Live review: Cancer Bats in Southend

Support act: D-Rail

Even when I don’t know a support act I give them a chance. A lot of people just ignore them and I think that’s wrong. Because when you pay attention you notice awesome bands, like D-Rail for example. They interacted with the crowd brilliantly. The lead singer jumped off stage and got up close with the crowd and myself and I just felt they gave the place a great atmosphere. Definitely a band I’d go out of my way to see again.

Support act: Blackhole

Another great support band! Sadly I missed the opening few songs by these guys as we stepped outside for some air, then decided to shoot some zombies in an arcade not too far away, but walking back into the club with Blackhole in full swing was certainly an experience! It takes some kind of mental metal power to open your eyes and knock you back like they did me.

Cancer Bats

So me and my two mates edged nervously to the front of the stage. We was perfectly aware this club was going to go off hard when Cancer Bats hit the stage, but we thought for the sake of being that close to them it was worth it. But holy crap! When they hit the stage, the stage shook, the club shook, the crowd went mental in ways I’ve never seen before and the music emitted enough power to seriously injure if not kill most household pets. Luckily, no household pets were present.

Every song created a ground stomping mosh pit and the band tore up the stage in their own crazy way. I think what got me the most was even in the chaos of everything that was happening, even in the heat of the mosh pits, the Cancer Bats music was still dominating everything, makings its way through your ears, through your heart. I wasn’t just listening to the music, none of us were, we were feeling it as well.

I think one of the final things that made this show for me was when they played what can only be described as their greatest song, Hail Destroyer (title track of their latest album). A good half of the club including myself actually got onto the stage with the band, and they just carried on playing. The front man Liam just held the microphone up so everyone could scream along with him “HAIL DESTROYER!”. As if that wasn’t enough, we concluded with a mosh pit on the stage itself, but of course the Cancer Bats didn’t care, they just carried on playing as hard as they could! I have never seen so much hell raised by one band.

Verdict:I walked away from that gig with a sore arm, neck, back and various other injuries. I had a ringing in my ears that took almost three days to go away. To me, they are all signs of an amazing show. The Cancer Bats say they want to "rage harder, play louder and have more fun than any other band". Congratulations boys! Mission accomplished. Now keep it up!

Nick