Translation:

L.A. was thriving in the 80s. How wouldn’t it, since every poser
showed his face at least once a day at Sunset Strip, where there was a
fashion show of clothes, hairstyles, masks, shoes, etc. Five, six
years in a row. Luckily there were also some metalheads there, playing
their instruments and not giving a fuck about looks. Bands like
Slayer, Dark Angel, Tracer, Viking and of course Metallica (who
couldn’t take the pressure and moved to SF. The area gave birth to
many great and well known bands. One of the less known, obscure acts
from that area is Psychosis.

When thrash metal was at its peak Kragen Lum (Heathen, Prototype)
founded the band. They had a great combination of fast, thrashing
riffs with heavy metal bits and a Hetfield like vocal. A recepice for
succes. But there was only one Metallica and the flannel shirts and
greasy hair took over the MTV population, so a new generation of
metalheads wasn’t even there. In 1992 Psychosis release Lifeforce, a
great album, but lived to see the faith of many thrash bands soon
after. Lum continued working with various projects. In 2006 he
resurrected Psychosis and started working on new material which was
published this year. Right before the recording of the EP Bruce Hall
(ex-Agent Steel) joined the band which made the wheels turn once more.

Because of him some parts resemble the 1999-2009 Agent Steel era,
which seamlessly mixes heavy metal and thrash with other influences as
well. The riffs have that 80s bay area feel to them – dobule leads,
mid-tempo rhytms and blazing sweep picking solos which bring to mind
especially Forbidden’s Twisted into Form and Distortion albums. Some
parts have a progressive feeling to them, achieved by a tasteful use
of accoustic passages.

The instrumental base suits the singer perfectly. Sometimes his vocals
are atypical (growls) yet great non the less. The range and the
quality of his voice are unquestionable; his performance is always
powerfull and explosive… great! Bruce satisfies the old fans and
draws new ones to him.

The bass guitar is as usually somewhat in the background but, as
oposed to many other metal recordings, not unnoticable – it rounds up
the sound nicely.

The EP leaves us wanting for live shows by the band and predicts a
bright future for Psychosis. If they keep it up I’m sure we’ll see at
least a few European tours.

Do yourselves a favor. Get a copy of the EP and… bang your head!

The latest release from LA’s infamous thrash band Psychosis is a 3-track epic of intense magnitude. The title of this album is simply “Psychosis”, and it seems like more of a demo when you look at it, but once you hear it, it will blow you away.

The album begins with a track titled “Face of War” and opens with a traditional thrash riff and explodes into an incredibly powerful and heavy opus. The musicianship on this track is nothing short of incredible. With Kragen Lum and Vince Levalois manning the axe-work, Jason Mirza on bass, Jimmy Schultz pounding the shit out of the drums, and the one and only Bruce Hall on vocals, this track is nothing short of astounding. This track is how thrash is supposed to be. It’s fast, heavy, and it features one of the most incredibly talented frontmen to ever grace the thrash genre. What I love the most about this track is the fact that it’s produced with such clarity. You can hear every nuance of the guitar work, specifically, the end solo. Bruce Hall’s vocals ring clear as a bell and you can even hear the bass, a serious rarity in most metal albums. Could it be that proper music is making a comeback?

The next track on the album is “Building Empires”. From the get-go, this song seems to have a lot more emotion attached to it. It opens with a very clean picking intro, and transitions into a more emotional sounding thrash track. The beginning of the track is nice and heavy, but once it goes into the first verse, it slows down a bit, with steady palm-muted riffage. Everything speeds up a bit but still maintains a feeling of real soul. You can really tell the musicians worked hard on this track, and it really shows in the orchestration. The actual music is great. Everything stays in time properly, while going through a few slight time changes. A little past the halfway mark, the song breaks down a bit while Bruce recites a short spoken lyrical bit, and then comes Kragen’s solo. This solo is fantastic. It really encapsulates a true thrash solo without being too over the top and flashy. The execution of this solo is flawless. It’s got a good length, and has a lot of substance. The track will go through one more chorus before it ends, albeit a bit abruptly.

The final track, “Broken Man”, opens up with a steady, solid riff. The drums enter, and everything gets a bit bouncy. This is another track that seems to have been played with a lot of soul. The guitar work is superb, but what strikes me the most on this track is the drum work. Jimmy Schultz seems to have a fantastic amount of control over his kit, and knows how to use a double pedal without being too overbearing. Another striking aspect of this song is Bruce Hall’s vocals. His voice has such power, but he doesn’t overpower the actual music. I think Psychosis have found an amazing balance of people to make this band huge. The greatest part of this song has to be Kragen’s solos. 3 in total, they all flow into the song perfectly, and have a very subtle Arabian sound to them. These are truly great solos. Everything on this track flows steadily, and keeps in time very well. This was the perfect song to end the album with.

I sense a lot more coming out of Psychosis in the coming years, maybe a tour, maybe another album. Whatever the case may be, you need to be on the lookout for these guys. For being such an underground band, they have a huge sound that needs to be shared with the thrash world. I suggest you purchase this album to hear how great it truly is. I give this album 8.5 out of 10. My only problem with it is that it needs to be longer.

http://metalassault.com/Reviews/020510_Psychosis.php

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