When people ask me to point to an example of a hardcore band that I really, really like (which is like totes every day!), I always point to Cancer Bats. Their post-punk/hardcore influences are salted with a dash of metal, for sure — there’s even some Kvelertakian bluesy licks here and there — but those meaty riffs are all about maximum up-tempo, let’s-fuck-shit-up hardcore MOSH at heart.

Take their new song (and video) for “Old Blood” — the bands that inspired modern hardcore heavy hitters like Stray From the Path and This is Hell are all over those riffs, although I honestly don’t know enough about hardcore to say who (maybe Refused?). The frenetic energy of Cancer Bats flows from every orifice of this track, and the jittery practice-space video perfectly fits the part. As Sergeant D would say, this = you’re moshing!

Cancer Bats’ new album Dead Set On Living will come out on April 24th via new label Metal Blade Records.

-VN

FEATURING MEMBERS OF DRAGONFORCE, A LIFE ONCE LOST, ALL SHALL PERISH, CANCER BATS, THE ACCUSED, AIRBOURNE, ABSU, WOE, WHILE SHE SLEEPS, DIAMOND PLATE, MALEFICE, MUTANT SUPREMACY, GENGHIS TRON, AND TRENDKILL BOOKING AND RECORDINGS

For 2010, we decided to do something special as part of our regular end-of-year festivities here at MetalSucks — namely, ask musicians from across the vast spectrum of the metalsphere (or, in a few cases, the almost-metalsphere) what their favorite albums of the year were. Death metallers, thrash metallers, black metallers, stoners, grinders, and djenters alike graciously contributed lists to MS, and we’ve be running them in groups of ten to twelve musicians at a time twice a day all week.

After the jump, check out the eighth and final group… we hope you enjoy seeing what some of metal’s heaviest hitters were into this year as much as we have!

(And please note that these are musicians and that they, um, have a lot on their minds. So some of ‘em named albums that actually came out last year. Please don’t freak out.)

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Give credit to DevilDriver — they do not just constantly tour with bands that sound exactly like they do. Remember when they were supposed to tour with Venom? What about that trek they did with Napalm Death? Who’s fucking idea was that? I’m not complaining; I’m just sayin’.

DevilDriver’s latest did-not-that-see-that-coming tourmates are the Cancer Bats, whose music is similar to DevilDriver’s in that it features guitars, bass, drums, and vocals. But I really do dig the fact that DevilDriver keep doing this, ’cause a) who wants to watch multiple bands that sound exactly the same in one night?, and b) it means that all parties involved will, presumably, be exposed to audiences that might otherwise never check them out. Good deal, and smart thinkin’.

DevilDriver’s Roadrunner labelmates Baptized in Blood will also be on the trek, but that’s not as surprising. Still, this should be a fun tour all around.

Get dates after the jump, courtesy SMN. DevilDriver’s latest, the Mark Lewis-produced Beast, comes out February 21 on Roadrunner.

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‘Cause two excellent free samplers have been released within the last 24 hours:

• Good Fight have released a free sampler featuring songs from Cancer Bats, Son of Aurelius, The Contortionist, This or the Apocalypse, and more. None of the music is new, but if you’re not familiar with these bands, well, here’s your chance to become familiar with them, all for the the low low price of free. Get it here.
• Adult Swim and Scion A/V have also released a free sampler, and this one includes a new Withered song, “Extinguished with the Weary,” plus “rare or unreleased” tracks from Jesu, Skeletonwitch, Death Angel, Kylesa, Torche, Ludicra, and more. I haven’t had a chance to listen to any of it yet, but, again, it’s new or rare music from a bunch of awesome bands and it will cost only the energy it takes for you to click the “download” button, so go get it here.

-AR

As was the case last Wednesday, a whole buncha bands have all released new videos at once, and for convenience’s sake, I’m just gonna lump them all together in one post. If you don’t like it, go get a bowling ball, hold it over your head, and release the ball. Thanks.

First up we have “Unbreakable,” the new Raul Gonzo-directed video from Sumeriancore masters Veil of Maya. I’m not as big of a fan of this band as Vince is, although I certainly respect the heck outta ‘em, especially after seeing their live set at Summer Slaughter earlier this month. But I have no fucking idea what’s going on in this video. These people are connected to the band via wires and stuff, and, uh, I guess the music is, like, making them type real fast, and mash stuff with their hands, and, um, fingerpaint?, and, uh… then they put all this stuff in the oven, and it grows into a brain. I mean, I’m a college educated New York Jew, so I know from over-thinking stuff, but I don’t even know where to begin with this one. If anyone has any theories, by all means, put ‘em in the comments section. Otherwise I’m just gonna go with, “Hey, cool song!”

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Here we had this entire week devoted to hair metal, and I feel like we only scratched the surface. Let’s do this again real soon, okay?

