Fridays are your new release day, but if you’re a fan of Havok I sure hope you were paying extra attention because if not, you’ve deprived yourself of the band’s new EP New Eyes. Though to be fair, you’d be forgiven of that fact since they did zero promotion and gave zero warning that this was coming down the pipe.
The four track offering includes two original tracks and two covers. And while that sounds cool at first, it gets even more interesting when you hear that the covers are Creedence Clearwater Revival‘s “Commotion” and Metallica‘s “Eye of the Beholder”. Just wild shit, man.
While all four tracks are streaming right now, the band also released a video for one of the two original songs they dropped with this release, “Death Is An Illusion”. We’ve got that one posted below and I gotta say, man — it kicks ass. The thrash metal motherfuckers don’t miss.
“‘Death Is An Illusion’ is a high-intensity, fast-paced thrash metal/D-Beat hardcore song about the first law of thermodynamics, the fact that energy cannot be created or destroyed. The lyrics are written in a way to offer comfort and joy to the fact that all things are eternal and perpetual, including our loved ones; as their energy lives forever scientifically, and through our memories and their impact on the world they ‘left behind.’”
Vocalist David Sanchez said the chance to record the aforementioned covers was an exciting proposition, especially since at least one of the covers could be considered a curveball from the thrash metal outfit.
“We decided to cover a classic band that nobody would expect us to… Credence Clearwater Revival. We’re all CCR fans and their song, ‘Commotion,’ was a perfect candidate for a proper ‘metalizing,’ since most of the metal was already built-in. We made it a little faster, turned up the distortion, and tweaked some riffs here and there to bend into the Havok style.
“We had discussed covering a Metallica song for years, but didn’t want to cover a big hit that had been covered to death, so we opted for the lesser-known ‘Eye Of The Beholder.’ We chose to cover this song because it’s so damned heavy and the lyrics reflect Havok’s lyrical themes throughout the last decade. We stayed true to the original where it counts, but made sure to spice up the bass guitar and drums to breathe new life into the track.”
So there you have it. Go check out the EP and tell us what you think. You can also catch these guys on tour with Exodus. You can find the dates for said tour down below.
HAVOK ON TOUR:
WITH EXODUS:
11/1 — Jacksonville, FL — Kona Skate Park*
11/02 — Tampa, FL — The Orpheum
11/04 — Orlando, FL — House of Blues
11/05 — Pensacola, FL — Vinyl Music Hall
11/06 — Atlanta, GA — Heaven — Masquerade
11/08 — Dallas, TX — Granada
11/09 — Austin, TX — Empire
11/11 — Denver, CO — Ogden
11/13 — Des Moines, IA — Wooly’s
11/14 — Joliet, IL — The Forge
11/15 — Columbus, OH — King of Clubs
11/16 — Baltimore, MD — Soundstage
11/17 — Albany, NY — Empire Live
11/18 — Montreal, QC — Beanfield Theatre
11/19 — Toronto, ON — Phoenix Concert Theatre
11/21 — Worcester, MA — Palladium Upstairs
11/22 — Brooklyn, NY — Warsaw
11/23 — Pittsburgh, PA — Preserving
11/24 — Detroit, MI — Majestic Theatre
11/26 — Minneapolis, MN — Varsity Theater
11/27 — Winnipeg, MB — Exchange Event Centre
11/29 — Calgary, AB — Palace Theatre
11/30 — Edmonton, AB — Union Hall
12/02 — Vancouver, BC — Rickshaw Theatre
12/03 — Seattle, WA — El Corazon
12/04 — Portland, OR — Hawthorne
12/06 — Berkeley, CA — UC Theatre
12/07 — Los Angeles, CA — The Regent
12/8 — Mesa, AZ — Nile Underground***
12/9 — Albuquerque, NM — Launchpad***
*Headline Date
