New Stuff: Shinedown & Cancer Bats

Well, that didn't take long.

After a dry spell in rock music news and a new release schedule that started to resemble a dystopian wasteland, 2012 has gotten off to a rather hasty start in the form of a pair of new single premieres.

Shinedown released Bully as a single today alongside word that their fourth album Amaryllis will be released on March 27, and saw fit to declare on their official website, "This is going to be the 2012 anthem! All bullies beware!"

Now, I don't want to start 2012 on a downer, but this isn't really a great sign of things to come if this is the one you're calling "the 2012 anthem". It's standard radio fare, a drop of dogshit in the landfill of generic rock garbage that's stunk up the airwaves in recent years. Shinedown aren't this bad; over the course of their first three albums, they've amassed a good following and a handful of stellar tracks that rock hard without dumbing it down. This is trite, bland and forgettable. But, don't take my word for it. Look at this fancy lyric video!

Also back with a new single is Cancer Bats, a band who are quickly becoming one of Canada's most reliable when it comes to delivering the goods. Their new album has a name (Dead Set on Living), but the release date has only been narrowed down to April. Fresh off their December tour as Bat Sabbath (during which they indeed performed entire shows of Black Sabbath covers), the Bats got the BBC in Jolly Old England to premiere Old Blood, the album's first single. It's got that trademark Bats mojo working as well as ever, but it also has a few hints that the fourth Cancer Bats album will be more than just another slab of molten Canadian hardcore. Sorry for the less-than-awesome audio quality, but this is the dreaded radio rip.

If nothing else, 2012 is shaping up to be a pretty loud year.

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