Canadian metal band Cancer Bats will release their fourth full-length album “Dead Set On Living,” on April 24, 2012 via Metal Blade Records in North America. “Dead Set On Living” is once again utilizing the legendary Vespa Studios and producers Eric Ratz and Kenny Luong. The brand new video for the first single, “Old Blood,” can be seen here. US tour dates to be announced soon.
Says frontman Liam Joseph Cormier, “Were so stoked to be back in the Metal Blade family! We got to know so many amazing people at the label when we were a part of Black Market Activities and now it’s so rad that were part of the Metal Blade Roster! So many awesome people work at the label and they put out so many sweet bands, I couldn’t me more stoked”
Cormier adds: “We really strived for that raw, off-the-floor vibe this time around, it’s really the bridge between our live show and what we put on record… We’ve been very lucky to experiment as much as we have, I love that we can have thrash songs, hardcore songs, and the more Queens of the Stone Age or Kyuss kind of groove-based tunes.”
Thematically, the album offers a strong focus on the bilateral relationship of dark and light, destruction and construction, life and death. The title track, for example, refers to a close friend of the band who ended up in the hospital in serious condition; only to have the experience cement his will to survive. “Road Sick,” as the title may imply, finds Cormier struggling with the hardships that come with a career spent on the road. “Our lives are all about touring, but that song is more universal,” Cormier reveals. “It’s really for anyone away from their loved ones, dealing with that situation.”
Still, whereas 2010′s Bears, Mayors, Scraps & Bones had a much darker tinge, DSOL strikes a tighter balance between the opposing forces and brings listeners closer to the light at the end of the tunnel by encouraging them to push through peril. “We all reach these dark places where we feel angry or alone,” says the singer, “but that gives us a reason to pick ourselves up and strive to make something better.”
The Cancer Bats have also recently revealed to fans that on April 21, 2012 in London, UK, they would play six shows in five different venues, all within the space of 24 hours. Dubbed the ‘Pentagram’ tour (the location of the venues when joined together form the shape of a pentagram), all six shows sold out in the first week. A spring cross-Canada tour in support of DSOL is in the works, with dates to be announced soon.
“Dead Set On Living” Track listing:
R.A.T.S(Feat. Rob Urbinati of Sacrifice)
Bricks and Mortar
Road Sick
Breathe Armageddon
Dead Set On Living
The Void
Old Blood
Drunken Physics
Bastards(feat. Dez Fafara of Devil Driver & Kate Cooper of An Horse)
Rally The Wicked
New World Alliance
Add Cancer Bats to My Radar 
Gene ”The Atomic Clock” Hoglan pulls double duty on the current Testament/Anthrax/Death Angel tour filling in for Anthrax drummer Charlie Benante. The Anthrax drummer is taking a short leave from the band’s concert tour to be with his mother who is terminally ill.
Boston-based death metal act 
Californian death metallers 
Finnish folk metal act 
Atlanta metal band, 
Swiss metal band 
