Billy Talent

The self-titled debut album from Canadian pop-punkers Billy Talent finds the group foregoing the usual sing-song jokiness of bands like Blink 182 in favour of an old school approach that recalls everything from the original British punk of the Buzzcocks to 1980s L.A. hardcore. Charismatic lead vocalist Benjamin Kowalewicz has a strident delivery that combines the in-your-face whine of vintage Jello Biafra with the anthemic shouts of Jane's Addiction's Perry Farrell. Meanwhile, the rest of the band pounds away with a clean guitar-driven attack that often sounds like neo-garage rock of the Strokes/Vines/Flaming Sideburns variety, but with considerably more chops. Overall, BILLY TALENT is the work of an unusually tight and powerful band that knows its history but is more than creative enough to avoid mere revivalism.