CRY HAVOK
Wednesday, July 1st, 2009 at 3:00pm by Axl Rosenberg
The whole retro-thrash thing has already pretty much worn itself out, and, generally speaking, if you’re not Municipal Waste, Warbringer or maybe maybe maybe Merciless Death, I just don’t really give a shit these days. I’m over it.
Or at least I thought I was… until I heard Havok’s Burn.
Havok make retro-thrash so convincing that if someone played it for me and told me it was, in fact, some Bay Area band from the 80s I’d just never heard of, I would believe them. But so what? That doesn’t differentiate Havok from a gajillion other bands. Nor, I suppose, does the fact that they can clearly playing the living goddamn shit out of their instruments.
What sets Havok apart from the pack, then, is the quality of their songwriting. It seems like the vast majority of these old-skool thrash outfits are taking their cues from bands like Exodus and Anthrax – relatively short, punkish party tunes to imbibe massive amounts of Jager by. And there’s certainly room for that in the world.
But Havok seem to have something more in mind. In case the “Blackened”-like intro didn’t tip you off, Havok aim to evoke Metallica and Megadeth at their most brash: still good for drinking Jager, but just a little more technical, a little proggier, a little more epic, and a helluva lot catchier than the stuff their peers are playing. So while every song on the album is guaranteed to give you roadburn, the songs are also dynamic, giving the album excellent replay value.
Havok’s Burn is proof positive that a good band can always make the old tricks seem new again. This record might not change your life, but it will give you 49 minutes of awesome thrash metal.
(four out of five horns)
-AR
Violator from Brazil is a great current day thrash band.
Violator ripss
I just ordered that shit from earache. Too bad no vinyl. Violator and Havok both tear faces off.
Just downloaded a couple songs off their site, picking pieces of my skull off the floor as I type
These guys are from Denver and I’ve seen them a bunch of times. They do indeed shred.
yeah this is a good band. One of my favorites of the retro-thrash movement
Municipal Waste sucks. There are much better retro-thrash bands out there. Havok is definitely one though, so good job!
ability and song writing wise sure, but lets face it few if any are nearly as fun
No sara municipal waste is fucking amazing… u missy suck pun intended!
I don’t think that was a pun.
Great synopsis, Axl. It is very hard to not sound either dated or overtly, non-ironically retro in this genre. (Or a copycat.) But these guys seem to escape all of those pitfalls, and I dig how the vocals are screams but in key. Very cool.
Municipal Waste, Warbringer, Evile, Lazarus A.D.
they’re all helping bring thrash back!
Just wait for infected nations, the new evile album, it’s gonna be the bollocks.
I’m sorry, but if you can’t have fun at a Municipal Waste show, then you should just jump off a fucking cliff, b/c humanity has no need for you.
Cross Examination anyone? Please tell me im not the only one.
You aren’t =D
Thank you
Toxic Holocaust anyone?
I haven’t heard this cd yet. These guys shred and are good at what they do, but my personal experiences color my view a bit. Oh well, scene issues aside, did someone say they are ordering it from Earache?! Well, good job Havok! We need some more Colorado bands to show up on the scene!
Gave it a spin – good times. Nice to listen to some legit retro-trash from time to time
I just checked up on these guys on myspace, seems their drummer is gone. I remember the rest of the band but him were pretty chill dudes. Someone should definitely play these guys, because they are a great retro-trash band.
Mantic Ritual kills all these bands
Skeletonwitch fucking rocks too if you group them in with the retro-thrashers
Warpath are a good solid up and coming thrash band from the UK. No. 1 unsigned band in Terrorizer magazine last year and their album ‘Damnation’ thrashes like a beast.
Totally agree about Violator too. Will always be in Sepultura’s shadow, unfortunately, but good to see Brazillian thrash is still going strong.
These guys do kick ass. I also like By Any Means Necessary for new school thrash…
hell yeah!!! thrash lives, bands like diamond plate and havok ressurected thrash
This band is awesome…\m/
this is one of the best Destruction cover bands Ive ever heard!
Havok > destruction