Cry Havoc

Cry Havoc sound like they were raised on a steady diet of bands like Strung Out, Pennywise, and Thrice. Their sound is fast, melodic, and technical punk, packed full of octave chord leads and pull off-based riffs with just a hint of metal. While this genre is well-worn territory, Cry Havoc are able to hold their own. The problem here is that for some reason Cry Havoc likes to incorporate modern rock elements into their punk sound.

The first and obviously most noticeable of these is singer Jowee’s voice. While he does have a powerful set of lungs, it sounds like they would be more at home with a band like Chevelle or Three Days Grace. His deep and belted voice often just seems out of place. This becomes even more evident on “3am” when a guest vocalist, who sounds a bit like Joey Cape, delivers a few lines and seems much more in sync with the band than Jowee.

The modern rock elements continue when it comes to the music. “Diabolic Man” opens with a sad-sounding clean guitar and vocal delivery that sound like they could have been found on Nickelback’s last album. This intro really doesn’t seem necessary, especially because after it has faded, the band launches into a blazing guitar lead and galloping punk beat that is similar to old-school Bad Religion. Other songs like “The Animal Within” and “3am” make use of orchestral-sounding volume swells that seem unrelated to the rest of the two tracks, while “Emus And Ostriches” opens and closes with chorus-rich guitars whose note picked riffs sound like a Metallica song from the 80s, while the rest of the track is fast punk. Ultimately, the songs tend to come off cluttered and hard to swallow, like someone put Kool Aid mix in a glass of water and forgot to stir. Instead of quenching your thirst for punk you will find yourself chewing on powdery chunks of modern rock.

Cry Havoc are obviously capable of being a skilled punk band or a metal-influenced rock act, and this release shows a lot of ambition and talent for an unsigned band; now they just need to decide what direction they want to head in.