Cancer Bats — Psychic Jailbreak — Album Review
Desert Rock | Punk | Metal
Listen on Spotify | Listen on Apple Music
Cancer Bats are a very good example of a band I have been following for a while, and also one that contributed quite some bit to my musical teenhood. thanks to their awesomely heavy desert rock sound, and all of the awesome tees worn by my teenhood friends, it’s certainly safe to say that Cancer Bats are always a band I’m keeping my eyes on.
I recent years, however, Cancer Bats have had kept their projects in line with the period of worldwide lockdown. They aptly released a sessions album back in 2021, and released a remastered version of their 2010 album Bears, Mayors, Scraps & Bones for its 10 year anniversary. However, their most recent original album prior to now, titled The Spark That Moves, was released almost exactly four years ago.
That being said, I hate to admit that Cancer Bats had slipped my mind in the slightest. What they needed was a brand new original project to hit me with that big punk-rock wake-up-slap. This had finally come to fruition with their brand new album, Psychic Jailbreak.
Despite the excitement I initially felt towards the fact that Cancer Bats had finally released their seventh studio album, I found myself in a position that makes Psychic Jailbreak a much harder album to review than others (which might explain why I have been putting it off for a short while). To elaborate, I am likely experienced enough with Cancer Bats, that I have become very familiar with their style and aesthetic. This serves as the case to a point where I would don an album like Psychic Jailbreak as one that slightly suffers from what I like to call “Red Hot Chili Syndrome”.
To elaborate further, this means that I may have ended up becoming a bit too familiar with Cancer Bats and their sound, which results in this album not sounding like it is really bringing anything new to the table at all. For a first time listener, this album might just be the coolest thing they’ve heard in ages (and I hope it is too). However, I listened to Psychic Jailbreak and, for the most part, just thought to myself “yep…it’s Cancer Bats”.
I may just be overthinking this idea, however; perhaps it is simply the fact that Psychic Jailbreak specifically lacks slightly in that explosive feel which made me feel so invested in other Cancer Bats projects. The opening few cuts on this thing did admittedly do a good job of getting things off to a steaming start. But the mid-section especially carries (while not bad by any right), some very underwhelming numbers.
But that is pretty much my extent of negative criticism. I must give credit where credit is due, and state that the narrative of the album is where Psychic Jailbreak shines the most. It felt obvious from the get-go that this record was designed to be an invigoratingly feel-good album, and tackles the subject of self loathing with brute force, encouraging listeners to break free of their mental prisons.
I must admit as well, that Psychic Jailbreak’s tracks are also growing on me ever-so-slightly, as I write this review. Perhaps, by the end of the year, Psychic Jailbreak may not end up being as underwhelming as it seems now.
Favourite Tracks: Radiate | Rollin Threes | Psychic Jailbreak
Least Favourite Track: Hammering On
Bat Skull Records
