Bio-Cancer made some noise in the underground thrash scene with their debut Ear Piercing Thrash, but the record certainly had some rough edges to work through. This is what made the anticipation for their sophomore effort Tormenting the Innocent so intense – would the band refine their potential into the force that their debut hinted towards? While it’s not quite the perfect album one could have hoped for from these Greek thrashers, Tormenting the Innocent is a step in the right direction and it leaves a pretty stellar second effort to be devoured.

At the core, Tormenting the Innocent keeps the concept of Bio-Cancer intact in whole. This is a record about speed, speed, and more speed with a bit of harsh chaos on the side. Sure there is some fair share of dynamics to be had, the melodic leads on “F(r)iends or Fiends?” or the groovier riffs on “Obligated to Incest,” but this is a band built to deliver layers upon layers of thrash and they do so with remarkable ease. Whether it’s the piled on shrieking harsh vocals that spit out blood and bone or the relentless drum work that keeps even some of the chunkier riffs from sounding too slow, Tormenting the Innocent is pure aggressive thrash with little in way of interest in doing anything but breaking speed records.

That being said, Bio-Cancer is ably equipped to make it work. The harsh vocals might be stuck in (more or less) one path, but the band injects a ton of group chants to break it up. The guitars weave leads and riffs so tightly that rarely can an untrained ear differentiate between the two and the brief spats of bass that can be heard over the chaos (see “Bulletproof”) give a nice grounding to the musical talents of the band. A more robust production helps immensely for the various layers to be heard, particularly when compared to the super raw and gritty production of the first album, and the band capitalize on this in the fullest.

Outside of wanting just a bit more diversity in writing here and there, Tormenting the Innocent handedly outpaces Bio-Cancer’s well-received debut record. It’s tighter all the way around, the production allows the listener to hear a lot of the technical work the band throws in, and the balance of fun and chaos is contagious. It might not be quite the defining record for Bio-Cancer yet, but Tormenting the Innocent is easily on the path there with its unrelenting outpour of thrash. This gets a huge moshing recommendation.