ROCKET REVIEW: HAVOK – “Unnatural Selection” (CD)

Denver, Colorado thrash metal act HAVOK has released their third studio effort in 2013 entitled “Unnatural Selection” via Candlelight Records. A major force in The New Wave of Thrash Metal resurgence this band is led by vocalist/guitarist David Sanchez, and on the ten tracks (nine original and one Black Sabbath cover) offered up it’s quickly very apparent that he and his group of thrash misfits aren’t resting on their past laurels. Their prior album “Time Is Up” from 2011 definitely got everyone’s attention in a big way and so now the question is have they indeed been able to improve upon that or perhaps – like some young bands seeking to breakthrough to a larger audience, maybe succumbed to the overwhelming pressure?

Kicking off with track one’s positively all out slamming “I Am The State”, Sanchez and company ignite like a powder keg and this reviewer is stoked to hear that they are by no means falling off their game. Track two’s “Give Me Liberty… Or Give Me Death” has that early EXODUS feels circa “Fabulous Disaster” days, with an adrenaline soaked rhythm section that will get your heart pumping hard for sure. Like Steve ‘Zetro’ Souza before him, Sanchez embodies all the gritty attitude that you want from an angry thrash singer. You will not hear this dude try to sing any other way on this record.

Other standout tracks that quickly became my favorite all day listeners are “Is It True”, the seriously kick ass mid-tempo rocker “Waste of Life”, which has one of the coolest damn riffs going for it that I’ve heard in quite some time. Track seven’s “Chasing The Edge” is probably my favorite song out of the collection though, because it just slams all the way up and down the road for me, man. Very cool chorus and again the rhythm section of Mike Leon on bass and Pete Webber on drums is simply stellar. Reece Scruggs on lead guitar ain’t chopped liver neither, this dude smokes the fretboard here and then some.

I feel thrash fans who already know Havok will not be disappointed with “Unnatural Selection”, and the new ones who don’t that come along will kick themselves for being so behind in the game.

ROCKET REVIEW:
[starreview tpl=16]
HAVOK – “Unnatural Selection” (CD)
(Candlelight Records/2013)

01. I Am The State
02. Give Me Liberty… Or Give Me Death
03. It Is True
04. Under The Gun
05. Waste Of Life
06. Living Nightmare
07. Chasing The Edge
08. Worse Than War
09. Children Of The Grave [Black Sabbath cover]
10. Unnatural Selection

http://havokband.com/