By Martin Elliott
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Depending on your age and how you feel about it, it’s heartening to realise that the thrash revival ushered in by the likes of Evile and Municipal Waste is getting on for 20 years old. The resulting active thrash scene has therefore lasted longer than the genre’s wilderness years that began in the mid 90s. Formed during the first flush of the revival in 2008, Psykosis are an unabashedly Bay Area band hailing from Dublin whose new album “Mind Games” will suit dedicated thrashers like a well worn leather jacket. Instrumentally the sound is rooted almost entirely in California, but there’s a touch of Teutonic thrash in there too, emphasised by frontman Grant often channelling Petrozza when hitting a higher register.
Opener “Insanitised” drags you into the pit with a lightspeed statement of intent. Everything here is in service to the Almighty Riff, and anyone in love
with the Bay Area sound is going to be well satisfied. Non believers need not apply, as Psykosis are as purist as they come. A brief moment at the end of the solo is heavily reminiscent of Metallica’s “Seek and Destroy” but feels like homage to the time when the biggest (read: richest) metal band in the world was still the Young Metal Attack.
Second track “Boiling Point” was released as a single back in December and is definitely a strong point on the album. An expression of well aimed disgust at politicians, the song abounds with meaty riffs. Shifting into an understatedly creative solo, the tempo takes a step down but picks up again for the final chorus, underpinned by continued lead guitar, all capped by a traditional big metal ending.
Grant is back into full on Petrozza screams for “Hard Reset”. The rest of the band matches the intensity, with the track itself sounding like Exodus at their most relentless. There’ll be no time to grab a beer here as the song is the only pit fuel you’ll have time for. “Tossed to the Dogs” is almost sedate in comparison, with the pace becoming merely fast rather than breakneck. The solo on this one is tasty indeed, drenched in enough wah to get Kirk Hammett himself salivating.
With the album being such a clear labour of love for the genre, it’s impossible not to make specific comparisons. At times on “Mutant Mass” the vocal sounds more like Zetro. The gang vocals, too, bring to mind the latter end of Exodus’ first run. The album’s middle third is almost unceasingly full throttle, and things get a bit blurred by the time you get to “General Waste”. The title track fares better, though. Of all the album’s tracks, the musicianship on this one might have the most to offer for metalheads not fully wedded to Bay Area thrash.
Sirens and riotous shouting accompany a tense intro to final track “Hivemind Hysteria”, the track bringing the album to a suitably strong finish. In the best tradition of thrash, the whole release is done and out in an almost breathless 32 minutes. Haters, as they say, gonna hate, but thrash fans know what they want and on “Mind Games”, Psykosis deliver it in spades.
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