Cancer Bats - Bears, Mayors, Scraps & Bones
Hardcore crew return with new album
How the hell do you follow an album like 'Hail Destroyer'? The last Cancer Bats album was nothing short of phenomenal, one that will be remembered for years to come. Following it was always going to be tough, but we had hoped that the ’Bats would do a bit better than this third release, 'Bears, Mayors, Scraps & Bones'.
‘Raised Right’ and ‘Darkness Lives’ are mid-paced groovers that the band have covered before, and better, while ‘Scared To Death’ and ‘Black Metal Bicycle’ sound too much like cast offs from previous albums. But remember this is Cancer Bats, and a poor effort from them is still shades better than most bands can muster at their best. The lumbering ferocity of opener ‘Sleep This Way’ is a highlight, ‘Dead Wrong’ is pure fist-in-the-air, crowd-interaction gold, while ‘Trust No One’, the spiralling ‘Snake Mountain’ and the frantic ‘Fake Gold’ all see them at their frenetic hardcore best.
It was always going to pale in comparison to the album that preceded it; there’s too much of what has been covered before. And their cover of Beastie Boys’ ‘Sabotage’ is excellent, but releasing it as a single only highlights that – as good as these songs are – their own material isn’t the strongest on this album. It’s a great album all the same, but Cancer Bats are capable of even better.
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