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

Year in Rock 2025

Alright, I've got some explaining to do. By now anyone who's visited this blog is well aware of how infrequently I've used this space in recent years; aside from the occasional fertile year of content, I really haven't posted all that often over the last five years or so. There are many reasons for this, which have already been outlined in previous apology posts; but, essentially, it boils down to my own laziness and the cold reality that blogs are, like Refused (again), fucking dead. So, I wouldn't hold my breath for a triumphant return to reviews, or even semi-regular posts, but: a) I feel like Year in Rock posts have always belonged here and, even though I've experimented with different methods of presentation recently and been satisfied, the "blink and you missed it" unveiling via Facebook stories this year was perhaps ultimately a disservice to the records I lauded. After all, cramming the list into short videos isn't too far off from ju...

Year in Rock 2011 Nominee: Sam Roberts Band

SAM ROBERTS BAND I Feel You From: Collider Released: May 10 Having already endured the breakout success ( Brother Down was Canada's it rock song of 2002), the tentative dabbling in the U.S. market, as is the rite of passage for all moderately successful Canuck artists (2003's debut We Were Born in a Flame was the best time to try; one of the best albums of the year, it made a small dent in the American mindset upon its release there a year later), the difficult, druggy third album (the aptly named 2005 disc Chemical City ), and the subdued creative step backward (2008's Love at the End of the World , aside from hit single Them Kids , was really kinda bland), it seems according to script that Sam Roberts would start settling in on his fourth album (and first with the band credited as equal contributors), Collider (you know, I think it was a bad idea to give me brackets). Well, as far as settling in goes, Roberts does and doesn't on Collider . W...

IN REVIEW: Rancid - "Trouble Maker"

As far as punk rock goes, it's hard to name a hotter hot streak than the trio of records Rancid cranked out between 1995 and 2000; the star making ...And Out Come the Wolves , the far-reaching Life Won't Wait and their balls-to-the-wall second self-titled album solidly positioned Rancid as leaders of the second generation of punk. It also preceded a period of slow progression, as Rancid would take eleven years to release their next three records. By the time ...Honor Is All We Know came in 2014, many fans (myself included) had to wonder whether or not this was the end of the road. Such concerns are handily dealt with on the closing track of the standard edition of their ninth record, the positively punishing This Is Not the End . Well, okay then, that's sorted. Now, what of this new record? What do we make of the use of their original logo on the cover, a logo that hasn't graced a Rancid record in 25 years? Is this a throwback to the band's heyday, a new begin...

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