Sacramento thrashers Psychosomatic pile on the riffs with their sixth full-length studio album The Invisible Prison (Nefarious Industries). Formed in 1988 by bassist/vocalist and sole remaining original member, Jeff Salgado, the current line up is completed by guitarists Daniel Mills and Viktor Hansen, and the returning Toby Swope on drums.

‘We Don’t Trust You’ kicks things off like a punch to the throat, Salgado spitting out his lyrics with indignation and venom, backed by gang vocals and some serious riffs. The snappy and belligerent ‘Riot Squadron’ – complete with Pete Steele style “1, 2, 3, 4”s – has clearly been written with the sole intention of wrecking as many necks as possible, while the creepy ‘Schizophrene’ launches its mid-paced attack with hints of Voivod. 

‘Agents of Surveillance’, ‘Labyrinth’, ‘Fortune Dealer’ are all furious slabs of blastbeat driven viscera, the seemingly relentless assault only slowing down briefly for the crunchy groove of ‘Pandora’s Crate’. 

‘Personality Agenda’ and the title track wouldn’t even know how to spell subtlety let alone display even the slightest suggestion of it, the latter even combining hardcore and death metal vocals just because fuck you. An unsurprisingly vicious cover of the Vio-Lence classic ‘Serial Killer’ is quickly followed by the jagged riffs of ‘Highbinder’ and the brutally climactic ‘Spiral Orthodox’.

A blistering display of visceral old school thrash, if you’re not careful, The Invisible Prison might prove impossible to leave.

8 / 10

GARY ALCOCK