With a new album to showcase and a wide range of tourmates, Billy Talent’s Dead Silence tour will leave you cheering.

The tour is promoting the band’s newest album, Dead Silence, which was released Sept. 11, 2012.

One of Canada’s premiere punk bands, Billy Talent roars back with a new sound in their fourth studio album. Dead Silence features frontman Benjamin Kowalewicz’s familiar vocals and the heavy guitar that made Billy Talent so popular, but it deals with very different themes.

The album opens with the melodic track “Lonely Road to Absolution.” Billy Talent’s albums are often dominated by powerful rock songs that never let up, so it’s an interesting change for their album to begin with a slow, subdued song.

Kicking back into high gear, the album continues with the guitar-driven scream-fest “Viking Death March.” The band is known for its angsty lyrics, and this track is no exception: “Down, let’s take it down/ Raise up their heads on a stake/ We will show no mercy/ On evolution’s mistake.”

The titular song “Dead Silence” is another record highlight. It’s classic Billy Talent from start to finish, although Kowalewicz avoids the screaming that fans are likely to expect. It’s a great bass-driven song with just a hint of guitar.

Dead Silence is a delight, especially for fans of punk. If you like softer rock then this album is a much more palatable introduction to Billy Talent than any of its predecessors. The album has less screaming and a lighter tone, though it still has some of the moments that defined their earlier success.

Billy Talent’s latest tour brings together a mix of Canada’s best up-and-coming rock bands (Hollerado and Indian Handcrafts) and one of the country’s more established acts, Sum 41.    Hollerado, a four-piece indie rock group, was formed in 2007 in Ottawa. Nominated for the Best New Group Award at the 2011 Junos, Hollerado wasted no time making its mark on the Canadian music scene.

Handcrafts, originally from Toronto, recently released its second album, Civil Disobedience for Losers. Hard-rocking duo Daniel Allen and Brandyn Aikins make music best described as a curious mix of metal and jazz/blues.

Sum 41 came together as a group back in 1996 in Ajax, Ont. They have released five albums over their career, and their most recent, Screaming Bloody Murder, dropped in March 2012.

The band has won acclaim in Canada and beyond, with seven Juno nominations and a chance at Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance Grammy for their 2011 song “Blood In My Eyes.” The four-piece rock band is known internationally and consistently puts on a solid show.

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