Old school thrash metal is indeed alive and well! Taking a page right out of the San Francisco Bay area bangers handbook circa the mid to late 80's, we have the sophomore album Time Is Up from Denver based Havok. Formed back in 2004 this young quartet released their debut disc Burn on Candelight Records in 2009, and while it was a pretty solid and certainly promising effort overall that revealed the obvious influences of bands like Testament and Exodus, Time Is Up is definitely a step up from Burn for a couple of reasons. First of all the superior production job by James Murphy (Death, Testament) is a big improvement over the self produced Burn which unfortunately suffered from a muddy overall sound. Secondly, the band seems to have a put a more concerted effort into the songwriting department this time around, and the results speak for themselves. What you get here are ten, guaranteed head banging anthems that are jam packed to the hilt with menacing guitar riffs, blazing, melodic leads and breakneck tempos that should definitely boost the sale of neck braces worldwide. Not to mention the abrasive vocals and blood curdling screams of lead belter/ guitarist David Sanchez are the perfect match for the sheer abundance of sonic brutality offered up by fellow band mates Reece Scruggs (guitars), Pete Webber (drums) and Jesse De Los Santos (bass).
Time Is Up is a significant step forward for Havok. Thrash metal fans should definitely appreciate the fact that the songs are tight as hell, and that these punishing riffs and pile driving rhythms are about as subtle as a punch to the face.
Track Listing
1) Prepare For Attack
2) Fatal Intervention
3) No Amnesty
4) D.O.A.
5) Covering Fire
6) Killing Tendencies
7) Scumbag In Disguise
8) The Cleric
9) Out Of My Way
10) Time Is Up
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