IN REVIEW: Cancer Bats - "Searching for Zero"

As far as heavy music goes, you'd be hard pressed to find many bands (outside of Christian metal, I suppose) as simultaneously pummeling and positive as Cancer Bats. They've spent the better part of the last decade laying waste to mosh pits worldwide while extolling the benefits of PMA. There's catharsis within the storm of noise this band creates, and their discography provides medicine and menace in equal measure.

If it feels like their fifth album is just more of the same, that's somewhat understandable; if we're being honest, the Bats have rarely ventured too far from the intersection of Sabbath and Madball since their inception. That's not to their detriment, however; it's not like they've copied and pasted their way to a career, and I applaud them for still drawing fresh water from the well.

That said, there are subtle progressions afoot on Searching for Zero; see the waltzing, brooding Beelzebub and the loose, sputtering punk rager Devil's Blood. Then, there's the fuzzy groove of Cursed with a Conscience, which carries more echoes of Kyuss than Sabbath. Oh, and as the album's requisite fulfillment of a seemingly self-imposed speed metal quota, All Hail rips as hard as anything the guys have put to tape so far. These differences won't make or break you as a fan, and the album's best moments remain the ones that are most familiar. The fist-pumping opener Satellites and mudhole-stomping quasi title track True Zero are Cancer Bats at their most purely distilled, and they're both glorious examples of what makes this band so endearing.

Perhaps the most intriguing development this time out is Liam Cormier. Like always, his comfort zone is found in chaos, and his screaming voice is in fine form throughout. But there's also a lot more inflection to be heard, likely a byproduct of learning Ozzy's parts for the group's Sabbath cover alter egos Bat Sabbath. The range isn't outstanding yet, but Cormier's singing voice is trending upward.

Searching for Zero may be the group's shortest album (total running time is just under 33 minutes), but it doesn't lack in intensity, thanks in part to first-time Bats producer Ross Robinson (best known for holding scream therapy sessions with Korn, At the Drive-In and, er, Vanilla Ice). The thing is, he may have met his match; letting it all out in a fit of cathartic rage is his specialty, but it's old hat for Cancer Bats so his presence is rendered at least a little redundant here.

All told, Searching for Zero is another solid addition to Cancer Bats' discography, a hopeful reaction to terrible circumstances that takes its title's mantra to heart. After a dark period for the band (as Liam shouts during Arsenic in the Year of the Snake, "too many friends died this year"), this album sees the band unwavering, refusing to sink under the weight that's been placed upon them. Any band is capable of raging in response to tragedy, but it takes a special breed to smile through the tears.

March 10, 2015 • New Damage

Highlights Satellites • True Zero • Cursed with a Conscience