Ontario rock band Billy Talent hasn’t just churned out records over the years. Every album has been diligently worked on, and the labour hasn’t gone unnoticed. One of the hardest working bands around, they’ve lit the scene up with political drama and songs peppered in slogans of rebellion. They’ve also stuck to their guns and trusty chords, pivotally pushing the genre to its limits, constantly reinventing it and themselves. By doing so, their record Crisis Of Faith sounds daring and ready to change perceptions.

Almost ready to explode, the record blasts away all the dust from yesterday. Not a new sound, but one reinvigorated, one imprinted with hooks and range. And lyrically it’s one of Billy Talent’s most open records, one of their most revealing. The band has always been on trend lyrically, poetically pulling at the world, and Crisis Of Faith is no different. It hits on despair; it hits on sadness, even though it may seem it has been covered in a sheen, a overly polished sound of jubilation.

Rage powers through, hope dangles like a clock hand ready to smash onto the floor. And the band sings about choices and angry voices, times when the world seems drowned in an overcast. They’ve always had the knack of creating moments where pulsating guitars and poetry interweave too, and Crisis Of Faith has that aura.

There are 10 heavy songs to listen to. Reckless Paradise is a standout, a song brimming in hooks and disparaging lyrics. It describes the truthfulness of Armageddon. The chorus bubbles in truth, too. The Wolf begins softly, and the backbeat adds tension. The vocals come in gently, and the song sounds like a movie track. Reactor is a guitar driven track bolstering the record. Lyrically it’s the most decisive, and musically, it’s the most technical. Again, Billy Talent do not shy away from world problems. For You quickly cools down what came before, but still holds its own. The guitar sequence places a strong bed for the lyrics and vocals.

Crisis Of Faith is a commanding record which highlights a broken world and a band that are fed up of seeing everything slowly cascade around them.

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