Cavalera Conspiracy – Psychosis


Where do I fucking start with Psychosis (Napalm) the new album from Cavalera Conspiracy and hands down, cards on table and ear holes suitably blasted away possibly the best thing either brother has done since Roots (Roadrunner)? Not to demean the album in any way, but it feels like the band has reached back into their collective back catalogues and meshed all of their sounds and ideas together to create a “Greatest Moments Of…..” and package them inside brand new songs.

Such is the diversity of the tracks on offer I could easily wax lyrical about each and every one, but the powers that be have a thing called a word count (boooooooooo!!!). Kicking off with the suitably titled ‘Insane’, it delivers in spades what the song name suggests; it’s all chaos all the time with riffs that envelope and circle Max Cavalera’s spitfire vocals perfectly and Igor Cavalera, as always, backs up his brother with relentless drums with great effect. ‘Terror Tactics’ comes straight after, and again is just unrelenting, feeling like Beneath The Remains (Roadrunner)-era Sepultura, but then just on a dime switches into a groove-laden breakdown. Look, it’s 5 minutes of metal bliss is what I’m trying to say here. ‘Hellfire’ is a real oddball amongst the all-out Thrash riffage, though, but still doesn’t seem out of place, and is like one of Max’s side projects Nailbomb the industrial sound is brought to the fore along with some great staccato guitar work. Worthy of note are the sprinklings of industrial sounds and samples. These appear on most of the tracks and serve to create a mood and feel not unlike how Code Orange use them. They’re often used as a bridge between tracks and serve the mood and tone perfectly.

‘Judas Pariah’ and ‘Spectral War’ have a no bullshit approach in terms of content and structure the former sounding as fast and as heavy as the brother shave ever sounded before, with its Death Metal opening and breakdown which brought to mind Korn in its groove-laden glory. The latter is more of the same but Igor dominates it with furious blast beats; his performance on Psychosis is truly something special.There is also time for quieter moments, a pause for tranquility if you will, as title track ‘Psychosis’ comes towards the end of the album, an almost ambient prog-type track, it is more like those instrumental jams from the Soulfly albums but it feels more thoughtful and thus more emotional in delivery.

The fact these metal veterans can still deliver music as heavy and as good as this is a testament to not only their legacy but also their constant drive to want make new and better music, Psychosis may just be the best pure metal album of the year

9.0/10

KIERAN MITCHELL