Havok Announce New Album V
CRY HAVOK! The Colorado wrecking crew, who have emerged as one of the best neo-thrash acts on the scene today, have announced their fifth full-length studio album, which will be called — you guessed it! — V. Engineered, mixed, and mastered by Mark Lewis (Cannibal Corpse, The Black Dahlia Murder, etc.), V will drop May 1 on Century Media. Also of note: V will represent the debut of the band’s new bassist, Brandon Bruce.
Says vocalist/guitarist David Sanchez of the album:
“A lot of experimentation went into the writing and recording of ‘V.’ The album offers the same intensity that we’re known for, but with a few twists that may surprise people. The music is dense with lots of different intertwining parts and we’re beyond excited to release our best-sounding record to date.”
H ere’s the absolutely killer album art by MS fave Eliran Kantor…
…and here’s the track list:
- “Post-Truth Era”
- “Fear Campaign”
- “Betrayed by Technology”
- “Ritual of the Mind”
- “Interface with the Infinite”
- “Dab Tsog”
- “Phantom Force”
- “Cosmetic Surgery”
- “Panpsychism”
- “Merchants of Death”
- “Don’t Do It”
Between Kantor’s art and those song titles, there seems to be a heavy philosophical/spiritual bent to V, in addition to what we can assume is the more political-leaning material (“Post-Truth Era,” “Fear Campaign,” etc.) for which the band is known . The obvious examples are “Rituals of the Mind,” “Interface with the Infinite,” and “Phantom Force,” but the two titles which will likely send fans running to Google are “Dab Tsog” and “Panpsyschism.” According to good ol’ Wikipedia, dab tsog is “a nocturnal pressing spirit” from Hmong culture, “attacks ‘sleepers’ by sitting on their chests, sometimes attempting to strangle them.” Meanwhile, Oxford defines panspyschism as “The doctrine or belief that everything material, however small, has an element of individual consciousness.” Interesting!
Sadly, V has neither a single nor pre-orders at this point, but I think we can safely expect that change soon. Stay tuned…
