Los Angeles-based alternative rock project Havoc Faction has released a reissue of their EP Welcome To The Fight on January 20th. The EP tells the story of a character called Backdraft while exploring themes of perseverance, internal conflict, and standing up for what you believe in to make a positive impact on the world around you.
Track One: “Welcome to the Fight”
The EP opens with the title track, “Welcome to the Fight.” I absolutely love this track, and I think it is an excellent opener for the album. It starts off quieter as it quickly kicks in with heavy, fast-paced drums and guitar. The lyrical content begins to tell the story that follows throughout the album.
Track Two: “Dark Passenger”
Following comes the track “Dark Passenger”. I really enjoyed the instrumentation of this song, as well as the lyrics a lot. It starts off a bit slower before coming in with heavy guitars and drums. A verse that really stood out to me in particular in this song was, “You never know what you’re capable of until you split yourself. You never know what you’re capable of until you split yourself into something, something that is far worse than your darkest of fears, now forget the person that you once were.” I feel it sends a message many can relate to and maybe need to hear. You don’t really know what you are capable of until you go through something difficult.
Track Three: “My Human Condition”
I really enjoyed “My Human Condition”. I love the tempo and beat of it as well as the lyrics. It is the longest track on the album, but I don’t feel like it dragged on too long, or that I lost interest. I especially enjoyed the very beginning of the song with just the quieter guitar and singing before the drums slowly came in.
Track Four: “Epilogue”
This track was the most different from the others. It was an instrumental track, and it had a very ambient, spacey kind of vibe to it. It wasn’t a heavy rock sound as the rest of the songs on the album were.
Track Five: “Keyboard Warriors”
This track sparked my interest from the title alone, I wasn’t sure what to expect or what I was going to be hearing with this song. It starts off similarly to “My Human Condition” with just the guitar in the beginning. Still, it quickly goes into a hard rock song with heavy guitar and fast drum beats.
Track Six: “Homewrecked”
Just like most of the tracks before, I really enjoyed the beat and instrumentation of this song. I really enjoyed the lyrical content of this song. It speaks the truth about how twisted things are nowadays, people in power thinking they are above us or better than us. The lyrics “The world doesn’t spin the way it used to, no matter how loud we scream, they won’t see things the way we do, they’re stuck in their past, and their old way of life we can’t just wait for them to grow old and die,” really stood out to me because it is definitely relatable and relevant today.
Track Seven: “My Human Condition – Synthwave Version”
This version was definitely very different from the original, a lot more slowed down and ambient vibes throughout. I personally was not a massive fan of this version of the track, I like the lyrics of the song but this version I was not as big of a fan of instrumentally. It definitely gave it a different spin to it, but wasn’t really my thing.
Track Eight: “Dark Passenger – Haunted Remix”
Again I am not as big of a fan of the remixes and alternate versions. I like the lyrical content, but not much else. Different can be good, but this was almost too different. I didn’t get a haunted vibe at all, it reminded me of more of a song you would hear in a dance club or an EDM song.
This was my first time hearing of Havoc Faction, so I was going into this not knowing what to expect. Overall I really enjoyed this album, though I was not as big of a fan of the alternate versions. I think this band is really talented and has created a really unique concept. You can check out Welcome to the Fight below.
