Cancer Bats @ Ding DongLounge, Melbourne (08/09/2010)

Sun 12th Sep, 2010 in Gig Reviews

Canadian metal band Cancer Bats might just be at the cutting edge of the post-hardcore groove scene; an especially impressive feat considering, between Bryan Adams and Celine Dion, Canadian music has spent the best part of 2 decades at the pointy end of a load of wrinkly old bollocks. So, dragging impassioned screeching and intelligent, technical rhythmic riffing alongside good mates Alexisonfire, the band so named because ‘animal + ailment = great moniker’ deliver a frenetic yet ebullient set at a beyond capacity Ding Dong Lounge.

On record, Cancer Bats explore a myriad of emotional landscapes, from apoplectic rage all the way through to really, really pissed off; an approach they bring in spades to their live music whilst retaining a cheeky air of joviality between songs. Rampant opener Sleep This Away explodes from the stage into a fevered moshpit, already lubricated by the virtue of sheer unavoidable proximity, which replies with reciprocal fury. Perhaps in desperation, the microphone gives up less than 2 choruses in, not that this bothers singer Liam Cormier who shrugs his shoulders and dives into the crowd, spending the next few minutes flopping amongst the punters like a sweaty punk salmon.

Employing a haircut that performs the incredible feat of being both a razor buzz cut and a flowing mane at the same time, Cormier is a super charismatic front man, bounding along the stages edge with irrepressible energy and a laissez faire attitude to the virtues of his own part in the proceedings. After all. “we don’t need fucking vocals do we Melbourne?!” Complete with scattered and indeterminable tattoos poking out beneath a tattered singlet, the singer is a dead ringer for a cast member from Deliverance; fitting given that guitarist Scott Middleton extracts more high pitched squeals from his custom Ibanez than a farmyard hog.

Hardcore is a difficult genre to play live, given the need for balance and a little restraint to avoid pulverising any melody into undiscernible sludge. Middleton and bassist Jaye Schwarzer don’t seem to struggle though, obviously possessing enough technical ability to refine the quickfire rhythms of songs like Sorceress and the scaling riffs of set highlight Scared To Death into highly palatable numbers, even within the confines of Melbourne’s smallest Big venue. Of course, the set struggles at the mid-point as the sheer volume and ferocity begins to become monotonous, but gladly the band digs the night out of the mire with a whirlwind cover of the Beastie Boys’ Sabotage.

Ending the night before a vacuum packed congregation of adoring fans with the belligerent Hail Destroyer, Cancer Bats can truly claim to be at the top of their game as they send out a call and response to the audience, “Children of nothing..?”, to whit they receive, “this is our song!”. Quite.