Review Summary: The beginning of something wonderful.
Back in 1993, in Streetsville, Ontario, a band was formed called Pezz. They could be considered a Rage Against the Machine rip-off, and in 1998, they surprised their listeners with a change of sound. With the release of Watoosh! they had more of an Alternative and Soft rock sound. They had a lawsuit on their hands when their name was Pezz, so in 1999 they hanged their name to Billy Talent, taken from the movie Hard Core Logo, while changing their sound to Punk Rock, and began writing. Billy Talent has unique vocals and a guitarist that could be considered the best in the Punk Rock genre. Try Honesty EP, gives you the first look at Billy Talent, and what they were and are capable of.
The EP has demo versions of 3 songs, that would later be on their self titled album, and one song that is amazingly catchy and could be considered one of the best songs by Billy Talent, that song is Beach Balls.
The demo versions of Try Honesty and Cut the Curtains, don't really vary from the album versions, besides Ben's screaming doesn't sound to good, and the production values are clearly a lot lower, but this is to say with the rest of the EP. The demo for This is How it Goes has the biggest change from demo to album version. The intro has a different guitar riff, drum line and lyrics. Its rather catchy, and its nice to hear a different version of an already great song. Beach Balls is by far the stand out track in this EP. Its catchy, has a great rhythm, has some of their new sound, but keeps some of the sound from Watoosh!
The EP is way to short, but in all reality Billy Talent released this to get people pumped for the new album they were working on. For all of those that dislike Bens voice, it still sounds the same. Ian D'sa still knows how to play guitar. Jon and Aaron still play with as much passion as before. So all in all nothing's really changed, except for some of the lyrics and the production values.
For something so short, its undeniably sweet. Though the main reason you'll listen to this EP over and over again, is probably to hear Beach Balls, but its still a blast to hear the past.
