Bio-Cancer - Ear Piercing Thrash (Athens Thrash Attack) 2012
1. Ear Piercing Thrash (3:25)
2. Your Punisher (4:20)
3. Backstabbed Again (3:22)
4. Get Cancered…Now! (3:54)
5. Spread the Cancer (3:36)
6. You Scream You Die (4:17)
7. Killing Habit (3:14)
8. Anthem of Violence (3:05)
It's pretty rare that I go out of my way to purchase an independent CD release from a band I am completely unfamiliar with. However, one day while looking for a video on YouTube, I stumbled across this band from Greece called Bio-Cancer. The old school cover art immediately caught my attention so I stopped my search to give Bio-Cancer a listen. Within a few seconds I was smiling ear to ear! Not long after that I was on the internet searching out how I could get my hands on a CD copy of their first full-length album.
Bio-Cancer are a thrash band whose guitarist studied at the Hunolt/Holt school of thrash metal guitar. Musically, Bio-Cancer are straight out of the Bay Area thrash scene incorporating uptempo songs, hooky guitar riffs, noisy guitar solos, and a sprinkling of the NWOBHM-influenced melody. So their style fits in neatly with the ever growing crop of New Wave of Thrash Metal bands. However, Bio-Cancer differ from the norm in one particular area. Once the vocals kicked in at about twenty seconds into the first song I was blown away by the sounds of some shrill, violent and other-worldly shrieks. Vocalist Leuteris "Possessed" Hatziandreou screams and shrieks like a banshee being tortured with a searing hot branding iron. His shrieks are offset by the band's shouted gang vocals. Though I can understand why some thrash fans may be turned off by the vocals, I found the style to be absolutely infectious. No, I couldn't understand a word he was saying, but that's not really the point. For those who care, the lyrics are included in the 8 page booklet. With songs titles like "Ear Piercing Thrash", "You Scream You Die" and "Anthem of Violence", it's pretty clear that Bi-Cancer aren't singing about puppy dogs and kitty cats. If ever there was an album title that truly described the sound and style of an album, Bio-Cancer's "Ear Piercing Thrash" would be it.
It's also interesting to note that the artwork of the album is done by Andrei Bouzikov that has been also worked with Municipal Waste.