Cancer Bats are back with their fifth album Searching For Zero, following the release of their previous album Dead Set On Living in 2012. When it comes to Cancer Bats, Searching For Zero is perhaps what you might expect – punky, noisy and packed full of energy.
There’s plenty of riffs, aggression and in-your-face vocals but it doesn’t really feel like anything new, so to speak – the music is good but it does feel like Cancer Bats have taken a very safe approach with this album. It perhaps would have paid off for them to be a little more adventurous and try something new to keep it fresh because it’s all just a tad stale.
However, all that aside, there’s no mistaking that there’s some strong tracks on the album. Arsenic In The Year Of The Snake is a wonderfully noisy slab of punk with a powerful vocal performance that features lines destined to be screamed along to in a live environment, and All Hail, which clocks in at a mere 1:28 in duration, is a furiously frenetic mini adventure that slaps you in the face before scarpering away into the distance.
Searching For Zero is a good album, but as it has arguably all been done before, it doesn’t quite cross the threshold into becoming a great album. Still worth a listen and a mosh to though!
6.5/10
