It’s hard to believe that it has been nearly 10 years since Cancer Bats exploded on to the punk scene with their debut album ‘Birthing The Giant’, but in that time the Canadian quartet have made a name for themselves as one of the best, and hard working bands of the genre. They have also honed their craft by bringing in other elements from metal and rock to their brand of hardcore punk and expanded their sound with every release. The band are now back once again after the longest gap between albums in their career – which is only 3 years, but still – with their fifth record ‘Searching For Zero’, and it does not disappoint.
Their second album ‘Hail Destroyer’ is often considered their magnum opus, but they were never going to make the same album again and again. In their earlier years they were almost seen as the perfect punk rock party band, but ‘Searching For Zero’ really shows how much the band have grown. Often the problem Cancer Bats have always faced on record is trying to capture the intensity of their live shows in the studio, but legendary metal producer Ross Robinson has come closer than anyone before him. There is nothing slick about ‘Searching For Zero’, and it is as raw as they come.
The album fires on all cylinders from the get go with the colossal ‘Satellites’, and sees vocalist Liam Cormier sounding raspier than before over treacle-thick, bottom end riffs, and the rock ‘n’ roll swagger of ‘True Zero’. The band sounds just as frantic with the rapid drumming of Mike Peters careening through ‘Arsenic In The Year Of The Snake’, and even though Cancer Bats hail from the cold north they have added even more Southern sludge to their sound this time around. The down tuned drawl of ‘Cursed With A Conscience’ feels as if it has been dragged from straight from the swamps of New Orleans, before they pick the pace back up again with the hardcore frenzy of ‘All Hail’.
There are still some vintage Cancer Bats anthems tucked away in ‘Searching For Zero’, despite the overall darker tone of the record. ‘Devils Blood’ will ignite circle-pits in every venue they play, and ‘Buds’ will undoubtedly be a future live favourite with guitarist Scott Middleton’s gigantic riffs being tailor made for head banging. Of course Cancer Bats make no secret of their love for Black Sabbath (after all, they did tour as “Bat Sabbath” once), and the doom-laced ‘Dusted’ borrows heavily from the aforementioned band, before they bring the album to a close with the stoner rock infused ‘No More Bullshit’, which couldn’t be a more fitting song title for this band. The adoring thing about them is that there really is no bullshit in Cancer Bats music, and that has been evident from day damn one.
Trying to describe a Cancer Bats record is merely a formality in the grand scheme of things, because unless you live under a rock you already know what this band does. Cancer Bats are probably the last great no-frills rock n’ roll band, with no pretention or agenda other than to play balls-out hard music, and on ‘Searching For Zero’ that’s exactly what they have done again.
GLEN BUSHELL