The Zoo - Sat Sep 11

With the Valley Fiesta and Bullet For My Valentine still raging, The Zoo is moderately empty when Sunny Coast rockers Valkere play. Sounding like Clutch crossed with He Is Legend, the band’s set is a boozy good time.

Mosh aficionados In Trenches slam next. So many bands have moved on from the metallic hardcore sound, but In Trenches have stuck true. A mix of searing breakdowns, melodic guitar riffs and thumping rhythm section, In Trenches do the metallic hardcore thing better than most.

Playing their second show of the night, Canadian punk outfit Cancer Bats bring more energy to The Zoo’s stage than most bands can muster for one set a night. On top of Scott Middleton’s squealing guitar riffs, front man Liam Cormier’s impassioned rasp does not relent. Like sandpaper on vocal cords, the front man screams, hollers and yelps his way through efforts like Sleep This Away and Lucifer’s Rocking Chair. Many are seeing Cancer Bats for the second time tonight, but that doesn’t dull their enthusiasm for the band, when Cormier tells the crowd to form a circle pit, the mosh pit parts for cuts like Beastie Boys’ Sabotage. Everyone leaves the Bats show happy, the dedicated doubly happy.

TOM HERSEY  

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