Thank whatever deity you choose to believe in that Cancer Bats took time out from their frantic schedule touring the country with Bullet For My Valentine to grace the Annandale stage for a Wednesday night sideshow. I'm sure I'm not the only one grateful to be able to see the hard rocking Canadian quartet without a giving up a cent of my hard earned money so that Bullet For My Valentine can buy more eyeliner and black hair dye.

Openers Mary Jane Kelly kicked things off on a reasonably strong note. The Wollongong outfit has established itself as a staple of the aussie hardcore scene, supporting the likes of 50 Lions and Every Time I Die. Even though they did come across as a bit too "squeaky clean" in both appearance and stage banter, their musicianship and performance were definitely on par. There were a few convoluted moments, including some out of place funk-rock grooves, but the majority of the ideas were solid. Ultimately though there really isn't much that makes Mary Jane Kelly stand out from the onslaught of hardcore bands currently flooding the scene.

In Trenches took the stage to a spectacularly epic prog-metal intro reminiscent of Master of Puppets-era Metallica. Being a supergroup of sorts comprised of members of I Killed the Prom Queen and Day of Contempt, their experience could be heard from the moment they took the stage. Ex-I Killed the Prom Queen guitarist Kevin Cameron was the clear focal point with a myriad of acrobatic stage tricks at his disposal, executed without missing a single note. Although the vast majority of the set was face-crushingly brutal metalcore, a few ambient soundscape moments functioned nicely to break up the dynamics. If there’s anything that lets this band down it would be the vocals. It’s not that singer Ben Coyte’s voice wasn’t raw or brutal enough, but even exclusively screamed vocals should utilise more than a single tone.  A bit more variety in the vocals could really have made In Trenches' sound a bit less monotonous.

Having been just recently introduced to Cancer Bats, I really wasn’t sure what to expect from their live show.  There was an obvious age gap between them and the supports, which made Cancer Bats come across as veterans, even though they only formed in 2004. Opening on “Sleep This Away” and making their way through crowd favorites “We are the Undead” and of course perhaps their best known song ; an appropriately aggressive cover of Beastie Boys’ “Sabotage”. 

What instantly made Cancer Bats stand out were their rousing sing-along choruses in the tradition of 70s punk or 80s thrash metal. The songs were well constructed, as opposed to sounding pieced together from random parts as so many bands in this genre seem to do. The band’s grueling tour schedule seemed to have little effect on frontman Liam Cormier’s energy levels as he jumped around to every corner of the cramped Annandale stage, his clothes and hair getting more soaked in sweat with each song. In direct contrast to Cormier’s hardcore punk appearance and antics, guitarist Scott Middleton was metal to the core. Looking like Zakk Wylde’s stockier cousin, he had the chops to match, barraging the crowd with old school thrash metal riffs and southern rock grooves.

Judging by tonight’s performance it’s easy to see why Cancer Bats are one of the most sought after hardcore bands around at the moment. Though perhaps not quite sharing the level of fame as tour-mates Bring Me the Horizon or (shudder) Bullet for my Valentine, that kind of success doesn’t seem that far off.