LIVE REVIEW: Havok @ The Cathouse, Glasgow
Little over a year since Colorado thrashers released their hotly anticipated fourth album and kicked off the supporting world tour at the first ever Heavy Scotland Festival in Edinburgh, HAVOK are back in Scotland on the third European leg of the Conformicide world tour. This time, they’ve brought Australian thrashers HARLOTT, fellow Coloradans CEPHALIC CARNAGE and Washington DC’s finest metalcore peddlers DARKEST HOUR along for the ride.
HARLOTT kicked off the night’s festivities particularly quickly following doors. All the way from Melbourne, the Aussie four-piece wasted no time in diving into some up-tempo, abrasive SLAYER-worship, undeterred by the scattered crowd. Though they suffered from a slightly muddy sound, their brand of high-octane thrash went down well with the Glasgow crowd – which slowly filled out over the course of their set. Playing a small selection from their back-catalogue, with the bulk of their set built from their 2017 Metal Blade Records debut Extinction, HARLOTT blasted their way through hooky riffs, mammoth riffs and blistering solos with ease, winning more than a few new fans with their all-too-brief set.
Score: 8/10
Colorando’s CEPHALIC CARNAGE were the wildcard of the night, not quite fitting into the line-up. Their brand of sludgy, techy, death-grind was certainly a shock for those who didn’t do any prior-listening ahead of the show, however, on the whole, it seemed to go down well. HAVOK‘s charismatic bassist Nick Schendzielos pulled double-duty, performing with both CEPHALIC CARNAGE and HAVOK, and spent the former’s set in centre stage. Playing a wide selection from their extensive back-catalogue, the quintet delivered crushing, doomy grooves and grinding blasts of pure death metal in spades, though they never seemed to quite hit their stride.
Score: 7/10
Making a name for themselves in the New Wave of American Heavy Metal scene of the early 2000s that saw bands like KILLSWITCH ENGAGE, LAMB OF GOD and TRIVIUM hit the mainstream, DARKEST HOUR’s brand of heavily melodic death metal inspired, thrashy metalcore never quite brought them to the same heights as their peers. However, based on their performance in Glasgow, their lack of mainstream success is criminal. DARKEST HOUR blistered through a “greatest hits” style setlist, with only a brief showcase of material from their latest record, Godless Prophets & the Migrant Flora.
Taking the stage to the SNOOP DOG and DR DRE classic The Next Episode, DARKEST HOUR dove straight into Knife In The Safe Room, before delivering one of their best known tracks, Convalescene, perfectly. Towards the end of their set, DARKEST HOUR gave a grinding performance of their Nazi Punks Fuck Off cover, before diving into the stone-cold classic A Thousand Words To Say But One, and finishing off with the largest circle pit of the night with Sadist Nation. Though it would have been nice to see a bit more of Godless Prophets & the Migrant Flora represented in their setlist, DARKEST HOUR stole the show with an emotionally charged, supremely tight and rib-shatteringly intense performance.
Score: 9/10
No band in the 2000s thrash revival scene has enjoyed quite the same success as HAVOK. MUNICIPAL WASTE have done very well for themselves, WARBRINGER are enjoying a few-found success following their release of one of the 21st century’s greatest thrash albums, Woe To The Vanquished, and EVILE were on the cusp of greatness for a long while, but none have been celebrated in the same way as HAVOK – largely due to Time Is Up, their second offering that has been compared to MEGADETH‘s Rust In Peace on more than one occasion. With this, and given the band missed Glasgow on the first leg of the Conformicide World Tour in favour of Heavy Scotland Festival, there was a strong air of excitement for the Coloradan thrasher’s set.
Unfortunately, the absurdly long time it took the band to set up on stage left more than a few disgruntled punters in the crowd, with HAVOK eventually taking the stage with just under an hour until curfew. Though their set was slightly abridged from the rest of the tour, HAVOK delivered nothing less than a brilliant, incredibly tight blast through a selection of hits that was over all too soon. The band excellently showcased a few tracks from Conformicide, namely opening track Hang ‘Em High, Ignsoc and F.C.P, though From Cradle To The Grave and the songs from Time Is Up – which dominated the setlist – stood as highlights. The outstanding Covering Fire and Prepare For Attack were performed flawlessly, and closing with D.O.A was arguably the best moment of their set.
Score: 8/10