Band: Showbread
Album: Cancer
Genre: Raw Rock
Label: Unsigned/Come&Live!

Without discrediting what I have to say, I’ve personally been been following Showbread for a good 5+ years of my life. Not to say that this means that I’ve been a complete fan of every single release that the band’s put out, but I’ve definitely spun the band’s entire discography on countless occasions. Heck, Josh Dies is among my favorite lyricists that are still writing music today. With all of that said, Cancer is a release that many fans have been waiting to hear after the band’s less-than-stellar 9th release, Who Can Know It?, an album that had been met by many with lukewarm reception.

Cancer sees the band capturing their punk roots as much as they had done with their earlier work, a la No Sir, Nihilism Is Not Practical. Cancer sees Josh Dies, the band’s vocalist, actually screaming and singing like he used to in The Fear Of God days. Like what the band did with their dual-release album, Anorexia and Nervosa, Cancer tells a genuine story that transcends the album itself through telling it’s own story inside of the album’s linear notes and what will eventually become a feature film that will release in 2013.

For those seeking a quick description of what the album sounds like, the band describes Cancer as a “science fiction, glam-punk concept record.” As much as I want to find my own words to describe the record myself, I don’t think I really can say much beyond that. There are moments where the record feels like an indie rock record [“You Will Die In A Prison”], there are moments where the record feels like an alt-rock record [“Two-Headed Monster”], and there are moments where the album feels like a Refused record [“Escape From Planet Cancer”], even if it’s all within the same song [“I’m Afraid That I’m Me”].

Granted that the “final” product is still in the works, this could potentially be Showbread’s most ambitious record to date. Sure each record from the band’s discography holds it’s own, but this one really has more of everything, along the band’s new found classic rock sound that helps to make this release stand out in it’s own way, just like the other albums have done so before. I’m not going to give too much away about the story that exists within the linear notes of the record, but I will say that it follows a rebellious punk band that faces more than a few struggles and triumphs on the road to “making it” in the world while still sticking true to their original message, and THAT’s pretty punk.

Rating: 8.5/10
Reviewed by: Adrian Garza

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Adrian Garza

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