Band of the week - nay, the month!

A few months ago, I stumbled upon Pandora.com. Pandora is an online radio that builds a custom station for you based on a band you enter. It's a good way to find new bands in the same genre as your favorite artists.

I was listening to Sum 41 radio, and getting a bunch of crap punk - when all of a sudden, I hear a new sound. I was a bit worried at first - it seemed so outrageous, so ridiculous - what the junk was up with the lead singer's voice? It was almost as if he was trying to sing normally, but what he really wanted to do was be screaming at the top of his lungs.

A bit later, another song by the same artist rolled around. I was starting to get interested - this stuff sounded fresh, and I wanted more. I looked into the band - named Billy Talent, I had been catching tracks off of their self titled album from 2003.

I acquired the album, and started listening to it liberally. It's an album with a solid rock beat, appealing guitar riffs, and energetic vocals. Apparently, they're on the popularity upswing at the moment, and have a few music videos out already. They're worth noting just because they seem to have found a genre untouched by most pop bands - avoiding the ho-hum rock formula, they've got the energy to pull off the yelling and screaming that they let fly.

The lyrics might not be anything terribly special, but at least they don't try for some kind of vague deepness. The album is well executed, with an entertaining new riff in almost every song. A solid secular band - worth a listen or two, at least.