The Cancer Project
Open
Gosport based electro-goth three-piece, The Cancer Project, have been plying their industrial rock-metal sound in nearby Portsmouth for a couple of years, earning semi-final placements in a showcase competition as well as regular slots at The Wedgewood Rooms.
Initial track, ‘Open’, kicks off with frantic drumming, spawned courtesy of singer Darren and his drum-sequencer. With trashy distorted snare sounds and blasting bass drum, the pace is eager to say the least. The bass and guitar add their own menacing sounds and pumping tones respectively to the mix, while the vocal gushes forth some angry screaming.
The vocal does take a few breaks to push some melody in to parts of the song and the urgency is enhanced by the confusing structure and powerful crescendos as everything gets as loud as it can. A brief synth break punctuates the onslaught towards the end of the track before things are finished off with screams of ‘I am open…’
The second track, ‘Manifest’, is a bit more brooding with dark aeroplane noises punctuated by a throbbing sub-bass keyboard sound. Palm-muted guitar and melodic vocals take things from the intro to the eighties influenced electric sounds of the verse and chorus that make up the rest of the song.
Goth-Pop rules the latter end of the record with the pulsating beats of ‘What’s Wrong?’. The best moment in this track (and possibly the whole CD) is the keyboard part that buzzes around the chorus like an insect trapped in Bacofoil.
A decent mix of industrial, metal, goth and pop keeps things interesting with the help of some dark, but inoffensive, lyricism. ‘Open’ is going to be too frantic to lure the nice-n-easy kids, but ‘What’s Wrong?’ has the general appeal required to draw people in to the music like moths to a flame.
Written by Fenton on
