Billy Talent III
Billy Talent III is the third studio album by Canadian rock band Billy Talent. It was released on July 10, 2009, in Europe, July 13 in the United Kingdom, July 14 in Canada, and September 22 in the US. The album debuted at No. 1 on the Canadian Albums Chart, selling over 40,000 copies in its first week. It also peaked at No. 107 on the Billboard 200, making it Billy Talent's highest-charting album to date. In April 2010, the album won a Juno Award for best rock album of the year. Despite the commercial success, Billy Talent III received mixed to negative reviews. On Metacritic, the album earned a score of 45/100, which means "mixed or average reviews" based on 7 critics; one review being negative and the other six being mixed.
Background
A demo version of one of the album's songs, "Turn Your Back", was released as a single in September 2008 and featured the band members of Anti-Flag, with the first legitimate single spawned by Billy Talent III is "Rusted from the Rain", which premiered May 17, 2009, on Triple J. The album version of "Turn Your Back" does not include Anti-Flag's vocals, as the single version does.The second single from the album, "Devil on My Shoulder" was released on August 26, 2009.
A promotional website located at billytalent3.com was launched to showcase the making of the album. Part of the promotion also included the which allowed listeners to become the "Ultimate Billy Talent Fan". The widget rewarded users with rare tracks, videos, pictures and interviews as fans "level up" their widgets.
On June 8, 2009, the band announced the release of a special deluxe edition of the album, entitled Billy Talent III: Guitar Villain Edition. The special edition featured a second disc of the album, without the inclusion of guitar, plus guitar tabs of the entire album transcribed on two full-size posters, for fans to play along to. Along with this guitar-less version, the disc is concluded with four additional demos.
The band embarked on a supporting tour on February 21, 2009, starting with an Australian first leg.
Track listing
Personnel
Personnel taken from Billy Talent III liner notes.Billy Talent
- Benjamin Kowalewicz – lead vocals
- Ian D'Sa – guitar, backing vocals
- Jonathan Gallant – bass, backing vocals
- Aaron Solowoniuk – drums
- Brendan O'Brien – Mellotron, piano, hammerchord, percussion, other additional instruments
- Brendan O'Brien – producer, mixing
- Nick DiDia – recording
- Billy Bowers – additional engineering
- Tom Syrowski – recording assistance
- Martin Cooke – recording assistance
- Tom Tapley – engineering
- Kory Aaron – engineering assistance
- Steve Morrison – engineering assistance
- Tom "TK" Kidd – additional engineering
- Kenny Luong – engineering
- Jason "Metal" Donkersgoed – engineering assistance
- Bob Ludwig – mastering
- Dustin Rabin – photography
- Doublenaut – artwork, package design
Charts and certifications