Press - Reviews
23rd August 2003
InsomniousNightLift review, The Metal Observer
ThanatoSchizo - InsomniousNightLift (7/10) - Portugal - 2003
Genre: Progressive Death Metal
Label: Rage Of Achilles
Playing time: 66:52
Tracklist:
Reminder
Of Lunar Water...
A Promenade Portrait
Sublime Loss
Upshot Veil
The Journey's Shiver
Insomnious Night Lift
Dance Of The Tender Leaves
Slow-Chamber Candles' Choir
Nightly Lift?
With THANATOSCHIZO not only the name is a bit unordinary, but also the music is anything but mainstream, already had been the case with their self produced album "Schizo Level" and that has gotten even stronger with "InsomniousNightLift". And with that they also stand in the tradition of British label Rage Of Achilles, who are known for their not completely regular bands.
Compared to the previous album, the extreme roots have further been reduced and now operate in areas, where you partly have big problems to compare them to anybody. Style wise THANATOSCHIZO combine Death Metal, Doom, Gothic and some progressiveness in a way that makes the song material anything but easily digestible.
That the sextet at least has heard of bands like OPETH, ANATHEMA or also a few bands with female vocals will become quite obvious while listening closely to "InsomniousNightLift", but still those bands should only be viewed as a direction, not as a comparison, because for that the Portuguese act too much on their own track, which does not make it too easy for the regular listener to find the way in.
5 tracks with more than 7 minutes playing time already make clear that in the camp of THANATOSCHIZO compact and straight song writing is not the biggest emphasis, but that the material is pretty layered, something where the danger is quite big, too, to overload the songs or lose the flow. At least in most cases THANATOSCHIZO master this split quite well and the mentioning of the name OPETH should not be understood as that the Portuguese sound like them, but have a similar approach in their song structure, with very varied vocals and several calm breakdowns, surrounded by heavier passages, thus creating a nice difference.
On the other hand THANATOSCHIZO do not always manage to keep this flow and tension in place over the whole song, but in the course of a song at times lose themselves in the good intention, but sometimes they just try too much at the same time and get lost in the details, which once more proves that sometimes less is truly more. Also the female vocals at times sound a bit out of control (as in "Sublime Loss", not the vocals themselves, but rather the slightly weird sounds in the background), but that is in the clear minority.
Give songs like "Upshot Veil", "Insomnious Night Lift" or the excellent "Dance Of The Tender Leaves" an ear, if you have the chance to get in touch with THANATOSCHIZO's latest epos, because "InsomniousNightLift" definitely is not suited for everybody. All in all a very ambitioned release that sometimes overshoots the target a bit and has a few lengths or not fully cohesive passages, but altogether very nicely differs from the standard and could very well appeal to fans of slightly more progressive sounds.
ALEX
ThanatoSchizo - InsomniousNightLift (7/10) - Portugal - 2003Genre: Progressive Death Metal
Label: Rage Of Achilles
Playing time: 66:52
Tracklist:
Reminder
Of Lunar Water...
A Promenade Portrait
Sublime Loss
Upshot Veil
The Journey's Shiver
Insomnious Night Lift
Dance Of The Tender Leaves
Slow-Chamber Candles' Choir
Nightly Lift?
With THANATOSCHIZO not only the name is a bit unordinary, but also the music is anything but mainstream, already had been the case with their self produced album "Schizo Level" and that has gotten even stronger with "InsomniousNightLift". And with that they also stand in the tradition of British label Rage Of Achilles, who are known for their not completely regular bands.
Compared to the previous album, the extreme roots have further been reduced and now operate in areas, where you partly have big problems to compare them to anybody. Style wise THANATOSCHIZO combine Death Metal, Doom, Gothic and some progressiveness in a way that makes the song material anything but easily digestible.
That the sextet at least has heard of bands like OPETH, ANATHEMA or also a few bands with female vocals will become quite obvious while listening closely to "InsomniousNightLift", but still those bands should only be viewed as a direction, not as a comparison, because for that the Portuguese act too much on their own track, which does not make it too easy for the regular listener to find the way in.
5 tracks with more than 7 minutes playing time already make clear that in the camp of THANATOSCHIZO compact and straight song writing is not the biggest emphasis, but that the material is pretty layered, something where the danger is quite big, too, to overload the songs or lose the flow. At least in most cases THANATOSCHIZO master this split quite well and the mentioning of the name OPETH should not be understood as that the Portuguese sound like them, but have a similar approach in their song structure, with very varied vocals and several calm breakdowns, surrounded by heavier passages, thus creating a nice difference.
On the other hand THANATOSCHIZO do not always manage to keep this flow and tension in place over the whole song, but in the course of a song at times lose themselves in the good intention, but sometimes they just try too much at the same time and get lost in the details, which once more proves that sometimes less is truly more. Also the female vocals at times sound a bit out of control (as in "Sublime Loss", not the vocals themselves, but rather the slightly weird sounds in the background), but that is in the clear minority.
Give songs like "Upshot Veil", "Insomnious Night Lift" or the excellent "Dance Of The Tender Leaves" an ear, if you have the chance to get in touch with THANATOSCHIZO's latest epos, because "InsomniousNightLift" definitely is not suited for everybody. All in all a very ambitioned release that sometimes overshoots the target a bit and has a few lengths or not fully cohesive passages, but altogether very nicely differs from the standard and could very well appeal to fans of slightly more progressive sounds.
ALEX