Here’s some of the fun we had this week, be it hair-metal related or not:

• Cynic’s Paul Masvidal taught us to be mind-less, Antagonist’s Carlos Garcia taught us about the song “Sasha Grey,” and Trap Them’s Ryan McKenney taught us more about corporate-sponsored live shows.
• Anso and Allyson from Bring Back Glam! counted down the Ten Best Must-Have Glam Metal Albums.
• We counted down the Top Ten Bands Most Often Miscategorized as Hair Metal.
• Vince spoke with Serj Tankian, Gary spoke with Frankie from Emmure, and Sergeant D. spoke with Samantha Maloney from Brother Clyde/Shift/Hole/Motley Crue/every band ever.
• We debuted a new track by The Binary Code!
• Leyla Ford counted down the ten worst and best hair metal band names.
• Sammy checked out the new release by Eibon.
• Dave Mustein checked out The Cool Tour.
• Someday, this little girl is going to make Sergeant D. very, very unhappy.
• I can’t tell the difference between all the members of Mushroomhead, can you?

I wanna especially thank Allyson from Bring Back Glam! for all her help this week — we love you, Allyson! Come back anytime.

Monday we return, but we’ll have a little less Aqua Net in our hair, a little less eyeliner on our lids, and a lot less skip in our step. See ya then.

-AR

I was pretty skeptical when I first saw the Cool Tour lineup. Actually, I was more than skeptical: I was pretty much positive that I wasn’t going to attend. It seemed to break down as 50% Christian screamo, 25% hardcore, and 25% good bands, which meant that there would be a lot of obnoxious hardcore, scene, and straightedge kids. But when the opportunity arose to go to the tour, I just decided to do it despite the high scene-kid-to-normal-metalhead ratio, because I had never seen either BTBAM or As I Lay Dying live.

As it turned out, I made the right decision. Although I did skip the first four bands (War of Ages, Cancer Bats, Architects, and The Acacia Strain) because I’m not a fan of any of them besides Architects, I hear that all of them save for War of Ages put on a pretty solid showing. The Acacia Strain apparently managed to work the crowd into more of a frenzy than any other band, probably because it was a hometown show for them.

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A few hours ago authorities evacuated Times Square for the second time in a week after someone found a “suspicious cooler” on the street. Of course, everyone was just being overly cautious, but as long as it doesn’t infringe on my civil rights, there’s nothing necessarily wrong with that. I think Vince was in Michigan when 9/11 went down, but I was here, and if I never see another tank rolling down my street again or run all over the city because there’s no cell service and I need to make sure that all of my friends and family are still alive, well, I’ll be good.

While I nurse my PTSD, here are some happier, metalier things that happened this week:

• We’re streaming Keep of Kalessin’s new album, Reptilian. We also debuted new music by Lamb of God and The Funeral Pyre.
• We also also also debuted new videos by Soulfly and Cancer Bats.
• We also also also also debuted our new cooking show, Cooking Contaminated.
• Cynic’s Paul Masvidal discussed the shape of silence, Periphery’s Bulb taught you how to get that “big” studio tone, As I Lay Dying’s Nick Hipa had some questions about L O S T, Matt from Rumpelstiltskin Grinder fondly recalled Maryland Deathfest, and Batillus bassist Willi Stabenau gave us a studio update.
• We talked to Darkest Hour’s Mike Schleibaum, Reign Supreme’s Jay Pepito,  Jackyl’s Jesse James Dupree, and unveiled part one of our massive two-part interview with Buzz Osborne.
• We checked out the latest release by The Howling Wind.
• Does the fact that Mike Portnoy is touring with Avenged Sevenfold make you wanna see ‘em?
• We don’t want Joey Belladonna to return to Anthrax. Seriously.
• Sergeant D. wants to know if u mosh 4 Christ???
• Damnocracy’s Evan Seinfeld and his porno Howdy Doody also do bar mitzvahs.
• We wish there was really such a thing as a Slayer burrito.

Next week brings even more betterer br00tal goodness – interviews, debuts, guest blogs, all that shit. It’s gonna get real up in this bitch. See ya then.

-AR

Cancer Bats are a pretty cool band, and so is their brand new album Bears, Mayors, Scraps & Bones, out now on Good Fight Entertainment. Frontman Liam Cormier seemed like a mighty cool cat when I spoke with him back in March, taking his band’s inability to fit into any one scene in stride. Diana Lee Zadlo’s live photos of Cancer Bats in Philly were pretty cool too, so much so that they made me wish I’d been able to see the band live. And wouldn’t you know it, Cancer Bats are one of the few bands on the ridonkulously-monikered “Cool Tour” who hold the distinction of actually living up the tour’s billing.

And here we are with a pretty cool video for their song “Dead Wrong,” which comes from the aforementioned album. Cool.

Did I mention how heavy these guys are and how much they kick ass? Yeah, that too.

-VN

[This exclusive has now ended.]

When we announced the Summer Slaughter 2010 line-up last week, Vince wrote the following:

“Summer Slaughter is by far the best metal tour of Summer 2010. Rockstar Mayhem is lame, Ozzsharonfest is surely gonna be lame, and ‘The Cool Tour’ is, uh, not cool at all save a couple of bands.”

