Rammer — Cancer

Ontario is pretty far from San Francisco and it's even farther away from Norway, but those are places where Toronto's Rammer draw most of their influences. As with any thrash metal band, there's a distinct Slayer influence present in the way the band plow through piercing riffs and indecipherable vocals. Instead of aping Tom Araya's signature yell, however, vocalist David Kristiansen has a distinctly low grunt that brings to mind Norwegian bands like Emperor. The riffs are more about structure than speed, giving the music a more complex feel. It's not going to change the way you look at thrash, but Cancer proves the style's not dead.

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