Press - Reviews
21st November 2001
schizo level review, The Metal Observer
ThanatoSchizO - schizo level
It's not only a slightly strange name that the Portuguese band of THANATOSCHIZO is offering us, also musically they are eluding the common schemes. The basic foundation of the lady and gentlemen without doubt is Black Metal, but they architecture of the album, which bases on this one is something that is really original and, if you take up the band-name and album-title, almost schizoid, because of its musical bandwidth, which most definitely will prove too much for many.
Because by using elements from Death Metal, Doom, Gothic and also some traditional Heavy Metal they create a mixture that sometimes borders on avantgarde, yet never drifts off into it, like for examples the Norwegians of SOLEFALD. That you might meet with a trumpet, a horn or even a Chinese-sounding acoustic guitar (as on "Patheon (As In Strip-Tease)", very good one, by the way) only shows that you do not have your usual Black Metal-band.
But in most cases the compositions remain accessible, there are no breaks just for breaks' sake, but despite the very diverse elements there is a surprisingly big flow within the songs, even though you might not notice in the beginning.
Apart from this wide variety the vocals will most probably be the decisive factor in evaluating the appeal of this album, because they are the factor that will most probably divide the masses most. Reason for this is the main voice, which is reminding a lot of a certain Dani Filth and these high screeches are not to everybody's liking (at least not mine). That there are deep Death-growls and some theatrical clean vocals take away some of the edge at least.
Be it as it may, you can attest THANATOSCHIZO a really very interesting and promising debut, which shows the big potential of this band and should be welcomed with open arms by fans of SOLEFALD and consorts. And as the whole thing comes with a very nice DigiPak I can only conclude that this album really deserves the attention of the fans!
Rating: 7,5/10
Alex
ThanatoSchizO - schizo level
It's not only a slightly strange name that the Portuguese band of THANATOSCHIZO is offering us, also musically they are eluding the common schemes. The basic foundation of the lady and gentlemen without doubt is Black Metal, but they architecture of the album, which bases on this one is something that is really original and, if you take up the band-name and album-title, almost schizoid, because of its musical bandwidth, which most definitely will prove too much for many.Because by using elements from Death Metal, Doom, Gothic and also some traditional Heavy Metal they create a mixture that sometimes borders on avantgarde, yet never drifts off into it, like for examples the Norwegians of SOLEFALD. That you might meet with a trumpet, a horn or even a Chinese-sounding acoustic guitar (as on "Patheon (As In Strip-Tease)", very good one, by the way) only shows that you do not have your usual Black Metal-band.
But in most cases the compositions remain accessible, there are no breaks just for breaks' sake, but despite the very diverse elements there is a surprisingly big flow within the songs, even though you might not notice in the beginning.
Apart from this wide variety the vocals will most probably be the decisive factor in evaluating the appeal of this album, because they are the factor that will most probably divide the masses most. Reason for this is the main voice, which is reminding a lot of a certain Dani Filth and these high screeches are not to everybody's liking (at least not mine). That there are deep Death-growls and some theatrical clean vocals take away some of the edge at least.
Be it as it may, you can attest THANATOSCHIZO a really very interesting and promising debut, which shows the big potential of this band and should be welcomed with open arms by fans of SOLEFALD and consorts. And as the whole thing comes with a very nice DigiPak I can only conclude that this album really deserves the attention of the fans!
Rating: 7,5/10
Alex
