Originally released September 16, 2003
Reissued February 28, 2012
Warner
1xLP
Hailing from Mississauga Ontario, Billy Talent has become one of Canada’s signature punk-rock exports of the twenty-first century. Entertaining massive crowds of loyal fans for almost twenty years, it seems almost everyone you know has been to one of their stadium shows. After playing as PEZZ since their high school days, they changed their name to Billy Talent in 1999 following legal threats and in 2003 hit the ground running with their self-titled Billy Talent. It was on this album where they pioneered their singular sound that has since topped the charts from Toronto to Berlin and elsewhere. Lead singer Benjamin Kowalewicz’s incendiary vocals keep the energy high throughout, while guitarist and second vocalist Ian D’Sa keeps the ears entranced with his luscious riffs and haunting call and response which has become a primary sound motif throughout the band’s career. Audiophile label Music On Vinyl has recently repressed almost their entire catalog, but it is their debut that should be the one to not miss, which will surely go down as one of the great Canadian albums of the 2000s.