The Martlet

Cancer Bats
Bears, Mayors, Scraps & Bones
Distort

Yet another excellent band from formerly-quiet Ontario suburbs, the Cancer Bats maintain themselves by producing music in a genre that has been largely ignored since the mid-1980s.

Stormtroopers of Death and Suicidal Tendencies were probably the biggest two bands to be known for producing crossover thrash, a hybrid of hardcore punk and thrash metal. The Cancer Bats maintain that lineage with some new sounds of their own.

While their first album, Birthing The Giant, was filled with major chords and earnest, upbeat vocals, each new album seems to bring the Bats closer to a harder, darker tone. Bears, Mayors, Scraps & Bones is a slower-sounding record filled with clearly defined sections and patterns for each member; it’s a seriously aggressive and punk-influenced album that belies its deliberately crafted undertone.

It’s refreshing to hear a band that keeps renewing itself with each album, and the Cancer Bats’ third release showcases their evolution in skill and songwriting along with their slip into heavier jams. Scott Middleton’s multi-tracked guitars war with each other and bushwhack the path down with Dimebag-esque pinch harmonics, while Liam Cormier’s vocals have finally achieved the full-throated screams he’s been working towards.

If there’s one caveat I have to leave for this album it’s that the Cancer Bats write for their live shows, and that’s where this music is meant to be heard. Every time I hear the Bats have a new album out, I get excited because it means they’ll be touring. You have to listen to every Cancer Bats album with a grain of salt, because the studio can never really communicate the authenticity of a band that tours in their own rusted GMC and has cred coming out their ears.

Go see their live show — you won’t regret it.