First of all I think these guys are a good enough band to stand alongside their American peers. I like the fact that they tip their collective hat to punk pioneers the Buzzcocks and I think they're better than say a band like Good Charlotte who have begun to epitomize the "Rebel without any Claws," poseurs and Emo bandwagoneers that are popping out of the woodwork.

Their biggest problem is that they have a bad band name, these guys serve up their pugilistic punk with such a musical sneer that when I picture it in my mind, they make me think of Billy "Idol." I'm pretty sure, that would not make the boys in Billy Talent happy. The name Billy Talent is taken from such esoteric source material that no one outside of Toronto is going to recognize the name as being a cool idea - unless of course they do a research paper on the band. Here are a few other good examples of really bad band names. 10,000 Maniacs. This would make a good name for a ska-core band, but for a folky, wannabe top 40 act, it was a misleading and ill-advised name which was eventually changed to the much more radio-friendly "Natalie Merchant."

Another example (and this is an opinion that's liable to get someone's mohawk standing on end) but I think A.F.I. is just gay. I like AFI, but the fact that it stands for "A Fire Inside," is as fruity as it gets. A Fire Inside would make a good name for a Mormon boy band. They should just change their story and say that it stands for Absolutely Fucking Idiotic. That would be a lot more punk.

As for whether or not Billy is talented? I say yes, definitely and they're also a band who's been around long enough to deserve a piece of the post-punk pie. They come at you with a pretty legit (if a bit over-produced) attitude and their tip of the tatt to the barbedwire-meets-melody punk of the Buzzcocks is worn like a badge of honor. They also work the dueling vocalist angle like Fugazi or more recently Zebrahead, though without it's rap-metal trappings. And their guitar attack is muscular, adventurous and searingly precise, with plenty of dynamically-charged breaks. So far so good.

Benjamin Kowalewicz's yowl and screech often pay off in some nice sing-along hooky anthems and for the most part he keeps up the authority defying stance with lyrics that match the music and his menacing snarl. Although, on occasion, he wanders dangerously close to "spurned boyfriend with an axe to grind territory." With the exception of it's overly tidy production (that doesn't quite match the purist punk approach that they seem to be chasing) this is a pretty decent 40 minutes worth of relentless fun.