Grade: C+
Having not listened to Cancer Bats before, Bears, Mayors, Scraps & Bones is reminiscent of the great days of hardcore.
Their sound is simple and driving, with a great blend of solid riffs and melodic rhythms. One thing that holds the Toronto band back is the lead vocals. Liam Cormier has a great vocal style. Sadly most contemporary major bands in his genre have a similar sound, you can’t blame him for what others have done. The draw back to Cancer Bats, is that they only have this one sound. If people like your sound then you are set but when your albums don’t show progression from track to track your audience tends to lose interest. Now not everyone will agree with me but as far as a metalcore bands goes they are well above par.
As a disclaimer, Cancer Bats is not a Christian band, so Lyrics could be a gamble but over all Bears, Mayors, Scraps & Bones is a decent album and I would say that anyone who enjoys metalcore should give it a listen.
Cancer Bats, are due to put out their new album Bears, Mayors, Scraps & Bones this week.
