Billy Talent III

Billy Talent III
Studio album by Billy Talent
Released	July 10, 2009
Recorded	November 2008 – April 2009
Studio	Henson Recording Studios (Los Angeles, California) Southern Tracks (Atlanta, Georgia)
Genre	Alternative rock pop-punk post-hardcore
Length	43:30 (Standard) 1:41:48 (Guitar Villain)
Label	Warner Music Canada, Roadrunner [1]
Producer	Brendan O'Brien
Billy Talent chronology
666 (2007) Billy Talent III (2009) Dead Silence (2012)
Singles from Billy Talent III
"Turn Your Back" Released: September 16, 2008 "Rusted from the Rain" Released: May 19, 2009 "Devil on My Shoulder" Released: August 26, 2009 "Saint Veronika" Released: February 1, 2010 "Diamond on a Landmine" Released: June 21, 2010

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	45/100 [2]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[3]
Chart	[4]
Drowned in Sound	2/10 [5]
The Fly	[6]
NME	5/10 [7]
Now	[8]
Q	[9]
Rock Sound	9/10 [10]
Sputnikmusic	2.0/5 [11]
Uncut	[12]

Billy Talent III is the third studio album by Canadian rock band Billy Talent. It was released on July 10, 2009, in Europe, July 13 in the United Kingdom, July 14 in Canada, and September 22 in the US. The album debuted at No. 1 on the Canadian Albums Chart, selling over 40,000 copies in its first week. ^[13] It also peaked at No. 107 on the Billboard 200, making it Billy Talent's highest-charting album to date. In April 2010, the album won a Juno Award for best rock album of the year. Despite the commercial success, Billy Talent III received mixed to negative reviews. On Metacritic, the album earned a score of 45/100, which means "mixed or average reviews" based on 7 critics; one review being negative and the other six being mixed.

Background

A demo version of one of the album's songs, "Turn Your Back", was released as a single in September 2008 and featured the band members of Anti-Flag. The first legitimate single from Billy Talent III is "Rusted from the Rain", which premiered May 17, 2009 on Triple J. The album version of "Turn Your Back" does not include Anti-Flag's vocals, as the single version does.

The second single from the album, "Devil on My Shoulder" was released on August 26, 2009.

A promotional website located at billytalent3.com ^[14] was launched to showcase the making of the album. Part of the promotion also included the Billy Talent Widget which allowed listeners to become the "Ultimate Billy Talent Fan". The widget rewarded users with rare tracks, videos, pictures and interviews as fans "level up" their widgets.

On June 8, 2009, the band announced the release of a special deluxe edition of the album, entitled Billy Talent III: Guitar Villain Edition. ^[15] The special edition featured a second disc of the album, without the inclusion of guitar (referred to as "Guitar Villain Tracks"), plus guitar tabs of the entire album transcribed on two full-size posters, for fans to play along to. Along with this guitar-less version, the disc is concluded with four additional demos.

The band embarked on a supporting tour on February 21, 2009, starting with an Australian first leg.

Track listing

All tracks are written by Billy Talent. ^[16]

Standard edition

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Devil on My Shoulder"	3:49
2.	"Rusted from the Rain"	4:13
3.	"Saint Veronika"	4:09
4.	"Tears into Wine"	4:12
5.	"White Sparrows"	3:14
6.	"Pocketful of Dreams"	3:21
7.	"The Dead Can't Testify"	4:27
8.	"Diamond on a Landmine"	4:30
9.	"Turn Your Back"	3:22
10.	"Sudden Movements"	3:39
11.	"Definition of Destiny"	4:03
Total length:		43:30

Limited "Guitar Villain" deluxe edition CD

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Devil on My Shoulder" (Guitar Villain)	3:49
2.	"Rusted from the Rain" (Guitar Villain)	4:13
3.	"Saint Veronika" (Guitar Villain)	4:09
4.	"Tears into Wine" (Guitar Villain)	4:12
5.	"White Sparrows" (Guitar Villain)	3:14
6.	"Pocketful of Dreams" (Guitar Villain)	3:21
7.	"The Dead Can't Testify" (Guitar Villain)	4:27
8.	"Diamond on a Landmine" (Guitar Villain)	4:30
9.	"Turn Your Back" (Guitar Villain)	3:22
10.	"Sudden Movements" (Guitar Villain)	3:39
11.	"Definition of Destiny" (Guitar Villain)	4:03
12.	"Tears into Wine" (Demo Version)	3:51
13.	"White Sparrows" (Demo Version)	3:58
14.	"Pocketful of Dreams" (Demo Version)	3:42
15.	"Turn Your Back" (Demo Version)	3:22
Total length:		1:41:48

US digital special edition ^[17]

No.	Title	Length
12.	"Bloody Nails + Broken Hearts"	3:37
13.	"Don't Need to Pretend"	3:45
14.	"Devil on My Shoulder" (Demo Version)	4:06
Total length:		54:18

UK iTunes bonus tracks

No.	Title	Length
12.	"Bloody Nails + Broken Hearts"	3:37
13.	"Devil on My Shoulder" (Demo Version)	4:06
Total length:		51:03

