Havok started out in the two thousands, sounding like an eighties retro thrash band. The music was very heavy and fast, but most of their songs had a similar layout. Their sound resembled
Anthrax’s first album, Fistful of
Metal. The lyrics were yelled out with limited range and skill. The guitarists hadn’t yet mastered the art of shredding. Then in twenty ten they acquired a new lead guitarist and drummer. On their twenty ten release,
Time Is Up, the band grew up exponentially. Dave had increased his vocal range to hit the high notes and the guitar music improved with razor sharp slicing and dicing. But most importantly the songwriting was incredible. They could convert their classic thrash influences to modern standards. Their twenty thirteen album,
Unnatural Selection, was a continuation of where they left off two years before. It sounded like an exciting clash of bay area and German styled thrash. In twenty fifteen they had a lineup change at the bass position. They recently left Candlelight Records and this is their first release with
Century Media. It probably doesn’t matter to the fans, but it might give the band a marketing advantage.
The opening song, F.P.C, stands for fuck political correctness. Which is one of the main concepts that
Conformicide is about. It starts with unassuming guitar picking and then abruptly transforms into an evil sounding guitar riff, with heavy bass lines and rattling drum beats. The guitar music pauses and the bassist plucks loose funk styled notes. David angrily snarls out the first lines, “they want to shut you up and put your mind in a cage.” “Dictate the words that you can use, freedom of speech goes up in flames.” Then halfway in the tempo speeds up with radical riff shifting and hyperactive drum flurries. The shredding intensifies with violent guitar picking and the lyrics are viciously shrieked out. “Political correctness: free speech is seized!” “Political correctness is a social disease!” Vocalist/rhythm guitarist David Sanchez co-founded
Havok when he was just fourteen years old, with the help of some musician classmates. The band started out playing in the basement of his mother’s house. At twenty eight years of age, he’s been a hell of a songwriter, who has a knack for finding a catchy groove. There isn’t any actual singing on this album. It’s all angry yelling, screaming and screeching. His vocals mostly sound like a cross between Mark Osegueda (
Death Angel) and Zack De La Rocha (
Rage Against The Machine). But his shrieking vocals sound similar to J.R. Hayes (
Pig Destroyer).
Lead guitarist
Reece Scruggs has performed on the band’s three latest albums. At age twenty nine, he’s a prolific songwriter for this band, as well as an awesome guitarist. He’s also an active member of
Monolith (USA-2) and has performed on two albums for Go
Smack Alice. The violent thrashing riffs are delivered with a lot of power, in a surly bent. Frequently the vicious guitar chops and ornamental picking give way to intense shredding. Occasionally there are brief guitar solos, but they are subdued by the darkness of the compositions. The fourth track,
Intention to Deceive, starts with the jingle of a news program and the voice of a broadcaster soon comes on. “Good evening, I’m Lie a Lot and in the news today we give you trivial stories to distract you from what’s really going on in the world.” “It’s five o’clock and here’s what we want you to think.” An intense guitar hook starts along with hard beaten drum rhythms. Then a catchy thrash melody is played, which resembles the old
ADX song,
Notre Dame de
Paris. The drum beats shuffle along with chugging bass notes. The vocals are angrily growled out. “I’ll tell you what you need to hear!” “I’ll show you what I want you to see!” An ominous rhythm sways in, with low guitar notes and mid range bass lines. “Opposing independent thought, with the
Intention to Deceive.” “Misinformation is the plot, with the
Intention to Deceive.”
The seventh number, Peace Is in Pieces, starts with a casual drum shuffle and some odd science fiction styled guitar notes with reverberation. Which sound similar to Voivod’s old song Phobos. Then heavier thrash riffs work their way in and an all out thrash attack follows. The heavy and violent riffs chop forth with a headbanging rhythm. The vocals are screeched out with an uncanny fortitude. “Peace is in pieces!” “
Never ending war keeps the profits high!” The bass notes are played fast and are complemented by fierce drum beats. The atmosphere is pervaded with relentless anger and blood thirst. “The people’s enemy, slavery through debt!” “
Bleed the country dry, get away with murder!” An incendiary guitar solo whines out, before the explosive thrash riffs return. The previous bassist, Mike Leon, quit the band in twenty fifteen to join
Soulfly. He was quickly replaced by Nick Schendzielos, who is also active with some notable death metal bands. He has performed on albums with
Cephalic Carnage,
Job For A Cowboy and
Reign Of
Vengeance. His bass lines bolster the guitar riffs and add some extra thrustto the explosive parts, with sudden power chords. It usually doesn’t stand out as a decorative component to these compositions, but colors the music with an extra shade of darkness.
Drummer Pete Webber is the short character in the band’s photos, who plays tall with talent and is arguably one of the best performers in the business. He started out as a preteen and studied an eclectic array of genres, including jazz and Latin styles of music. At age thirty two, he has performed on the band’s three latest albums. The drums are often beaten hard with lots of melodic beat tone patterns and cymbal crashes. He provides a hyperactive presence, taking few breaks from the intensity.
Blast beats abound within these explosive compositions. The ninth song,
Wake Up, starts with chaotic human noise and the sound of a siren. Then it abruptly breaks out with a sinister thrashing rhythm and melodic drum shuffling. The chorus vocals shout: “wake up!” A catchy high note guitar melody takes over, with a squealing climax. “
Wake up and think!” The drums flutter and clutter at a fast pace. The vocals are screamed out in a frenzy. “Try thinking for yourself instead of accepting what you’re told!” “Do you want to be stupid and controllable?”
Hard and violent thrash rhythms alternate with the groovy guitar melody, but the attitude is angry and vicious.
Their music hasn’t always been original, but the borrowings are only noticeable to the generation x headbangers who listen to the classic albums repetitively. On their past two releases, the compositions had a more amiable shredding groove. There are no ballads here and there is scarcely a dull moment. This is their darkest and most misanthropic collection of songs, there is no sympathy or mercy on this album. The textures are coarse and cut against the grain. As dark as it sounds, there is no resemblance to
Slayer and the bay area influences have been forsaken. The previous bassist, Mike Leon, delivered more punch and was a better fit with this band than Nick Schendzielos. Drummer Pete Webber gave an awesome performance and played much better than he did on
Unnatural Selection.
Conformicide is their angriest and most violent album to date, Their official website says that this release compares to
Master of Puppets and
Rust in Peace.
Time Is Up actually came closer to reaching those benchmarks. However
Conformicide does compare to
Pig Destroyer’s
Phantom Limb.
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