Solid power chords, sharp guitar and vocal pitches, "three parts water per every part of wheat for poster paste and a bunch of friends partying for 12 hours" gives life to the band Cancer Bats.
Frontman Liam Cormier told "PunkTV" how the band celebrates its love for art by "wheat pasting bats around the city." Cormier was referring to the video from its number three track""100 Grand Canyon" off the band's latest album "Birthing the Giant."
The song describes a young generation "throwing up their names." The song later says, "Write it, yeah, write it all. All the city radiating, not in this for gains." According to Cormier, the band grew up with a love for street art (graffiti) and even confessed that one of them "got arrested at age 12 for spray painting, 'Say you love Satan…''' "Birthing the Giant" takes the band's love for street art and turns it into a fairytale about its life in the city.
The album, which hit record stores Sept. 5, is filled with, as Cormier said it, "hardcore" music. The sound that carries the music of this album is a heavily distorted guitar and is the first and foremost thing you hear throughout the album. Some songs start with guitar feedback, others start with power chords and still others start with melodic riffs that usually carry throughout the entire album.
The only song that does not start with guitar is track number 10, "Pneumonia Hawk." The song begins with a short drum fill, which is shortly followed by a light guitar. The irony of this song lies in its name, musical arrangement and lyric.s The song's name, "Pneumonia Hawk," implies the presence of an illness. The song's "illness" can be the difference between beginning with the drums and beginning with a guitar, as do the other 10 songs of the album.
The song says, "I'm running scared, running scared. I'm feeling low; in this city … This place is hell on earth."
I don't like being sick as much as anyone else. Pneumonia is not a fun sickness to have, and so the hellish place they speak of might be the place that restricts their music from escaping from the constrictive guitar sound.
The group's sickness, or better said, weakness, lies in this constrictiveness. The album lacks the sound of a strong low-toned bass and a hard-smashing drum beat. The band shows its low-end sound in small parts of the album, but c'mon. With only one guitar, the music it makes cannot be placed at the level of music that bands such as Every Time I Die, a band Cancer Bats will be touring with this fall, play. The group's sound simply needs more instrumental depth.
Cormier does a decent job of keeping up with the fast-paced rhythms and hard-flying sound of the other instruments in the band, but he does not do too much more. First of all, he does not sing. He screams. His screams are at a mid-level that does not fluctuate throughout the entire album. A non-fluctuating tone can also be known as monotonous. Cormier might want to think about adding some flare or personality to his singing before he makes another album.
There is one thing that Cormier and the rest of the band do not lack: heart. Every song is filled with passion and story. The lyrics often describe a variety of feelings, places, experiences and time. The album also explodes waves of guitar melody and strength that is backed up by variety of speedy beats. There is no taking away from the fact that these guys love to play music.
Cancer Bats play hard, sound hard, party hard and most of all, will be working hard on tour this fall.
The Cancer Bats will be playing Oct. 25 at the Chain Reaction in Anaheim and Oct. 26 at the Troubadour in Hollywood.
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