"What are you afraid of? Snakes, spiders, planes? Maybe it's your own mortalitiy. One thing that is for certain though is that we all have our fears. But I guess the question is: Do your fears motivate you or do they stand in the way of your dreams?" With these words BILLY TALENT start the YouTube trailer for their new album "Afraid Of Heights", which was released on July 29th. The whole lyric, which is certainly worth listening to, is a manifesto that shows the Canadians from a new side: more grown up, more mature, more determined, harder, straighter. The new record is the toughest from the band, which has sold over a million albums in Germany alone.
Four years have passed since the number one album "Dead Silence" hit the market. Four years in which so much has happened, in which BILLY TALENT have had to ask themselves very fundamental questions. Not least because drummer Aaron Solowoniuk could no longer actively participate in the album recording due to his MS disease - a replacement was found in Alexisonfire's drummer Jordan Hastings.
This album is about struggles, the inner ones as well as those with the society we live in. It's about values, tolerance, all the things that should be taken for granted today. It's about asking questions, about friendship and loyalty, it's about taking responsibility, and most of all it's about consciously choosing not to accept the things that don't suit us and don't represent us. "Afraid Of Heights" lets this determination come through quite clearly.
BILLY TALENT clearly show with their fifth studio album that development is steadily possible even after 20 years of band history. The album manages the balancing act between a tried and tested punk rock sound and a more far-reaching rock sound quite incidentally. With all the important thoughts the band has, one thing is by no means missed out. Namely, the aforementioned manifesto ends with the words, "It's about the power of Rock'n'Roll." That's BILLY TALENT's promise when they come on a big German tour this autumn.
And that they keep this promise was impressively proven by the fantastic live band at Rock Am Ring as headliner after the Red Hot Chili Peppers in front of 80,000 fans.
Text source and further information:
https://festhalle.messefrankfurt.com/frankfurt/de/besucher/veranstaltungskalender/veranstaltungen/billytalent.html?nc
