CANCER BATS

A lot may have gone into the sonic stew that is Canada's CANCER BATS — everything from horror punk to sci-fi thrash to PANTERA groove metal to basement-show hardcore — but it's all boiled down here to its most rudimentary elements, reduced to its primal basics. CANCER BATS are all about simple forward motion -- "Bears, Mayors, Scraps and Bones" is a ball of seething energy, and if they have any say in the matter at all, you will move.

Screamed vocals ride herd atop from-the-gut rhythms and guitar work that manages to work in little whispers of everyone from VOIVOD to THE MISFITS to BLACK LABEL SOCIETY without ever veering from the basic, head-down, ass-kicking mission at hand. Any ornamentation is added subtly to the riffing, as solos are nonexistent, and the insistent propulsion of the songs never stops for frippery like clean parts or interludes. The tempos vary, from pummeling midtempo stomp to thrashy d-beat to the sludge of "Raised Right", so things never get monotonous — it's just that anything superfluous has been boiled away, leaving a batch of short, skeletal, feral jams that don't let up their wild-eyed intensity until they're through.

This combination of aggression, dynamics and simplicity makes for a record that's as accessible as it is punishing. These guys have a charisma and enthusiasm that'll put 'em over for just about any heavy music fan — they're the type of band that could do three weeks opening for a SOULFLY or SLIPKNOT in big rooms and then head out with a bunch of death metal bands for a tour of the crappiest dives in eastern Europe. CANCER BATS have officially hit their stride on "Bears, Mayors, Scraps and Bones", and the sound of their arriving is a wicked good time. Their live show will always be the best way to experience them, but unlike many bands of their ilk, they've managed to capture about as much of that venom and spit onto plastic as is humanly possible. Bring an oxygen tank.

P.S. Still not sure what I think about the BEASTIE BOYS' "Sabotage" cover at the end, but I admit that may just be bewilderment on my part that such a song is now "classic rock" enough for novelty-cover status. Damn, I'm old...