Cancer Bats: Hail Destroyer [SBAM]

Why you'll love it

This SBÄM reissue brings one of Toronto's heaviest records back to vinyl. Kerrang! placed Hail Destroyer at No. 3 on its end-of-2008 list.

About the album

There's a strong case that the loudest thing to come out of Toronto in 2008 was not a hockey crowd. Cancer Bats fused hardcore punk, sludgy southern riffs and a thick streak of stoner rock, and on their second album they turned it into a full-scale assault, out first on Distort Entertainment in Canada and then on Metal Blade in the US.

Liam Cormier's roar leads the charge, Scott Middleton handles guitars and bass, and Mike Peters pounds away behind them. Eric Ratz and Kenny Luong produced, and the guest list is a who's who of Canadian heavy music: Alexisonfire's Wade MacNeil joins on "Deathsmarch," Billy Talent's Ben Kowalewicz on "Smiling Politely," and Rise Against's Tim McIlrath on "Harem of Scorpions." The title track, "Deathsmarch" and "Lucifer's Rocking Chair" all got videos, and "Zed's Dead, Baby" tips its hat to a line from Pulp Fiction.

The title track turned up in the 2009 sci-fi horror film Splice, and the album still anchors their live sets. Alex Snelgrove's illustrations and Doublenaut's art direction make it a cracking sleeve too; play it loud and apologize to the neighbours later.

Also at Kops: more Cancer Bats on vinyl · browse CDN Pop / Rock

Tracklist

Listen

On SBÄM Records (cat# SBAM205), a reissue of the 2008 album.