CANCER BATS To Release 'Hail Destroyer' Next Month

Toronto's CANCER BATS will release its much-anticipated sophomore full-length album, "Hail Destroyer", on June 24 via Black Market Activities. According to a press release, "Hail Destroyer" sees CANCER BATS "mature sonically and evolving as they incorporate the past, present of hardcore while they pave out its future."

In a February 2008 interview with ChartAttack.com, CANCER BATS vocalist Liam Cormier stated about the upcoming CD, "It's fucking blowing my mind! I'm so stoked for it. This album is definitely heavier, but at the same time, it's a lot more stoner rock, and a bit more dancey, and way more punk. I am a lot more pissed off, definitely screaming a lot more. Everyone who's heard it has said my voice sounds a lot more gnarly and a lot more pissed off. . . Everything we loved about [2006's] 'Birthing The Giant' we just pushed to the next level. A lot of people who hear it say it's a natural progression for the band. It's not like we're making any huge departures. It's more like, where songs needed to get heavier, we made them heavier. Where songs needed to be fast, we made them faster. If we had stoner aspects, we'd ride that home. I feel that we made a conscious effort with this to follow through more on what we wanted to do as a band than with the last record. I feel like this is our band coming together. Hopefully other people will think that. Or maybe everyone will hate it. Who cares?"

He continued, "The guitars on this record fucking shred. I feel like Scott [Middleton], in an amazing way, really stepped up to the plate. A lot of people will come up to him and praise his playing, and I think he really took it to the next level and was like, 'I really wanna step up as a guitar player.'

"On my end, I hate a lot of guitar solos because I have a punk rock background, and he comes from metal. We had to do a bit of compromising, but I feel like the solos on this album fuckin' rip, and they aren't ridiculous. They're ridiculous in the sense that they blow my mind, but they aren't like fuckin' DRAGONFORCE. It's all about using the power of the riff."

"The whole record is about sacrifices that you put up in your life. With this whole thing, we've put everything in our lives into this band. In a lot of ways, that's destroyed a lot of things, like the familiarity of being home and connections with friends you never see. On the other side, it opens so much more in your life. The sacrifices we make, like money, or a stable relationship, all of that is a sacrifice where, in the end, we get to tour full-time. I get to see amazing people and amazing cities for a living. If that means that I have to eat oatmeal every day to balance that out, then so be it."

"Hail Destroyer" track listing:

01. Hail Destroyer
02. Harem Of Scorpions
03. Deathsmarch
04. Regret
05. Bastard's Waltz
06. Sorceress
07. Lucifer's Rocking Chair
08. Let It Pour
09. Smiling Politely
10. Pray For Darkness
11. PMA 'Til I'm DOA
12. Zed's Dead Baby