At least one reader asked, “What the heck is the Cool Tour?” While rumors of the package trek have been floating around the net for weeks, it was only officially announced at midnight: The Cool Tour seems to be the next of what could reasonably be called “The Ozzfest Second Stage Tours” – basically mid-sized package tours that take the best part of Ozzfest (the second stage – duh) and do away with the rest. And while any tour with that many bands on it is bound to have at least a few you don’t like (this year’s Summer Slaughter being a pretty remarkable exception to that rule), I have to agree with Vince: The Cool Tour does not really seem all that cool.

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Cancer Bats are stuck between a rock and a hard(core) place. When your band is too metal for the hardcore kids and too punk for the metal kids it’s kinda difficult to find tours that really suit you. But Cancer Bats have made the best of it, touring with a wide variety of bands both punk and metal and winning over fans one at a time, the old fashioned way. They won this writer over a couple of years back with their excellent record Hail Destroyer which combined all the right elements of all the right influences into a furious stew of adrenaline-soaked OG metalcore (think Converge, Hatebreed… NOT Swedecore or haircutcore).

Cancer Bats have a new record on the way via Good Fight Entertainment on April 13th entitled Bears, Mayors, Scraps and Bones. A couple of weeks back I chatted with vocalist Liam Cormier about the new record, the constant struggle the band endures to fit in with any one scene and how the band has grown and matured over time. Our chat, after the jump.

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Walking into the Trocadero February 3rd for the “The Economy Sucks, Let’s Party” tour made me feel like a 12 year old all over again. This tour included Anti-Flag, Aiden,  Cancer Bats, and Star Fucking Hipsters. There were youngins in the bathroom with technicolor hair sneaking cigarettes, kids with sky-high mohawks and Bad Religion shirts, couples who didn’t look old enough to know what sex is rockin’ back and forth holding each other. Barf.

The only band I’m going to talk about is Cancer Bats, who were definitely the highlight, and only highlight, of this tour line up. Heavy drums, lots of wah-wah and pinch harmonics, and unbelievable stage presence. They didn’t really seem to fit the bill, but their upcoming Canadian tour with Billy Talent, Alexisonfire, and Against Me! may be a better fit. The crowd loved the Beastie Boys cover (“Sabotage”), and closing their set with “Hail Destroyer” left a good taste in the pop-punk loving audience’s mouths. Don’t even get me started about the girls Star Fucking Hipsters snuck in who were bragging about using the tragedy in Haiti to not pay for the show, or the pentagram banners Aiden used as part of their stage set up…

Enjoy some images of the CB kids. Sorry there aren’t any images of the drummer!

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According to Lambgoat, Paul Conroy and Carl Severson, “former partners at Ferret Music, Warner Music and ChannelZERO,” have now left Ferret to start their own music and sports management company as well as a new label, all under the banner Good Fight Entertainment. And if you’re thinking right now “I’m a music fan, what the fuck do I care about who runs which label and management company?”, well, here’s why I’m telling you: because one of Good Fight’s first two releases is going to be a new album from Son of Aurelius, who I first wrote about in January, and who are absolutely awesome.

Better news still: the album is not just a re-release of the band’s prior outing, Myocardial Infraction (super-duper awesome cover art above). Which means we’re getting more new SOA already. Which is fantastic news.

The new offering from Son of Aurelius, The Farthest Reaches, will be out on Good Fight on April 13, alongside the label’s other inaugural release, Cancer Bats’ Bears, Mayors, Scraps and Bones. Get excited.

-AR

If I were in Cancer Bats the only thing I’d really be scared to death about is my band’s inability to fit clearly into any one scene. But that’s a good thing. I wouldn’t be too scared of rocking because my band would do that really fucking well, and my band’s new track “Scared to Death” would be no exception.

Cancer Bats’ 2008 album Hail Destroyer was an aggressive, punchy, ass-kicking affair that I listened to more than any “hardcore” record in recent memory. I put hardcore in quotes because it’s hard to classify Cancer Bats as straight up hardcore, though their roots are clearly on display; their riffs are too metallified, their chord voicings too complex, they play guitar solos and they use way too many pinched harmonics to be lumped in with a lot of the bands our own Gary Suarez has been writing about lately. But it really doesn’t matter what the fuck you call Cancer Bats because they kick ass.

Cancer Bats release a digital EP called Sabotage on March 1st. I’m definitely psyched for this one. Look for them on tour soon with a bunch of bands that don’t sound anything like them and that you don’t like at all.

-VN

Whether (The?) Cancer Bats are hailing one who destroys things or they’re preaching for the destruction of ice pellets that fall from the sky, “Hail Destroyer” is a fucking sick song that makes me want to bow down to the destroyer AND obliterate ice from the heavens. I also like the way this video is shot — it isn’t particularly original (band performs song live in a room with funky lighting), but the look and feel of it are clear and striking, bearing a resemblance to Protest the Hero’s video for “Bloodmeat.” And like, the song fucking crushes.

“Hail Destroyer” comes from the album of the same name, out now on Black Market Activities (US) and Distort Records (Canada).

-VN

[Cancer Bats on MySpace]