-rock yet melodic rock sound. The album begins with ‘Lonely Road of Absolution’, a short and sweet intro which then moves on to single ‘Viking Death March’, a satisfying start to the record which then progresses from there. Unlike a lot of albums, the album is solid throughout with no questionable middle tracks that only really the crazed fans bother learning the words to.  In fact, where many bands either on purpose or accidently place their less than tip-top songs, Billy Talent have the brilliant and subtle balled ‘Stand Up And Run’ and the mosh worthy ‘Man Alive’, a song I felt like getting up and going crazy to, though I’m sure I’d be heavily judged by those I am sharing the room with! From this point on, the songs continue to get better and better and I find myself listening to track 13, ‘Swallowed Up By The Ocean’ on repeat. The delicate piano and guitar complement Benjamin Kowalewicz’s crooning voice in the first half of the song, and then the track takes a turn for the epic in the second half; A definite standout track, along with ‘Cure For The Enemy’ and ‘Don’t Count On The Wicked’.  From track one all the way to track fourteen, I thoroughly enjoyed this album and cannot wait to hear the new songs live!

Ellie Smith 8/10