Thursday, June 23, 2011

Album Review: Havok - Time Is Up



For a while now I've kind of felt thrash metal was pretty much dead as a genre, sure bands like Megadeth, Slayer and to a much lesser extent (for me anyway) Metallica are still around, but nothing new was even appearing to get me to think about going back to the genre. Now with the new release from trash metal band Havok is someone trying to lift this genre from the dead?

The answer is a slight yes, yes in the sense this album is actually pretty good, something worth at least a listen if you were a fan of thrash at some stage or even still a fan. The album is energetic as fuck for a start, the songs just explode out really fast and only stop for the slightest of breathers before getting right back into it. The vocals are old thrash all over part Mustaine but with a little less snarl, he really handles the vocals well, clear strong, thrash metal sounding.

This album isn't going to break ground for a thrash metal album, however is does show that good thrash metal can still be made. The guitars aren't the most technical sounding ever, I was expecting more from them, they do however have a nice thrash sound to them something that I think everything on this album has. I did find D.O.A. to be quite a good song even with its street fighter intro, the song seems to me anyway just that slight more explosive to the rest and leaves a lasting impression on this album for me.

Another song that's great is track eight The Cleric with probably the best solo on the album, it also incorporates some Mustaine spoken word stuff in it also, definitely has a bit of everything in it and at four minutes 45 being the second longest song I feel it shows off the instruments more than any other track.

If there's criticism from me it's definitely that the album is incredibly samey, if you aren't listening to thrash a lot anymore there's a good chance you'll get bored fairly fast, if you can get through sameness you'll find glimpses of differing songs such as  The Cleric and Out Of My Way. If you're looking for a samey old school thrash album then you'll pretty much dig everything on this album.

Overall its a pretty solid release and a thrash metal album worth checking out, won't blow you away but its more than a nice listen. Probably the most I've enjoyed a thrash album since Megadeth - Endgame and I feel this is better than that.

Overall Rating: 7.5/10

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