Just in case you thought the retro thrash
movement was slowing down, Bio-Cancer is here to show you otherwise. Their
second album, “Tormenting The Innocent”, is truly one of the more inspired and
devastating releases thrash has seen in the past decade. The band wastes little time
before they unleash an incredibly brutal and technical riff upon you in the
first track “Obligated To Incest”. The whole time, the track is building to the
vocals. Having been new to the band, I was pleasantly surprised by Bio-Cancer’s
vocalist. Harsh singers are often described to be spitting out venom when they
speak, but never has that comparison been more apt than in the case of
Bio-Cancer’s singer. He puts any of thrash’s harsh vocalists to shame in terms
of how aggressive and impressive his attack is. He is joined by a legion of
backing vocals, each instance of which is well timed to create a rhythmic
assault.
The vocals are definitely the biggest
talking point on “Tormenting The Innocent”, but they aren’t the only thing to
enjoy here. One thing Bio-Cancer does really well is play fast. Ok, that’s a
bit of a given for a thrash band, but Bio-Cancer turns up the speed another
notch above most thrash bands. While they don’t approach Fastkill in terms of
the sheer consistently of speed, Bio-Cancer will definitely induce severe
whiplash, particularly on tracks like the aforementioned “Obligated To Incest”,
as well as “Haters Gonna…Suffer!”. The band sounds like they are trying to
escape the limitations of the human body and play faster than is possible. What
is amazing about this is that they don’t compromise the quality of the songs.
After one listen, you could easily shout along to the chorus of “Tormenting The
Innocent”, among other tracks.
It’s clear that “Tormenting The Innocent”
will hook anyone who digs thrash after even just a minute of the first song,
but for those who don’t worship thrash at the same level, the question remains:
does Bio-Cancer really offer anything new here? The answer is both yes and no.
On the one hand, you’ve probably heard a lot of these style of riffs before.
Where Bio-Cancer does differ is with the sheer intensity of their approach. It’s
almost comical how brutal they are. It rivals bands like Sadus who were just
speed all the time, but it does it in an even more over-the-top fashion, largely due to the vocals. Though
Bio-Cancer always play fast, their drummer isn’t going mach-10 the whole time,
and this works to their benefit. He can throw in a groove at any time while the
guitars are still playing absurd riffs, and this prevents the album from
becoming monotonous.
Perhaps the greatest feature of “Tormenting
The Innocent” is its sheer enthusiasm. Every single member of the band delivers
an incredible performance (bass included; in fact, the bass playing is quite
prominent on this record). There really isn’t a single weak point on this
album, and its appeal goes well beyond your denim-jacket wearing thrasher
(though as one of those guys, we love this stuff too!). If you haven’t heard “Tormenting
The Innocent”, you are missing out on the early contender for thrash album of
the year!
Highlights
"Obligated To Incest"
"Tormenting The Innocent"
"F(r)iends or Fiends"
Final Rating
4.6/5 or 92%.
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