Havok, Slackjaw, Xoth, Frolic
Cornerstone
Berkeley, CA
October 27, 2026
Post Death Angel rehearsal hang with Ted Aguilar. I can’t remember the last time he and I hung out after a good jam. The plan this evening was dinner at Angeline’s Louisiana Kitchen and lots of Metal at The Cornerstone.
If you’re unfamiliar with Angeline’s do yourself a favor and go. It’s some of the best Cajun shrimp I’ve ever had. It’s right down the street from The Cornerstone. It has a full bar and is a perfect spot to pre-game before a show.
The band I was most excited about seeing, Hellripper, had to pull out of the tour due to visa issues completely out of their control. It would’ve been their first time playing the states. I’ve never had the chance to catch them at a festival in Europe either so I was really excited about seeing them for the first time. Oh well, I’m confident our paths will cross eventually.
To fill the gap Frolic were added to the bill as opener. We caught only their last two songs but from what I saw Frolic were in rare form. Edgar’s voice seems to get higher and more shrill the older he gets. Isn’t it supposed to work the other way?
I’m glad they’re gigging again. After their sudden lineup change right after the release of their ripping new album Legacies Of Cybernetica (Frolic vinyl still available here) things seemed to slow down. It was the worst possible timing but they appear to be back at it and haven’t lost a step.
Next were Xoth. A band I knew absolutely nothing about so I was going in fresh. They did not disappoint. With a name like Xoth it’s hard to tell what style they were going to be but I was most certain of one thing…they were going to be technical. BINGO!!
Stylistically they were tech Death/Thrash with some Black Metal moments. The drummer’s beats were 85% blasts. His single foot technique was most impressive. Every player was top notch and oh did I mention…THEY WERE FAST!?!?
The thing I picked up on the most was the guitarist’s vocals though. He wasn’t up there just barking, grunting and growling away. His style of Death vocals were almost tuneful. They had a catchiness, almost storytelling quality to them.
You don’t get that very often, or EVER in Tech-Death. His vocals added a whole new texture to the songs that were already rich with musical ideas. Without them Xoth would be an awesome Tech Metal band lost in a sea of a thousand other tech Metal bands. But with them they are set apart and way ahead of their contemporaries.
Then we had Slackjaw. These guys actually played with Nefarious at The DNA earlier this year for Sean Rivera’s first show with us. Apparently they’re stars on social media (Tic Toc I believe) and because of that they have a fairly large and dedicated fan base. And they were there in force!
They play a style based in groove metal. I guess you call it Groove Thrash. Very reminiscent of Exhorder and even Pantera. They’re good at what they do and the fans loved every minute.
Lastly we had Denver Thrashers Havok! When they first hit the stage the sound was atrocious! The double bass was completely overriding the sound system. It sounded like something was about to explode, be it my head or the PA. By mid second song the sound was dialed in and they sounded absolutely RIPPING!!
They haven’t released a full length since 2020’s V so they weren’t really touring in support of anything which was really cool because they were free to play some really old stuff they haven’t played in The Bay in over 10 years.
They also treated the crowd to a brand new track (I didn’t catch the title) which kept up the high quality Thrash that you’d expect from Havok. According to vocalist/guitarist and sole original member David Sanchez, the new album will be out early next year. If that new track is any indicator then it’s definitely something to look out for.
Longtime drummer Pete Webber was unfortunately not present due to his second (or first now) job in Fear Factory. His fill-in, current drummer of Vektor, did just fine I must say. They put on a punishing display of what Thrash Metal should sound like in 2026.
Ok, enough going to shows already. Me and the Death Angel boys have a cruise to catch. See ya in a week.
–Bleeding Priest
