CANCER BATS
BEARS, MAYORS, SCRAPS & BONES

They’ve birthed a grimy hardcore giant and hailed a more metal-centric destroyer, but in 2010, Cancer Bats are dropping their heaviest, deadliest, and most brutal offering to date with Bears, Mayors, Scraps & Bones. Its title derived from the nicknames of each of the four Bats – drummer Mike Peters, guitarist Scott Middleton, vocalist Liam Cormier, and bassist Jaye Schwarzer, respectively – this record represents the full emergence of the band’s purest and truest sound. With 2006’s Birthing The Giant and 2008’s Hail Destroyer, the Bats were writing as a trio and enlisting the help of a touring bassist for live dates, whereas here and now, the Cancer Bats machine is a strong, stable unit comprised of four steady pieces.

That’s not to say their earlier albums were anything but blistering collections of balls-out rock, because, as anyone who’s shared some blood, sweat, or beers at a Bats show will attest, that sure as hell isn’t the case. Hail Destroyer was the album that found the band coming into its own, and as Cormier explains, they’ve used it as a jump-off point for further refinement. “We’re really happy with what we did there,” he shares, “and used it as a blueprint for what was next.” What was next was a lineup forged in fire coming together and making an album representative of what Cancer Bats do best. Says Cormier directly: “This record is truly the four of us, and we’re totally fucking stoked on it – top to bottom.”