Cancer Bats
The Spark That Moves
(Bat Skull Records/New Damage Records)
4/5
Canadian hardcore punk group Cancer Bats’ newest album, The Spark That Moves, is seriously top-notch. They manage to keep the spark of good old-fashioned heavy punk alive while throwing tinges of fast-paced late-Metallica rock into the mix on tracks like “Space and Time.”
The guitar on “Bed of Nails” and “We Run Free” is flawless, and “Fear Will Kill Us All” encompasses Elton John, punk, and heavy metal all in the same song.
The album is versatile, with invigorating beats and riffs keeping the knees jiggling at the desk on an otherwise routine work day. No song sounds too similar to the last on this album, with traditional metal numbers like “Rattlesnake”and “Gatekeeper” also showingthe bands true punk spirit.
Vocalist Liam Cormier’s alcohol-and-tobacco-free lifestyle is clearly paying off as he approaches his 40s, because his voice is one of few worldwide that, mark my words, could scream bloody murder or sing a ’50s folk song and sound killer either way.