Cancer Bats “Dead Set on Living” review
Cancer Bats
Liam Cormier
Scott Middleton
Mike Peters
Jaye R. Schwarzer
review by Denise Borders
@punkworldviews
This is a band that is so under appreciated in this country, I just can’t understand. They’re an early opener tour after tour in the states yet they kill it in their homeland of Canada, headlining and co-headlining tours, no problem. STUPID AMERICANS! LOVE THEM!
Anyway, they just dropped a new album, Dead Set on Living, via Metal Blade Records the 24th of this month. Sorry for the delay, I suck. Now let’s dive into this shit, shall we!?
1. R.A.T.S
2. Bricks and Mortar
3. Road Sick
4. Breathe Armageddon
5. Dead Set On Living
6. The Void
7. Old Blood
8. Drunken Physics
9. Bastards
10. Rally The Wicked
11. New World Alliance
They’ve always given me that old school feel and this album is no exception. While they put out new stuff, they’ve never caved from their sound and changed who they are to fit with the times of what’s popular. R.A.T.S. is a perfect opener for this record. “There’s a special place in Hell for every filthy rat.” Oh I think we can all relate to lyrics like this! 2:30 in you’re getting that old school metal vibe, but not in a cheesy way at all. Liam’s growling voice is so smooth over the riffs, I am already so excited to hear the rest of this album.
Bricks and Mortar starts off a little more mellow with vocals over heavy guitar, but I love how Liam changes his voice up throughout this track. This track isn’t my favorite on the album, but I like the steadiness of the music under the drastic vocal changes.
Road Sick begins strong, sort of reminds me of The Bronx a bit in the first bits. This song isn’t as sludgy as their others, it’s more upbeat with not as growly vocals. I sort of like Liam’s fast talking voice, but then he starts screaming and I just love his growl, too. I also like the theme of this song. Most bands sing about being homesick while on the road, so that fact they have a song about the opposite is really awesome.
The next track, Breathe Armageddon is very 80’s awesome in the intro. Heavy guitar over slow, growing vocals. The more I listen to this record, the more I’m reminded of This is Hell (Rise Records), another band that mixed thrash with old school metal sounds. And AGAIN, another band that is so severely underrated. WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE?
Anyway, moving along. The title track, Dead Set on Living, is highly representative of their sound as a band. It’s catchy with lots of sweet riffs mixed with sludgy breakdowns. It’s sort of classic Cancer Bats but I ain’t mad. I’m not one of those people that thinks every album should progess so much that it sounds almost like a different band. I like when bands stay true to their sound while still making new music. They’ve progressed and I can tell they’re becoming better musicians and better writers, and I haven’t seen them live in a few years but I’m sure the same goes for their live show.
The Void is the sludgiest of the tracks so far. It has s slow, heavy intro and leads into a still slower-paced track, but I really dig it. I typically like their faster stuff but I like this track.
I’m going to skip ahead to Drunken Physics because this song fucking rules. The chorus makes me wanna play a guitar and do a backbend at the same time. Is that weird? No, of course not because Jeff Tuttle of Dillinger Escape Plan does it all the fucking time you pussy! I definitely don’t like physics. In fact it was my least favorite class in high school. But by god… I love drunken physics. They throw in some gang vocals in here and it’s just an overall really strong track. It could be my favorite on the record!
Bastards is another one of my top tracks on this album. It just fucking wails from beginning to end. About two minutes in, it slows to this epic (sorry, I hate that word but I can’t think of any other word right now) thirty seconds that sound unlike the rest of the song at all, and then it quickly picks back up. The chorus could almost be a theme song for a professional wrestler or something. ALMOST.
The last two tracks, Rally the Wicked and New World Alliance are good endings for the record. Nothing that stick out as much as the previous tracks I’ve listed as my favorite or top ones, but definitely didn’t make the record go downhill. I love the way New World Alliance has a drawn out ending of strung out guitar chords followed by silent amp feedback, then to just a dead end. It’s sort of dramatic without being dramatic. Good job, boys.
Overall, this album fucking kills and you should let it kill your face because you’ll enjoy every sludgy second of it. This album dropped yesterday via Metal Blade Records, a label that never seems to disappoint me in this often disappointing music age. Cancer Bats is a band that is on the rise, whether people want to recognize it or not. I cross my fingers they’re a band that doesn’t stay underrated for long, in the sense that they get the cred they deserve and start really getting some recognition, especially here in the states. DEY COMIN.
Check out their new video for the track Road Sick:
About the Author
Denise Borders 39, Los Angeles. Denise founded PWV in 2008 and remains the primary manager and photographer/videographer. She is not secretly obsessed with Joey Cape.
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