The Best Modern Thrash Band Is Headlining
Havok are one of the best modern thrash bands around, and a headlining run from them is a must see if it is coming to your area. Mine is October 28th at the Regent, and I will definitely be there. Sounds like a blast.
Havok have announced a 26-date North American headline tour for fall 2026 with Hellripper, Slackjaw and Xoth in support. It opens October 21 at Metro Music Hall in Salt Lake City and closes November 20 with a hometown show at Denver’s Gothic Theatre. The run follows the band’s move to BLKIIBLK, the heavy imprint of Frontiers Label Group, and their first single for the label, “Fifth Generation Warfare.” Tickets go on sale Friday, August 21 at 10 a.m. local time.
Tour Dates
10/21 — Salt Lake City, UT, Metro Music Hall
10/28 — Los Angeles, CA, The Regent Theater
11/14 — New York, NY, Racket
11/18 — Chicago, IL, Reggies
11/20 — Denver, CO, Gothic Theatre
Full 26-date routing is on the tour poster below. Tickets: on sale Friday, August 21 at 10 a.m. local.
What Havok pull off that most of the current thrash class does not is the blend. They have perfectly blended old school thrash with a modern take, and there is a political twist running through it that lands a lot closer to what Megadeth were doing back in the day than to anything their peers are attempting. Conformicide is the record where that clicked all the way into place, and a new single called “Fifth Generation Warfare” is not the title of a band that has backed off.
Worth flagging: this is a 26-date headline run with no album attached. V came out in 2020, the independent New Eyes EP filled the gap in 2024, and the label is promising new music in 2026 without naming a record. Havok have spent most of the last decade opening for Megadeth, Anthrax, Testament, Exodus and Kreator. Carrying a package this size on their own name is the step up, and they are doing it on the strength of the live show rather than a new album cycle.
The Regent bill is also stacked. Hellripper’s first ever US tour, plus Xoth and Slackjaw, is a lot of value on one ticket. Very exciting stuff. Go check these guys out.
Source: Havok