Images for "Cancer"

Throwdown isn't exactly what you'd call an innovative band - as I pointed out when I first heard Venom & Tears two years ago, when they don't sound like Lamb of God, they sound like Pantera - but I like to give the album a spin every once in a while. When I do, I'm always struck by how different the instrumental track "Cancer" sounds from the rest of the tracks: all of the aggression falls by the wayside for two minutes as a slightly fuzzed guitar picks out a sad, simple melody, augmented by the sounds of distant traffic. The title helps immensely: the title "Cancer" gives focus to the song's potential imagery, moving it from a collection of sounds to an aural depiction of a drab hospital room with a window somewhere near a highway, its single occupant rotting from the inside, betrayed by his cells into an early death alone. The late afternoon winter sun slants through the window and slowly sinks into darkness.