The album's second single "Surprise Surprise" was released on August 7, 2012, on iTunes. The band released the album Dead Silence on September 4, 2012, on their SoundCloud account. The band embarked on a Canadian tour with Sum 41, Hollerado, Indian Handcrafts, and Monster Truck (replaced Sum 41 when they dropped out of the tour for the last show in Halifax due to medical reasons). On August 22, 2014, the band announced Hits, a compilation album of their most successful singles to date, plus two new songs. On September 25, 2014, Billy Talent released one of the two new songs as a single, titled "Kingdom of Zod". The single did not receive a lot of promotion upon release but did peak at #5 in Canada the following January, making the single a sleeper hit. On November 4, 2014, Hits was released. The same day, the other new song, "Chasing The Sun," was released as a radio single, but did not chart until May 2015. Afraid of Heights (2015–2018) On May 9, 2015, the band announced at SiriusXM Indies that they have been in the studio for the past few months, writing and demoing an upcoming album. They also announced that the album will be released in 2016. On November 26, 2015, Kowalewicz announced that they will be entering the studio to start recording January 4, 2016, and should release their new album before summer 2016. On January 15, 2016, Aaron announced via the Billy Talent YouTube channel that he would be taking a hiatus from the band due to an MS relapse. Jordan Hastings from Alexisonfire, Cunter, and Say Yes was announced to be filling in and doing the drum work on the new album in his place. Official band photographs in promotion of the new album feature both drummers. On May 12, 2016, the band announced their album Afraid of Heights which was released on July 29, 2016. On the same day, the band aired their first single from the new album, "Afraid of Heights". On June 3, 2016, the band released a second single from the album, titled "Louder Than The DJ." On July 16, 2016, the band opened for Guns N' Roses at the Rogers Centre. The following week, the band released the third and final single from Afraid of Heights, titled "Ghost Ship Of Cannibal Rats." Solowoniuk joined the group at their February 27, 2017, show