Billy Talent - Afraid of Heights, review: ‘The core dynamics are still in place'

Ontario quartet Billy Talent have been making muscular punk anthems for more than a decade now, with 2014’s retrospective collection Hits drawing a line under phase one of their career.

Their fifth album sees drummer Aaron Solowoniuk on medical leave — his struggles with multiple sclerosis have been a theme of the band’s lyrics.

Jordan Hastings fills in but otherwise the core dynamics are in place: Ian D’Sa’s guitar riffs lock tight into Jon Gallant’s basslines, topped with impassioned nonsense from singer Benjamin Kowalewicz.

It lacks the scabrous quality of their earlier albums — Horses & Chariots pushes towards Muse-esque histrionics — but the pleasure comes from hearing players who know precisely how to shift through the gears together.