HAVOK came to Orlando with legendary Sepultura founder, Max Cavalera, and his band, Soulfly. I caught up with David for a quick interview out on the loading area behind The Social to talk about the current state of metal, world politics, heavy metal inspirato, and horror movies among other things.
HAVOK is a seriously bad ass thrash band that seems to have absorbed all that is great about classic metal, mixed it up, and spit it out with attitude, originality, and authenticity. This couldn’t have come at a better time for me. The geo-political and economic state of the world is screaming for good metal and punk, but I just haven’t found many bands that resonate. Indie music and hip hop are growing tiresome, but nothing heavy outside of alternative bands like Queens and the Pumpkins do anything for me. Mastodon is OK, but just a little too prog-y. New or Nu metal is too math-y and just lacks the chunky bite of colossal riffage that drew me to heavy metal to begin with. I just end up falling back on the greats: Slayer, Sepultura, pre-91 Metallica, Anthrax, and the like. HAVOK is the real deal:
I’ve lamented on the state of metal in previous posts. I don’t know if I’m just too old to care or metal just isn’t what it used to be and the puss-ification of America only underscores the lack of real heavy metal alternatives. My interview with David Sanchez of HAVOK confirmed some of of my suspicions. Tuesday night’s show was like a breath of fresh air – actually a choking gasp of smoke-filled, metalhead perspiration fart – that brought the crunching, classic sounds of Max Cavalera’s Soulfly and the revelation of a new (to me) thrash metal band that gets it right. The walls of The Social shuddered as the blistering volume of real metal and the swirling mosh pits did their best to reduce the place to rubble.
It sometimes seems that Soulfly is a loud, lazy shadow of what Sepultura was. The songs are short and focus on the devastating riffage and Max’s voice more than pulling off Sepultura classics and Soulfly tracks with precision. Six minute songs feel reduced to 3-minute medley versions of tracks. For instance, I’m sure “Arise” is a 5-minute song that clocks in a 2 and a half minutes at Soulfly shows. BUT it doesn’t matter once the bowel-shaking breakdown comes in the middle of the song. So it comes off as a punk twist to classic metal that Soulfly employs. I’m not sure if that even makes sense. Max’s gritty guitar skronk and thunderous, demonic vocal growls more than make up for anything missed. Add in the fact that his 20-year-old son, Zyon, is an absolute fucking beast on the drums and it is worth the price of admission.
HAVOK is new to me and boy I’m glad I found them. There are strands of Slayer, Kreator, Overkill, Megadeth and other classic genius in their DNA, but they are able to churn up their influences and blast out angry, original, and totally for-real thrash metal. Hallelujah! Praise Satan. They are rock solid all the way around and deliver their set with machine gun precision.
*Mental note – Taking pictures at a thrash show is fucking pretty hard. I had to cradle my Canon 60D in my arm like a running back half of the time to ensure it wouldn’t be headbutted out of my hands and stomped to shit.
Slayer performed all of Seasons in the Abyss along with some other classics
The American Carnage Tour stopped at the Hard Rock Live on Saturday to bring some old school metal mayhem. Nothing brings out the sweaty, beer-bellied long-hairs like Slayer and Megadeth and they were out in full force. The show was sold out and the inability to navigate anywhere within the Hard Rock proved it. The show started at 7 (lame) and the parking nightmare that is CityWalk was exacerbated by Halloween Horror Nights. The enormous line outside Hard Rock and the roaming bands HHN park goers got me in the venue at 7:40 only to see the last few Anthrax songs. Bummer!
Anthrax was fierce and the crowd was just as fired up for them as any of the others. The show was MC’d by Sirius Radio super-douche, Jose, from the Liquid Metal / Hard Attack channel.
Next up, Megadeth. I’m not the biggest Megadeth fan as most of their stuff is just too crisp and clean for the visceral approach I like to metal. Jason Ferguson of Notable Noise and real music critic summed it up for me in the lobby, “They’re dick metal.” They did close their set – after playing the entire Rust in Peace album with a killer jam of “Peace Sells.”
Next, Slayer. They did what they continually do now: DESTROY! They have honed their vicious attack of masterful drums, fierce, shredding, dual guitar attack, and Tom Araya’s apocalyptic howl to a pummeling assault of volume and prowess. Their power routinely overwhelms all they play with. Marilyn Manson / Slayer tour – two distinct audiences with some crossover (like myself) – Slayer, hands down, blew him off the stage and won some new fans. The Big 4 with Anthrax, Megadeth, Slayer, and Metallica being the big headliner was ruled by Slayer. Metallica phoned in a half-assed show while Slayer laid it the fuck down. Tonight was no exception.
They played a couple of newer songs first before playing their 1991 album, Seasons in the Abyss, in its entirety. The crushing ode to modern warfare, “War Ensemble” is the first song on the album.
Hearing all of Seasons reminded me how good some of the forgotten songs like “Blood Red,” “Expendable Youth” – despite its unfortunate lyrics about gang war (I like my Slayer songs about political strife, warfare, serial killers, and Satan best), and “Spirit in Black” really are.
Assemble the “Ghosts of War,” get “Caught in a Mosh” and “Take no Prisoners!” The legendary godfathers of metal stop at the Hard Rock Live tonight to melt faces and crush skulls. Not since the Clash of the Titans Tour (1992 maybe?) stop at the Lakeland Civic Center have these bands toured together. Anyone who saw that show – the same one that Slayer recorded their double-live Decade of Aggression album – might remember a very new Alice in Chains getting booed off stage. The irony is that AIC represented the new hard rock and probably half the people booing became fans within a year. The other half never strayed from thrash and will probably be at the HRL tonight. As a special treat, Slayer is playing the entire Seasons in the Abyss album in honor of its 20th anniversary (Holy flirking schnit – 20 years!). I would have liked to hear South of Heaven (maybe they already did that) after hearing them play Reign in Blood in its entirety a few years back. Megadeth will be playing the entireRust in Peace and singer, Joey Belladonna, is back with Anthrax. Fuck yes.
Late Belladonna era (first era) Anthrax. “Got the Time” is a fast, vicious cruncher that ushered n a more heavy groove riff type of metal.
New York metal pioneers were maybe the first people to merge rap and rock (besides Blondie) in 1987′s “I’m the Man.” They surely regretted their pioneer status as bands like Gimp Biscuit capitalized on the merger. These guys were probably the first to break away from the traditional leather and tight, peg-leg girl jeans that was the thrash uniform and wear shorts.
HAVOK came to Orlando with legendary Sepultura founder, Max Cavalera, and his band, Soulfly. I caught up with David for a quick interview out on the loading area behind The Social to talk about the current state of metal, world politics, heavy metal inspirato, and horror movies among other things.
