Press - Reviews
07th September 2003
InsomniousNightLift review, Deadtide.com
THANATOSCHIZO
INSOMNIOUSNIGHTLIFT
Misdeed Records
2003
Portugal’s ThanatoSchizo sound nothing like Dutch brutal metallers Thanatos, nor like the technical Italian outfit Schizo on Insomnious Night Life. Instead, this sextet sounds dark and varied, reminiscent of Opeth, but with less of a destructive punch than Deliverance or Blackwater Park. No, ThanatoSchizo instead build their music on good guitar ideas, keyboards, and Patricia Rodriguez’s excellent clean vocal delivery.
On the first song “Reminder,” which lasts a glorious 10 minutes, the group does a shockingly good job creating a song with as much stability as Opeth and with plenty of variation from gentler, acoustic stuff to thick, heavy, metal guitars and growled vocals. On “Of Lunar Water…” as well as on much of the latter half of Insomnious Night Life, however, ThanatoSchizo get the keyboard part and the overall balance of the equation wrong, and end up with a song that has it’s moments, but overall sounds corny and cheap.
“A Promenade Portrait” follows, and is probably the heaviest song with what seems almost like a mid paced thrash riff, though of course, the band stretches it out appropriately with a slower middle which contains some cool atmosphere. The best part of this album, though not the disc’s best song, is “Sublime Loss,” because it shows Lacuna Coil and the like what they should be doing with their music instead of fucking around with bad male vocals and weak compositions.
“Upshot Veil” suffers the same imbalance as “Of Lunar Water…” though the main guitar riff on this piece is quite good (it really makes me wish they’d cleaned the song up just a bit more). And after that Insomnious Night Life begins to lag. The songs get softer, as the band falls into the traps from the first half of the album that they set for weaker groups. The bombastic drumming on “Slow-Chamber Candles’ Choir” and the death metal portion on “Dance of the Tender Leaves” are heavy, but aren’t enough to keep the band afloat here.
ThanatoSchizo need to really take the plunge and make their music more like the first half of this CD. To do this they’ll have to spend more time and discretion keeping the keyboards from getting too cheesy, making the arrangements focus more on heavier guitars, and avoiding the “dark” or “goth” sound that’s dragging them down on the latter half of Insomnious Night Life. Peter Johnston
STANDOUT TRACKS
Reminder
A Promenade Portrait
Sublime Loss
THANATOSCHIZO
INSOMNIOUSNIGHTLIFT
Misdeed Records
2003
Portugal’s ThanatoSchizo sound nothing like Dutch brutal metallers Thanatos, nor like the technical Italian outfit Schizo on Insomnious Night Life. Instead, this sextet sounds dark and varied, reminiscent of Opeth, but with less of a destructive punch than Deliverance or Blackwater Park. No, ThanatoSchizo instead build their music on good guitar ideas, keyboards, and Patricia Rodriguez’s excellent clean vocal delivery.On the first song “Reminder,” which lasts a glorious 10 minutes, the group does a shockingly good job creating a song with as much stability as Opeth and with plenty of variation from gentler, acoustic stuff to thick, heavy, metal guitars and growled vocals. On “Of Lunar Water…” as well as on much of the latter half of Insomnious Night Life, however, ThanatoSchizo get the keyboard part and the overall balance of the equation wrong, and end up with a song that has it’s moments, but overall sounds corny and cheap.
“A Promenade Portrait” follows, and is probably the heaviest song with what seems almost like a mid paced thrash riff, though of course, the band stretches it out appropriately with a slower middle which contains some cool atmosphere. The best part of this album, though not the disc’s best song, is “Sublime Loss,” because it shows Lacuna Coil and the like what they should be doing with their music instead of fucking around with bad male vocals and weak compositions.
“Upshot Veil” suffers the same imbalance as “Of Lunar Water…” though the main guitar riff on this piece is quite good (it really makes me wish they’d cleaned the song up just a bit more). And after that Insomnious Night Life begins to lag. The songs get softer, as the band falls into the traps from the first half of the album that they set for weaker groups. The bombastic drumming on “Slow-Chamber Candles’ Choir” and the death metal portion on “Dance of the Tender Leaves” are heavy, but aren’t enough to keep the band afloat here.
ThanatoSchizo need to really take the plunge and make their music more like the first half of this CD. To do this they’ll have to spend more time and discretion keeping the keyboards from getting too cheesy, making the arrangements focus more on heavier guitars, and avoiding the “dark” or “goth” sound that’s dragging them down on the latter half of Insomnious Night Life. Peter Johnston
STANDOUT TRACKS
Reminder
A Promenade Portrait
Sublime Loss
