This was the first time I saw these after a tip-off from a hard-rocking amigo. It turned out to be sound advice.

Date: October 30, 2010

Venue: Rescue Rooms

With a name like Cancer Bats you know your not here to see the new Scouting For Girls. No, these hirsute Torontonians are fearsome men whose brutal noise terrorism is a sickening assault on the solar plexus. This, Hoosiers fans, is a good thing.

Merging the raw metal of Black Sabbath with the lethal punch of punk titans Black Flag they’re barging into the nascent new-punk scene with extreme temerity.

Every second of this gig is a tumultuous, unadulterated rage. It’s louder than a sonic boom, nastier than Beelzebub, more viscous than a rabid Rottweiler with toothache and a quick glimpse at the mangled debris where once an audience stood depicts a scene which makes the Battle of the Somme look like a maypole dance.

It’s as Hardcore as you can get without a subscription; it makes your ears bleed and, with guitars which sound like chain saws grinding granite, my God is it brilliant.