CANCER BATS

When they first emerged with their 2006 "Birthing The Giant" debut album, CANCER BATS were a formidable breath of fresh air. Eschewing the increasingly plastic machinations of the flourishing metalcore scene in favor of balls-out hardcore punk with a side order of BLACK SABBATH, the Canadians were loose limbed and almost entirely built from rough edges and broken bones. 20 years later, they are still going against the mainstream metal grain with the rabid enthusiasm of dedicated zealots, and their music is every bit as ragged and brutal as it was first time around.

The band's eighth album, "Give Me Dirt" delivers on the promise of its title. Although slightly less chaotic and sonically warped than 2015's "Searching For Zero" — a collaboration with producer Ross Robinson that turned out exactly as expected — CANCER BATS' latest collection of marauding, sludge-rock anthems holds true to their longstanding principle of making music that is raw, rambunctious and, most importantly, real. Guitars flare and crackle, barely able to suppress underlying feedback, and vocalist Liam Cormier screeches and roars with unsullied commitment to inflicting tinnitus on anyone within spitting distance. Everything sounds huge and punishing, thanks in part to the involvement of peerless producer Kurt Ballou (CONVERGE),but also because CANCER BATS exist in a self-contained world of barbaric rock 'n' roll, wherein relying on Pro-Tools and the oppressive polish of the mainstream are viewed as desperate compromises. "Give Me Dirt" sounds like the work of a ruthless four-piece band with no time for superficial perfection, but all of the urgency and commitment to the cause that we might expect from a much younger band.

The songs themselves cover the gamut of styles and staples that CANCER BATS have mastered over their two decades of active service. Largely rooted in furious, riff-driven sludge and blistering punk rock intensity, everything from neck-wrecking opener "World Wild Fire Death Race" to psycho-doom finale "Fools Like You" kick an impressive amount of obnoxious ass. In fact, some of these songs are among the heaviest that the band have ever recorded. "Stay Stuck" is a caffeine overdose in sonic form: the riffs are huge, the groove is unstoppable, and Cormier's bellowed polemic hits a new level of efficacy. "I'm not wasting any more time!" he spits, as his comrades whip up an exhilarating storm of steroidal hardcore with stoner rock undertones. Similarly, "Don't Trip" is a fiery exercise in adrenalin-sodden brute force, with some of the gnarliest, post-SABBATH riffs in CANCER BATS history and a driving, nails-hard gait reminiscent of POISON IDEA at their livid best.

There are more measured tunes here too, but even those are designed to cause absolute havoc. The title track is dark and dirty, with razor-sharp riffs that casually betray the band's kinship with the metal scene while also nodding towards the slippery fuzz of the Louisiana sludge scene; "Speed Wizard" blends brutish doom-core with loping, BLACK FLAG-like fuzz-slurry; and "Prognosis" combines several of the best riffs anyone will conjure this year with a deceptively melodic vocal from Cormier that harks back to the visceral simplicity of CANCER BATS' revered second album "Hail Destroyer". At times as dissonant and destructive as MELVINS and CHAT PILE, but equally suitable for bigger stages and broader audiences, "Give Me Dirt" is one of the most electrifying records the Canadians have made. It may even be their best.