Schizophrenia finally released its first album.
Created in 2016 in Belgium, Ricky Mandozzi (vocals/bass, ex-Hämmerhead), Romeo Promos Promopoulos (guitar, ex-Hämmerhead), Lorenzo Vissol (drums, Bütcher, Skelethal) and Marty VK (guitar) unveil us Recollections of the Insane. Redefining Darkness Records handles distribution for the United States.
There is no need to wait for the assault with Divine Immolation, a very dissonant and threatening composition which takes the band’s most aggressive influences to push them at full speed. The song only slows down to unveil a hooking groove, but also sharp leads, then Cranial Disintegration comes next with an unhealthy and irrepressible energy. Morbid howlings can be founded on a solid and violent rhythmic, then bloody leads drive us to Sea of Sorrow and its heady harmonics which emerge from a thick and fast basis. Melancholic and dark influences also appear, then the band feeds the weighing and heavy tones at the end of the track, before Monolith comes to make raw effectiveness respawn. Fast-paced riffs pick from pure energy before allowing dissonance to express itself on the break, followed by an epic solo, while Onwards to Fire, the longest track, takes time to create a majestic ambience before unleashing the beast. The rhythmic is a real incentive to headbang, while musicians are allowed to some technicality hints before letting us breathe with the outro. Souls of Retribution comes to make us nod again while transcending leads bring a soaring dimension to the song, then Inside the Walls of Madness reconnects with raw and warlike riffs. Even during the devastating solo, we feel the basis is still very solid, and it won’t hesitate to accelerate to roll over us before Fall of the Damned adds a worrying dimension to rage. The song remains very effective, but we feel there are many dark tones, like on Stratified Realities, the last track, which offers distant vocal parts and mystical sonorities. Choruses are as hooking as massive, allowing the band to close its album on a heavy and raw note.
Rage holds Schizophrenia alive, and the band perfectly knows how to spit under its most raw form between Death and Thrash or with dark influences. Recollections of the Insane will make you nod and regret not being into an explosive crowd!
85/100