Caught in the Carousel

Billy Talent

Billy Talent II
Atlantic

"Our only hope is the minds of the kids," declares Billy Talent's frontman Ben Kowalewicz. Considering the band's sonic fury, whiplash choruses and lyrics urging individuality and rebellion ("Our only weapons are the guns of youth"), it won't take much convincing to recruit their target audience for their hard rock army. Actually, from the looks of things, sign-ups have been overwhelmingly strong. With over a million albums sold, (and reaching number one in both their native Canada and Germany) this Toronto quartet's Billy Talent II has just the right mix of charge and bite. The fiery "Red Flag" has all the lippy snarl of The Sex Pistols, "Covered In Cowardice" suggests Iron Maiden and "Where Is The Line?" sounds like Axl Rose fronting My Chemical Romance. Elsewhere, there's propulsive metal ("Worker Bees") and incendiary punk pop ("Perfect World"), but Kowalewicz, in addition to being a charismatic and dynamic singer, is a thoughtful lyricist and storyteller: "Fallen Leaves" is a frustration-laden ode to a friend fallen prey to drug addiction, while "Devil In A Midnight Mass" confronts sexual abuse in the Catholic Church. But it's the album closer "Burn The Evidence" that steals the show here. Echoing the Sex Pistols' famous live taunt of, "Ever get the feeling you've been cheated?" Kowalewicz uses the sentiment not to make a statement about a punk rock swindle, but rather employs the phrase to remind us of our mortality. In other words, if it's a mark you want to make, make it now.

--Alex Green