Review Summary: A Rage Against the Machine rip-off, but good nonetheless.
In 1993 a band called Pezz (now known as Billy Talent) emerged from the community of Streetsville, Ontario. They started off with the genre of Rapcore, which would lead into Soft Rock/Alternative Rock, to Punk Rock. Pezz was around for 6 years, before the American Pezz decided to file a lawsuit against them, as to why they changed their name to, the wildly known (amongst Canada and the UK), Billy Talent.
When you first start this tape up, you will notice the Rage Against the Machine influence, which isn't a bad thing, as they even try to get their own sound(but still end up being a clone of RAGE). Ben Kowalewicz’s vocals are still annoying as ever (if you don’t like Billy Talent), but he doesn’t sing. In fact he raps, which may sound surprising, and he does it well. He can rap with a very good flow. Ian D’sa one of the most astonishing guitarists that’s associated with the genre Punk Rock, is just as amazing in this 4 track EP, as he is in Billy Talent. He knows how to make very, very catchy riffs. He rarely sings (if ever) though, so that may be a disappointment to some. Jon Gallant, makes the bass just stick right out, it’s obvious and, as odd as it may sound, it’s awesome. It just makes the songs much more interesting, and gives the songs an interesting tone. Aaron Solowoniuk is still a great drummer, he keeps up with the songs, and never goes over kill. Ian D’sa actually plays piano in “You’re It (Remix)” with the background being a drum loop, so it's like old school beats and its pretty catchy.
The lyrics are kind of cheesy at times, but also a lot more confident then Billy Talent's. An example of this would be in the song “Dudebox” “So conquer your fears.” The main problem is that this EP is short, really short. It only has 4 songs, clocking at 13 minutes. Dudebox does get boring over time though, that may just be due to the length of it. This EP will just slip by most as just a rip off of RAGE, and I can understand why, but this EP is definitely worth your time.
Listen to:
- Dudebox
- Tuner
