Album Review: Schizophrenia - Recollections Of The Insane
Reviewed by Sam Jones
We’re taking a look at some of our European brethren in the form of Belgium’s Schizophrenia. This is one band that definitely appears to be on the rise having released their first Single in 2019 before following that up, with the extremely well received Voices EP a year later. One thing has naturally led to another and now we find ourselves with the band’s first full length release before us. But the band haven’t had a smooth journey to here: they originally formed way back in 2010 under their first iteration as Hammerhead, where two EPs were released prior to the band reshaping their name as well as metal style to incorporate more death metal into their works, having been a much more thrash metal-oriented piece. Now several years on from that change in name and intensity, this album stands as something that’s been a long time coming. So let’s check out what Schizophrenia have in store for us.
A decent amount of melody has been injected into this record. It isn’t a dominant force of the album, the primary method the band relay their power is still through conventional songwriting and everything you’d want to hear in death metal. But then again, it’s nice to hear another side of aesthetic from the band so we understand we’re not simply getting one side of the band. The melodic element here isn’t in the same vein as one may receive from a power metal act nor can we designate Schizophrenia anything along the lines of Melodic Death Metal either, the overall makeup of Schizophrenia is much too aggressive to be deemed as such. Therefore the melody we find from time to time, it isn’t merely for strictly melodic purposes but to open up new vistas of sound and delight for us to immerse ourselves in. It also results in songwriting that feels much more organic and doesn’t just feel like it’s following some laid out routine of track structure, step by step procedure etc. the melody therefore, amplifies the band’s presence wherefore they present themselves as a living and breathing entity with their own established identity.
I enjoyed how the band knew when to brings down a touch, and when they needed to really bring in some power. Now for the most part, the band are going to be throwing a good amount of strength at you anyway because that’s what you would want to discover inside a death/thrash album. If you didn’t find strength and intensity inside you’d feel like you were cheated out of your time, but since we’ve received it here in droves the band would then need to implement techniques that bring us down from time to time. This is where their variety in songwriting comes into greater play, sometimes toning things down a little to give us some needed breathing room. On the whole the band might be throwing their weight at us but the record is surprisingly well balanced, it’s devastation doesn’t necessarily come across as overbearing so even when we go through a few tracks one after the other that exhibit blistering pacing and power it never feels like it’s bearing down on our shoulders. The alterations in tone and intensity therefore, are here from a purely musical standpoint and to offer audiences something different. It’s a rare case of a band applying something to their songwriting not out of necessity and structure but simply because they wanted to try it. Credit must be given to Schizophrenia here.
The drums are impressive, it’s never just a straight shot of blast beats from start to finish. For a band’s debut album I’m extremely pleased to acknowledge how they haven’t just given us a cookie cutter drumming performance; blast beats are naturally present as one would expect yet we mustn’t fool ourselves into thinking this is a status quo for the full record. Throughout just a single track the drums may assume as many as four or five different patterns. You could have blast beats going on one minute before shaking things up with more intricate playing, all the while that’s evolving to demonstrate a more stripped back and old school variation of playing. By implementing this approach to the drums, the band ensure that songwriting won’t grow stale and additionally, makes for more diverse routes for songwriting to take shape. Different drumming techniques will establish unique atmospheres for the rest of the band and by keeping things continuously fresh, the band are able to maintain your attention without feeling the need to go breakneck speed all the time.
Vocally it’s an especially vicious performance. In many ways it’s similar to other vocal deliveries we’ve heard before, utilising a particularly snarling technique however what really drew me to Schizophrenia’s vocals was how well mixed they appear to be. Sometimes a performance such as this may be at odds with the riff delivery, but in this instance the pair seem to be on pretty equal footing. Technically speaking, this is pretty damned good going for a band’s first full length work; there are sometimes inequalities within a debut album’s mix yet praise must be applied to Schizophrenia for seemingly balancing their instrumental and vocal elements with staggering competence. You’re able to fully take in the riffs and drumming with ease all the while being belted by a vocal presence that demands your attention, it also helps that the vocals are surprisingly intelligible. There’s never any difficulty at comprehending what the vocals are saying or, at the very least, following where the vocals are taking us. We’ve always got some clue as to where the vocals are going and that they’re carrying us from start to end. That should be the goal for any band and Schizophrenia pull that off seamlessly.
In conclusion, I was really happy with what Schizophrenia gave me throughout this record of theirs. For a debut album, Recollections Of The Insane is a very impressive piece that manages to immediately solidify Schizophrenia with an identity of their own all the while incorporating songwriting that keeps them continuously fresh, exciting and empowering. Death/Thrash such as this is hardly anything new and while Schizophrenia are hardly reinventing the wheel here, they are absolutely down to be commended for crafting a record that ticks so many of the boxes we’ve come to apply to this form of metal. The melodic side of their songwriting is nicely applied and especially so since it doesn’t play a vital and intrinsic aspect to their songwriting, it’s an additional element they’ve come to use for their performance and it definitely shows. It’s only slight, far from a dominating power on the record, but it helps the band’s case in establishing themselves on their own terms as opposed to being compared to others all the time. Schizophrenia give us a ride from start to finish and one that Belgium can continue to use in their boast of modern extreme metal. First there was Carnation, now we also have Schizophrenia.
