Havok – Burn

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One proper demo, recorded in 2005, was it all it took for Candlelight to sign young Denver-based thrash outfit Havok for their debut album Burn, and the formula is very much early-’80s traditional thrash done right. Delicate clean intro Wrecquiem (see early Metallica albums for a reference point) ushers the kind of Anthrax-style thrash metal on The Root of Evil that bands like Municipal Waste are currently trying to mimic. A Megadeth influence presides over Path To Nowhere, but the most predominant sound over the whole album is early Metallica (see the solos on Identity Theft and The Disease). David Sanchez’s vocals a slightly less strained and more aggressive than James Hetfields were back then, perhaps like a Hetfield/Schuldiner mix, but they have that same raw urgency the now-veterans had. Burn is 50 minutes of near-perfect thrash. Expect to see them on tours with some of the rest of the young thrash revolution soon. They deserve the slots a lot more than some of the others do.

Written by Andy Lye
More: Albums, Quick.Play Reviews, Thrash Metal, Havok