Musicload.de German exclusive

No.	Title	Length
12.	"Don't Need to Pretend"	3:45
Total length:		47:15

EU edition bonus tracks

No.	Title	Length
12.	"Tears into Wine" (Demo Version)	3:51
13.	"White Sparrows" (Demo Version)	3:58
14.	"Turn Your Back" (Demo Version)	3:22
Total length:		54:02

Personnel

Personnel taken from Billy Talent III liner notes. ^[16]

Billy Talent

• Benjamin Kowalewicz – lead vocals
• Ian D'Sa – guitar, backing vocals
• Jonathan Gallant – bass, backing vocals
• Aaron Solowoniuk – drums

Additional musician

• Brendan O'Brien – Mellotron, piano, hammerchord, percussion, other additional instruments

Technical personnel

• Brendan O'Brien – producer, mixing
• Nick DiDia – recording
• Billy Bowers – additional engineering
• Tom Syrowski – recording assistance (Henson Recording)
• Martin Cooke – recording assistance (Henson Recording)
• Tom Tapley – engineering (Southern Tracks)
• Kory Aaron – engineering assistance (Southern Tracks)
• Steve Morrison – engineering assistance (Southern Tracks)
• Tom "TK" Kidd – additional engineering (Southern Tracks)
• Kenny Luong – engineering (The Orange Lounge)
• Jason "Metal" Donkersgoed – engineering assistance (The Orange Lounge)
• Bob Ludwig – mastering
• Dustin Rabin – photography
• Doublenaut – artwork, package design

Charts and certifications

Weekly charts Weekly chart performance for Billy Talent III Chart (2009) Peak position Australian Albums (ARIA) [18] 44 Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria) [19] 2 Canadian Albums ( Billboard ) [20] 1 European Top 100 Albums (Billboard) [21] 6 Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista) [22] 3 German Albums (Offizielle Top 100) [23] 2 Irish Albums (IRMA) [24] 98 Norwegian Albums (VG-lista) [25] 28 Scottish Albums (OCC) [26] 54 Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade) [27] 3 UK Albums (OCC) [28] 35 UK Album Downloads (OCC) [29] 17 UK Rock & Metal Albums (OCC) [30] 1 US Billboard 200 [31] 107 US Top Rock Albums ( Billboard ) [32] 43

Year-end charts Year-end chart performance for Billy Talent III Chart (2009) Position Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria) [33] 36 Canadian Albums (Billboard) [34] 23 German Albums (Offizielle Top 100) [35] 32 Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade) [36] 93 Certifications Certifications for Billy Talent III Region Certification Certified units/sales Canada (Music Canada) [37] 3× Platinum 240,000‡ Germany (BVMI) [38] 2× Platinum 400,000^ ^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. ‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

Release history

Date	Region
July 10, 2009	Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Italy and the Netherlands
July 13, 2009	France, Norway, Denmark, South Africa, UK and Ireland
July 14, 2009	Canada, Finland, Spain and Sweden
July 17, 2009	Australia and New Zealand
September 22, 2009	US
November 11, 2009	Japan

References

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2. "Reviews for Billy Talent III by Billy Talent". Metacritic . Retrieved November 24, 2025.
3. Lymangrover, Jason. "Billy Talent III: Overview". Allmusic. Retrieved October 28, 2009.
4. Harper, Kate (July 14, 2009). "Billy Talent — Billy Talent III". Chart . Archived from the original on November 26, 2009. Retrieved October 28, 2009.
5. Wink, Richard (July 15, 2009). "Billy Talent – III :Releases: Releases: Drowned in Sound". Drowned in Sound. Archived from the original on July 20, 2009. Retrieved October 28, 2009.
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7. Patashnik, Ben (July 9, 2009). "Canadian Punks keep it real". NME . Archived from the original on July 17, 2009. Retrieved October 28, 2009.
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12. "Maybe they should have bigger ambitions". Uncut : 79. September 2009.
13. "Billy Talent debuts at No. 1". Jam!. Archived from the original on July 13, 2012. Retrieved April 3, 2011.
14. "www.billytalent3.com". www.billytalent3.com. Archived from the original on December 28, 2012. Retrieved January 12, 2022.
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16. Billy Talent (2009). Billy Talent III (CD liner notes).
17. https://music.apple.com/us/album/billy-talent-iii-special-edition/330820670
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19. "Austriancharts.at – Billy Talent – Billy Talent III" (in German). Hung Medien.
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29. "Official Album Downloads Chart on 19/7/2009 – Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved August 8, 2024.
30. "Official Rock & Metal Albums Chart on 19/7/2009 – Top 40". Official Charts Company. Retrieved August 8, 2024.
31. "Billy Talent Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard .
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35. "Top 100 Album-Jahrescharts". GfK Entertainment (in German). offiziellecharts.de. Retrieved August 25, 2020.
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38. "Gold-/Platin-Datenbank (Billy Talent; 'Billy Talent III')" (in German). Bundesverband Musikindustrie . Retrieved January 6, 2021.