I’ll admit, I am not the biggest fan of hardcore metal, thrash, or deathcore. That shit can just be too much for me. And this is coming from someone who likes 80s hardcore like Hüsker Dü. However, BillyBio’s new LP, “Leaders and Liars”, presents a collection of metal songs that I surprisingly enjoyed.
The album opens with “Black Out”, a fast and heavy song that grabs the listener with catchy hooks. The next song, “Fallen Empire”, is an even faster song. It’s slightly melodic and introduces a large part of what this album is about, freedom, self-responsibility, and hope for a promising future. Billy sings “Don’t be telling me how to live” and there is a sense of urgency in his voice. This urgency is present throughout the whole album, giving the listener a dire warning about the state of modern society and urging the average man to do something about it. The songs on the LP touch upon topics like corrupt politicians, increased laziness in the US, and society’s obsession with complaining about how bad they have it, when in reality, Americans have it the best compared to most. “Turn the Wounds” offers a change of pace with it’s synth-inspired opening, being almost brooding before BillyBio kicks it into overdrive, shouting “Face your fears and your wounds will die”. One of my personal favorite tracks is “Generation Kill”, a punk-influenced, hardcore song that reminds me of bands like N.O.A. and The Dead Kennedys. And “Leaders and Liars” is a punk record, at least ideologically, by challenging the status quo, criticizing not only the government but the citizens, and encouraging change with the closing “Cyanide”. While I do enjoy (and agree) to what BillyBio is saying with this LP, I did find some songs like “Lost Horizon” to be filler.
The overall message starts to overstay its welcome, morphing into a piece of media that might be on some after-school program on TV. But this is still an enjoyable metal LP that is very timely in today’s society, even if it can become repetitive in the “after-school special” sense.
- Alex Shelley
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WATCH OUR SONG BREAKDOWN OF LEADERS AND LIARS WITH BILLY:
Billy Graziadei by Vincent Walter Jacob.