I've been a fan of Billy Talent's music since the first album. The best part about this band is that they only get better with every album. On their sophomore album they came out swinging with a much more focused and harnessed punch than they had on the first one.The first song I got to hear/see from this album was the lead off track, Devil In A Midnight Mass. I wasn't overly impressed with the track at first and I actually ended up waiting until I heard Fallen Leaves before I picked up the album. The first one was good, but not good enough to go diving into this one right away.
Devil In A Midnight Mass is a great starting track. It's fast, wild, and totally reeking of the evil of which Ben Kowalewicz sings. This is some really good Hard Rock / Heavy Metal on this track. At first I didn't care for it, because it sounded a bit too Emo to me at first, and at the time I wasn't exactly fond of that style, so anything that sounded remotely close to it annoyed me. After an actual listen to the CD my opinion changed.
There is something to Ian D'Sa's guitar style that is totally cool. Red Flag is a good song to showcase his unique flair. It's got a little of everything, and is totally rockin'. It just gets the heart pumping, and that's all that really matters. It has old fashion Rock N' Roll.
Now, I'm going to say that when it comes to Billy Talent lyrics you have one of two choices, either pay attention and understand what's going on, or just get swept up in the music and hope you pick up enough to know what's going on. When it comes to This Suffering I suggest paying attention to the lyrics. It's one of those songs that's real, honest, and very well written. "Like a target drawn across my chest / She's a bullet in Russian Roulette / You said you'd never turn your back on me / (Rescue me, rescue me) / Would you stand by me or bury me? / (Bury me) / Why don't we end this lie, / I can't pretend this time / I need a friend to find, my broken mind, / Before it falls to pieces / Every time you try to leave me blind / You'll never close my eyes / You'll never close my eyes and watch me die". This is just the first verse and chorus, but it's enough to back up what I've said, as far as I'm concerned.
Worker Bees is a song that I enjoy, but it is not for everyone. Jon Gallant's bass line drives most of this song, and Ian's Guitar sounds great but Ben's vocals will turn people off. It's one of those songs when he let's his scream fly. Which I must admit sounds a bit like a chihuahua. However, it's actually a really good tune.
There's something to the stripped down electric guitar on Pins And Needles that's wicked cool. It's like D'Sa is just letting his fingers dance around the fret board, in a very classic kind of way. Which leads to the song being the slowest track on the album, and yet it's still heavy. Gavin Brown, with Ian D'Sa produced one hell of a thick, full, and heavy album.
The next track is the one that got me to buy the album. Fallen Leaves is fast, fun, and totally bouncey. When the chorus comes on you can't help but sing and bounce at the same time. "In a crooked little town, they were lost and never found / Fallen leaves, fallen leaves, fallen leaves... on the ground / Run away before you drown, or the streets will beat you down / Fallen leaves, fallen leaves, fallen leaves... on the ground". The best part is that this is not the type of song you should want to so easily and freely sing.
Where Is The Line? is another song that you can't help but sing along to. Not because it's some catchy Pop crap either. I want to say that it's like listening to more skilled Ramones playing a much more skilled style of music.
Covered In Cowardice is a bit of a filler. I enjoy the song, but it's not one of the stronger tracks on the album. It runs a bit long, at least it feels that way, and sounds like it's a song that was wrapped around lyrics, and not built up together, as a complete entity.
To this day I still don't know how I feel about Surrender. It's a decent enough song, but I feel it's placement on this album was wrong. Placing it after Covered In Cowardice makes it seem slower and more drawn out than it really is. On the other hand, it feels like a song that was built up from the lyrics, and the music was just added to make it fuller. That doesn't mean the music is not as good, it just sounds a bit stock is all.
The Navy Song is a bit of a pick me up after the last couple of tracks. It's still has a bit of that stock sound used to push the lyrics, but this one is much more enjoyable in the choruses. However, it has the weird, "Should we really want to sing this out loud?" "I gave my life to save her / The ocean turned to red / In the fall, in the fall, when the tide took them all / In the fall, in the fall, when the tide took them all / Cut down like lambs at slaughter, / Good men were left for dead / In the fall, in the fall, when the tide took them all / In the fall, in the fall, when the tide took them all". It's just amazing how well they work that gangland style chorus chanting, and how it really carries this song that much more, which really helps because this is the longest track on the CD, but feels shorter than the last two.
The next track, Perfect World, opens up really well, and then kind of drifts of into something a bit gentle and mellow, with a great rhythm. Then when the chorus kicks in the song gets all heavy and awesome. However, most of the song I find a bit boring. This song relies way too much on the constant build up, that doesn't hold steady for any significant amount of time until it hits the 1:50. At which point it stays constantly rockin' until the end of the song.
Sympathy is a bit stockish as well. It's a really good song and I love it in the mix of my CD player, but it sounds like other tracks, and has the typical Billy Talent form to it. However, at the two minute marker the song takes a great musical twist, which lasts about thirty seconds.
The album finishes off with Burn The Evidence. I'm not sure I would have made this the last track on the album. It's a decent enough song, but it's not a strong closer. It would have been much better in the middle of the album. But, to be honest, there isn't a song on this disc that would have been a strong closer.
At the end of this album I have come to a couple of conclusions. The first is that the track planning wasn't done well. There's a very distinct flow change from track seven to track eight. The first seven songs are all solid numbers that sound really well formed and planned out. The last six songs seem more to rely on using their basic skills to get the lyrics out there. It's a bit like an AC/DC album that way. I personally think the album should have had the tracks arranged a bit differently. Make it a strong start, middle and finish.
With all that said, I would still suggest this album to people looking to check out some newer bands, is we can still consider an album from 2006 to be newish. I do think they are very talented Canadians, and I wish them all the best with their future success, because I know they have only gotten better with age.
7/10 - content
7/10 - production
7/10 - personal bias
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