Album Review: Cancer Bats - Dead Set On Living

Hardcore Canadian outfit Cancer Bats' fourth album harnesses the raw aggression of their hardcore roots whilst embracing metal-influenced guitar melodies, and it's the culmination of these two genres combined with the band's dirty, guitar-sludge grooves that give Dead Set On Living a distinctive sound, one as unique as it is recognisable. Second single Road Sick is based on a simple guitar pattern that is further enhanced by a relaxed rhythm section in the verse, which sets up for the unbridled intensity of the chorus. Road Trip is both brutal and melodic whilst remaining unflinchingly fragile.

There is nothing fragile about opening track R.A.T.S. on the other hand – an underlying dark guitar riff sets the tone of the song, whilst singer Liam Cormier's vocals are screamed throughout. Bricks & Mortar follows a similar path, with the main difference being the song's slight shuffle feel and heavily accented guitar lines. Rally The Wicked wears its punk roots defiantly on its sleeve, whilst the album's closer New Alliance is a slow-brooding, menacing track, which features guitar work reminiscent of the late Dimebag Darrell.

Dead Set On Living further establishes Cancer Bats as the one and only band who can sound like Cancer Bats; they are unique and they are ugly and Dead Set On Living sees them deliver their tightest and most definitive album to date, each track having a deliberate intensity that leaves no room for filler. Impeccably recorded and sonically affluent, this album is beautifully catastrophic, with the band pulling in their vast array of influences to release 11 tracks of post-hardcore diversity.