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I have to be honest and admit that, as the opening riffs to “I Am The State” ripped this album into life, my ears certainly did prick up. You see, having grown up in the ’80s as a bit of a “thrash kid”, the familiar Testament style sound to the guitars brought back a lot of good memories of sweaty mosh pits and hunting down bank-balance breaking amounts of obscure thrash vinyl however, sadly, times move on and, for me, a lot of this modern take on the thrash scene of old is not hitting the spot. Listening to Unnatural Selection, I’m sorry to say that I find myself listening to another album that suffers from exactly the same problems as the rest of them.

In celebration of its official North American detonation tomorrow, Havok is streaming their new album Unnatural Selection in its entirety via SOundCloud – check that gnarly shit out below! Called, “a contender for one of the best albums of this year because there are simply no flaws in the design,” by Metal Injection, Unnatural Selection was produced by Terry Date (Pantera, Overkill, Deftones) and was mastered by James Murphy (Testament, Death).

Perhaps it’s time we started calling this new thrash metal revivalism movement “new school thrash metal”. After all, with excellent bands like Havok and Revocation manipulating the old school style of thrash metal into something so creative and fresh, they deserve to be the next batch of “thrash pioneers” since they have pretty much redefined what it means to be playing “thrash” in the modern era of metal. “Havok” is sure to replace the ubiquitous “Slayer” comparison in metal album reviews from now on!

Today, Metal Injection hosts the premiere of Havok’s latest video for “Covering Fire.” Shot in Tyler, Texas, produced by Mike Gillespie and directed by Brian Jaynes, “Covering Fire” is the fifth track off the band’s critically-lauded ‘Time Is Up’ full-length, released earlier this year via Candlelight Records. You can watch the music video HERE.