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My iPod #268: Billy Talent – Devil in a Midnight Mass

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The opening track to Billy Talent’s second album was built upon an ‘evil guitar riff’ that guitarist Ian D’Sa started playing one day. Lead singer Benjamin Kowalewicz wondered what kind of evil would suit that riff, and found it one day when he read an article about a Catholic priest who was molested 150 children in the 90s and was then stabbed to death during his time in prison. As a result, one of Billy Talent’s darkest songs was created. A song which gets the blood racing and sends shivers down my spine each time it plays.

The thing is – I wasn’t so enthused by it when I first heard the song via its video all those years ago in 2006. Thinking about it now I am not so sure why. It was very quick, and was finished before I could absorb anything that was happening. The first time I really understood it was when I actually listened to it through my headphones – that’s when it hit me.

Starting with Ian’s lone menacing riff – the song explodes when the drums kick in along with an almighty “YEEEAAAAHH” from Ben. The verses describe the priest – the ‘devil in a midnight mass’ – whilst the pre-chorus and choruses depict the scene when the priest is killed in jail who will now sing ‘silent night for the rest of [his] life.’

That is all well and… good, but the most threatening part is the last forty-five seconds of the song when the riff repeats on and on as Ben says what could possibly be the priest’s last words before he dies, “Whisper, whisper, don’t make a sound/Your bed is made, it’s in the ground”. That comes to a halt for a split second before those two phrases are ceaselessly screamed at you by Ben, Ian and the bassist Jon before climaxing with an astonishing shriek which echoes right into the next track.

This song is scary. This song is awesome. The best Billy Talent album opener. Hands down. I look at another one tomorrow though.

This is the band’s impression of it when they heard the album mix for the first time.

My iPod #260: Billy Talent – Definition of Destiny

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You know what I just figured out? Literally a few minutes before typing this, every last song on Billy Talent’s albums from “Voices of Violence” to “Dead Silence” went through my mind. Despite differences in tempo, structure and everything – all of them are in D major… I wonder why that is. Do you think that they even realised this? Has anyone else pointed this out before? What the hell, Billy Talent, what the hell. They are all solid tracks, I have all of them on my iPod, but they have to use another key sooner or later, right?

On with today’s song.

“Definition of Destiny” is the final track on Billy Talent’s third album “Billy Talent III”, the last of their usual Roman numerical naming order, released in 2009. Normally the last songs on Billy Talent albums are worth the wait, and the same applied to “Definition” too. It is quite similar to “Burn the Evidence” in that the instrumentation during the verses mirrors the reflective and observational lyrics, staying at a steady beat and keeping a cool rhythm with guitar arpeggios, before turning the levels up and continuing into a stomping and chord heavy chorus which puts emphasis on the intense message of living life to the full your own way before ending up in the casket. Good way to end an album all in all.

I won’t say too much about listening to the album for the first time or how I felt waiting for its release; I’ll probably save that for “Devil on My Shoulder”. However, I will simply state my opinion which is that ‘III’ is not their best work. Some may agree, others may not. The album is okay, but not as good as their first two. The production is different (which is understandable as they used the same producer for the two before) but the tracks lack in something as a result. Less of a bite in guitar tone, perhaps. But most importantly…. there is barely any screaming. That was a disappointment on first listen.

My iPod #251: Billy Talent – Dead Silence

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The first time I listened to the Billy Talent’s fourth album “Dead Silence” (or fifth if you include their actual first album) I was lying in bed, ready to go to sleep and wake up for school the next morning. I tried to force myself to stay awake and pay attention to it, because Billy Talent are cool and it was their brand new album, but eventually I just became too tired and fell asleep about halfway through or so. However, I did regain enough consciousness to just about listen to the last few tracks.

The song is about trying to live in a time of war, with references to ‘soldiers’, ‘machine gun fire’ and ‘bombs’ in the lyrics, and ends with the narrator supposedly saying goodbye to his partner to join the army. Possibly. But Ian’s solos, various guitar licks, Ben’s passionate vocals and the pounding rhythm section of Jon and Aaron deliver a track conveying determination and hope for the future.

There is a music-during-the-credits-for-a-film vibe that I get from this track. I imagine “Swallowed Up by the Ocean” to be the music accompanying the sad ending, whilst “Dead Silence” captures the overall mood that the film delivers. I don’t know why. That’s just me.

My iPod #227: Billy Talent – Cut the Curtains

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I just completely messed up my dinner by leaving it on the cooker for too long. I am a bit depressed now. I had to throw it in the bin; there was no way it could be salvaged. I had the same thing to eat yesterday and it was so good…… 😦 ffs. I think that cooker is too OP, I didn’t even have it on a high flame…. I’ll just cook it tomorrow.

It almost the end of the C section on my iPod, and it is getting to the year anniversary of when I actually first started this thing. Expect the ‘D’ (hehe) next month sometime. Late Feb.

“Cut the Curtains” is a track from Billy Talent’s self-titled debut album. The ninth track on it to be exact. I first listened to the track many years ago, when I wanted to hear all the songs the band made after I’d seen them on the television when I was eight or so.

Even then it was only thirty second samples of it because I didn’t know any downloading sites where you didn’t have to pay. I did eventually get it as a present for my tenth/eleventh birthday, I am not too sure.

After all these years, I still enjoy this album just as much as when I first got it. “Cut the Curtains” isn’t the sole reason why, it is one out of twelve songs that never diminishes on energy, volume, and overall awesomeness.

This track is quite different to the others. It uses a riff, one which I think Ian D’Sa referred to as a chicken, that is practically repeated throughout the song (intro, verses, choruses and all). It probably contains the only part on the album when a track goes quiet for a few seconds. It’s not as quick and pacy as the others, but has a menacing tone and smoothness about it that you still have to move about to it. It’s cool.

The subject matter…. Artifice in a relationship? Maybe? Just a guess.

My iPod #223: Billy Talent – Crooked Minds

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Good times were had last night. Moving from one place to another, plenty of loud music and dancing was involved. I can remember it all too which is a bonus. So as I sit here on my desk, reminiscing and waiting for the second half of the Arsenal game to start, I bring you the first post of two for today.

“Dead Silence” is Billy Talent’s fourth album, released in September 2012. It brought to an end their “Billy Talent (enter roman numeral here)” naming system that the band had used for their first three albums, but it also brought forward some new ideas and sounds too. Ian D’Sa – the guitarist with the Paul-from-Tekken-like haircut – handled the album’s production, there is the of a piano in one of their songs, it also includes two of the most ‘poppiest’ (don’t like that word) tracks I think the band have done. I listened to it when it became available on Spotify, and it was “Crooked Minds” that really grabbed my attention.

With a message similar to “Red Flag’s”, something along the lines of how ‘the kids’ of today will rise up, cast off the shackles and fight to right the wrongs of the government, “Crooked Minds” reminded me of the material from “Billy Talent II”. That album, for me, is my second favourite…. but only marginally. By the skin of my teeth. But “Crooked Minds” just had the energy that that album had, and what was missing, I feel, on “Billy Talent III”.

Actually, that’s a bit unfair. “Billy Talent II” is great as well….. I’ll save that for another day.

I think it is that “Yeah” that Ben screams/yells at the start that certified it for me. “Devil in a Midnight Mass”…..-esque, you could say.