Album Review: Cavalera Conspiracy - Psychosis

Having embraced their (ahem) roots via a lucrative Sepultura-themed nostalgia tour, siblings Max and Iggor Cavalera turn their attention to crafting bruising new metal on the fourth Cavalera Conspiracy outing.

There's a seething rage apparent throughout Psychosis that belies the collective age of the personnel involved. Bulging at the seams with riffs, throat-lacerating barks and Marc Rizzo's classy solos, Cavalera Conspiracy largely differentiates itself from Max and Rizzo's globally minded Soulfly by further embracing the brothers' thrash and death-metal origins.

Long-time fans are familiar with the sales pitch that any new Max-related song and/or album channels classic Sepultura albums like Arise. Sometimes it's been mere marketing rhetoric, but in the case of opener Insane it's an apt description. Although blindingly fast when they want to be (much of Terror Tactics, Impalement Execution's about-face and standout Judas Pariah), the songs can also still be allowed to breathe via a more measured pace. Crom tempers speed with an eerie spoken-word passage and moments exuding lurching, impending doom. Hellfire incorporates a guest appearance from Godflesh's Justin Broadrick, injecting a new flavour while referencing the elder Cavalera's beloved Nailbomb project.

Should you seek a band to reinvent the wheel then you'd be better off looking elsewhere, but if it's high-velocity metal you're after: here it is.