The Grip

Have completely forgotten about this team, but since I decided to give a listen to the other Havocs (also from California, but from Orange County), the retro thrashers, the other day I had to give the album here a spin. And I was very glad that I did cause man, there were copious amounts of pure 80’s US steel that were pouring out of every ounce and fibre of it. Nope, these dedicated advocates of their native scene won't be forgotten again in that way… it’s a promise.

So I’m rushing here to provide a few words their way, also being quite surprised that no one’s done this before me, and I’m blinded by “Blazes” initially, a merry unpretentious but impossibly catchy speedster that is decidedly on the feelgood side, the not very adventurous clean mid-ranged vocalist moving an octave up on the epic galloping delight “Thrasher”; not much thrash on that one, but hold your horses tight if you don’t want to see them running waywardly towards the Rocky Mountains and beyond. Please, don't’ scream so much on "Screamer", another tribute to the gallop, a Wild West conqueror second-to-none, its brother-in-arm in this conquest being the even more impetuous title-track, the few remaining cowboys’ new hymn, this tryptich a sure influence on Attacker’s “Second Coming”, the ultimate horse riding academy within the metal circles. It’s not only smattering gallops on those, mind you, one can easily detect strives at melodious ways of expression and heavier not as speedy developments, their belligerence matched every bit of the way by the excellent all-instrumental chain… sorry, piece "Chainsaw", with blazes of thrash visibly left in the aether after it. Thrash still stays in check on the dark sinister "Bullets of Blood", a more complex excursion with more intricate riff-patterns; the marginally more dynamic anthem "Hour of the Dragon" remaining within the more elaborate, also speedier, confines for a more ambitious, fittingly macabre march.

Goodie, goodie, goodie… very good stuff this one, a true example of what American metal was all about in the 80’s, a thrilling, over half-an-hour ride that summed up the scene over there, also bringing to mind other practitioners from there like Griffin, Savage Grace, Laaz Rockit, Tension, Omen… this is pretty much the first coming without which Attacker’s sophomore instalment may have not even happened… nah, it probably would have but it’s really nice to have a back-up, a stable of wild horses standing by in sunny California, ready to cause havoc from the West to the East Coast and back.

The thing is that with just one effort said havoc passed like a breeze, apparently not leaving a very damaging trace behind as its creators never outgrew their obscure status. They remained just an underground phenomenon, including with the other stint that some band members took part in later, the retro power/thrashers Damnasty, who left a string of fairly capable demos in the late-80’s/early-90’s. They had a very good grip of what their native scene was about, and presented this knowledge in a pretty handsome manner… a momentary blaze of glory with wild barely tamed horses, screaming guitars and dark macabre complications.