Cancer Bats
Hail Destroyer
Distort/ Shock


'Hail Destroyer' is the second album from Canadian four-piece Cancer Bats. Their bio describes their sound as combining hardcore, southern metal and punk. That is not too far from the mark, although there are also liberal doses of AC/DC and The Stooges to be found in the mix. The result is simply a brilliant, ball-tearing rock'n'roll album.

What sets Cancer Bats apart from many of their contemporaries is their ability to successfully combine relentless intensity with thick, dirty grooves that Corrosion Of Conformity would be proud of. In Liam Cormier they also have a great singer who at times sounds uncannily like Zack De La Rocha. The band is rounded out by drummer Mike Peters and guitarist Scott Middleton, who also plays bass on the album (Jaye Schwarzer has since joined as fulltime bassist).

The ferocious opening title track grabs your attention immediately. Harem Of Scorpions and Deathsmarch follow in a similar vein and the intensity doesn't relent thereafter. There is plenty of spitting, snarling hardcore fury to be found, notably Sorceress, Smiling Politely and Let It Pour. Cancer Bats don't, however, just rely on pure speed and indeed it is when they slow down the pace that they really show what they are capable of. Bastard's Waltz, Pray For Darkness and especially the lumbering, lurching Lucifer's Rocking Chair are enormously powerful slabs of southern sludge with some monstrous riffage from Middleton that would not sound out of place on a Down album.

Lyrically most of the album is introspective and very bleak and angry. The exceptions are the two closing tracks PMA 'Til I'm DOA and Zed's Dead, Baby, on which the tone shifts more to one of defiance and optimism.

No second album blues here. In 'Hail Destroyer', Cancer Bats have delivered a fine, fierce album that demands and deserves your attention.

James McKenzie