Cancer Bats: Hail Destroyer (starburst vinyl) [BAT SKULL RECORDS]

Why you'll love it

Hail Destroyer brings in Wade MacNeil (Alexisonfire), Tim McIlrath (Rise Against) and Ben Kowalewicz (Billy Talent) as guest vocalists. A year after it came out, Cancer Bats were up for New Group of the Year at the 2009 Junos; now it's back on vinyl for the band's 20th anniversary, on starburst vinyl.

This edition

• Starburst vinyl
• Bat Skull Records pressing, the band's own label
• Back in print for the band's 20th anniversary

About the album

Cancer Bats made their second album in the middle of near-constant touring, and it shows in the pace. Hail Destroyer came out on Distort in April 2008 (Metal Blade took it to the US that June), and the title track, with its video, became the band's calling card.

The friends who drop in say a lot about the Southern Ontario scene of the time: Alexisonfire's Wade MacNeil, Billy Talent's Ben Kowalewicz, plus Tim McIlrath of Rise Against. "Lucifer's Rocking Chair" and "Pray For Darkness" lean into the sludge; "PMA 'Til I'm DOA" is pure hardcore.

Also at Kops: Birthing The Giant · Bears, Mayors, Scraps & Bones · Alexisonfire: Crisis · Pezz (Billy Talent): Watoosh! · the Dine Alone x Kops takeover · more punk

Tracklist

On Bat Skull Records (cat# BSR014), a reissue of the 2008 album.