Hail Destroyer, Cancer Bats

Hail Destroyer, Cancer Bats
Southern metal mavens The Cancer Bats come at you with Hail Destroyer. This album opens with its title track with immense rage in its vocals and musicianship. “Hail Destroyer” sounded like an old school thrash cut but had modern rhythms and brash lyrical quality.

“Harem Of Scorpions” continued this theme as the aggressive beats pounded deep into your skull with brooding force. They remind this critic of early Slayer or Lamb Of God with their punishing screams and blistering guitar work. “Deathsmarch” however could be one of the most melodic songs so far as it has this great dynamic of thumping double bass mixed in with some great chanting and heavy riffs threaded in nicely. The Cancer Bats get extremely sludgy on “Bastard’s Waltz” as they definitely show their influences of American Southern metal with the deep bass lines and macabre guitar licks creating this somber disposition.

“Lucifer’s Rocking Chair” continued this trend with slightly faster rhythms and great chords rocking loud and hard putting the fear of Hell into your veins. “Let It Pour” on the other hand, had differences than some of the other cuts on this release as it had harsher tones, intricate guitar work and tons of thrashing lyrics. “Pray For Darkness” could be this group’s quickest song as it’s full of classic metal guitar solos wrapped around a screeching lunatic and bombs were thrown by the bass and drums. This album comes to a close with a punk-like offering “Zed’s Dead Baby.” The Cancer Bats delivered a powerful effort with Hail Destroyer.