Cancer Bats have undergone somewhat of a musical transformation in recent years. After starting out as a dynamic and exciting scuzzy hardcore band, they’ve developed into a hard rock band with a hardcore edge who, on their fourth album, now let their sludge metal and stoner rock influences really shine through.

Vocalist Liam Cormier attributes this musical freedom to the band’s loyal following and says: “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.” It means that ‘Dead Set On Living’ contains a healthy amount of variety, allowing the album to develop plenty of light and shade. This freedom is reflected in the band’s choice of guest vocalists for this album, with Rob Urbinati of thrash metal band Sacrifice, Dez Fafara of groove/melodic death metal band DevilDriver and Kate Cooper of indie rock band An Horse all popping up with contributions.

Following the relatively restrained one-two blast of opening tracks ‘R.A.T.S.’ and ‘Bricks and Mortar,’ Cancer Bats really put their foot on the accelerator with the anthemic recent single ‘Road Sick,’ a driving blast of Southern rock that is mixed with the energy of hardcore in order to create the album’s first highlight. The pace then drops and slows right down with the title track, with ‘Dead Set On Living’ possibly the slowest, sludgiest track Cancer Bats have ever produced, before picking up again with the noisy hard rock of ‘Old Blood,’ also a single. A later highlight is ‘Bastards,’ the chugging metal track that features the collaboration with Fafara and Cooper, while album closer ‘New World Alliance’ sees the band somewhat surprisingly delve into the world of black metal.

I have to admit to preferring the sheer adrenaline of the more conventionally punk rock songs on 'Dead Set For Living’ but the balance of the record needs to be maintained and there’s an admirable streak of rawness that runs throughout the course of the album. This isn’t clean and tidy rock 'n’ roll; it’s dirty, hairy, smelly, proper hard rock with an unhinged, hardcore edge. Cormier says this is what they aimed for, noting that the band “really strived for that raw, off-the-floor vibe this time round. It’s really the bridge between our live show and what we put on record.”

They’ve certainly succeeded in their aim and the progression displayed on ‘Dead Set For Living’ is admirable.