New Damage Records has announced the addition of multiple-JUNO nominated act Cancer Bats to their Canadian roster. The Toronto-based band will release their fifth studio LP, titled Searching For Zero, on March 10th in Canada. The 10-track album is now available for pre-order at iTunes. Fans who pre-order the album will receive an instant grat of the lead single, “Arsenic In The Year Of The Snake”, which premiered last night on BBC Radio 1’s Rock Show with Dan Carter. The iTunes version of the album will also include an exclusive track titled “Rust And Bone”. A lyric video for “Arsenic In The Year Of The Snake” can be found below.

Produced by legendary multi-platinum producer Ross Robinson (At The Drive-In, Slipknot, The Cure, Sepultura, Glassjaw) Searching For Zero is simultaneously the most melodic, yet menacing Cancer Bats release. The record incorporates the crude hardcore punk of their 2006 debut, Birthing The Giant and more metal leanings of 2008’s Hail Destroyer, while pushing the heavy hybrid sounds of 2010’s Mayors Bears Scraps and Bones and 2012’s darker Dead Set On Living to a new plateau. The choruses are hookier, the screams more savage, the riffs more vicious, the songs more powerful. This is Cancer Bats at their pinnacle – their “True Zero.”

Inspired by both Robinson and their metal idols Black Sabbath, whom they cover extensively under their alter ego, Bat Sabbath, the 10 songs that make up Searching For Zero boast a more raw and organic tonal signature than any previous Bats release. Robinson brought a bare-bones aural aesthetic to the material, capturing a sound that unites the thrashy metal-tinged hardcore of the bands previous releases with a meaty lo-fi intensity, found only in their live shows amongst the sweaty masses. The melodic elements both musically and vocally were inspired by the bands love and admiration of Black Sabbath.

“In learning all those Sabbath songs, I ended up having to figure out how to really sing,” laughs lead vocalist Liam Cormier. “In the studio Ross was the one really pushing me to use that new voice I had discovered.”

Thematically, Searching For Zero comes from a place of heavy contemplation for its creators, and at times, that contemplation grew grim and dark. In the end, the result is an acceptance of the realities that come with pursuing a passion, leaving Cancer Bats with a reinvigorated drive to do right by themselves and the people that have followed them this far.

“We were coming out of what was a really heavy year for all of us, with a lot of challenges, non-stop touring and the deaths of people really close to the band. With all of these things we’ve had to deal with this past year, we were all at the point of saying “No More Bullshit”, we’ve dealt with everything, nothing is standing in our way,” Cormier explains about the headspace he shared with his bandmates.

“We’ve found our absolute zero, where there can no longer be a negative, and from that point, everything moving forward can only be positive” And that positivity – that willingness to change what you can and let go of the rest – is the source of resolution. “There are real reasons we do this,” Cormier says assuredly. “We love being in this band, and we love the people that we’re lucky enough to share this with.”

Since first turning heads in 2006 with the release of their debut, Cancer Bats, made up of Cormier, guitarist Scott Middleton, drummer Mike Peters and bassist Jaye Schwarzer, have arduously and unrelentingly toured across the globe, averaging about 300 shows a year in both 2011 and 2012 alone.

In support of their forthcoming album, Cancer Bats have just announced a co-headlining UK tour with While She Sleeps for April 2015. Tickets and album bundles for the tour go on sale Monday October 27th and tickets on general sale Friday October 31st at 9 AM GMT. For complete tour details, visit this location.

 

Searching For Zero tracklisting:

 

"Satellites"
"True Zero"
"Arsenic In The Year Of The Snake"
"Beelzebub"
"Devil’s Blood"
"Cursed With A Conscience"
"All Hail"
"Buds"
"Dusted"
"No More Bullshit"

"Rust And Bone" (iTunes Exclusive Track)

“Arsenic In The Year Of The Snake” lyric video:

(Photo - Viktor Radics)