Schizophrenia

Sepultura's SCHIZOPHRENIA, is not only an incredible masterpiece of a thrash album, but I also find it to be rather an anomaly within the thrash group of metal music, as it does not conform entirely, or even at all, to the framework and atmosphere expected of the standard thrash album. This I shall explain in more detail a little later.

Surprisingly what I am most impressed with, regarding the Schizophrenia album, is the fact that the instrumentals have a great sense of maturity within it. And by maturity, I mean that I believe an incredible amount of thought and effort went into making the songwriting ideas flow through the tracks near seamlessly, which is quite highly commendable ESPECIALLY when you take into account just how young and fresh Sepultura were at the time.

Before I go any further, I should advise you to take my opinions with a grain of salt as I've only listened to thrash, and metal in general, for only a handful of years. That being said, listening to my fair share of thrash has made me understand that good and proper thrash metal bands are defined by bold, solid rhythms, and percussiveness of a high intensity and bluntness and dare I say, beefiness, and most importantly exudes a feeling of pure brutality. Alas with these traits, also TENDS TO appear the trait of primitivity. A lack of variety and of quite a stubborn and rigid dynamic, if you will.

What I'm trying to get across is that Schizophrenia does not significantly possess such trait, yet still significantly possesses the aforementioned, positive traits. For a massive chunk of the album, the riffs and percussion do not simply change to the next ones, instead they practically transform into the next ones. There seems to be this connecting bond between each riff and each drum beat that creates this satisfying consistency throughout the album. To add to that, this instrumental finesse makes all of the riffs even more memorable.

The most important thing, however, is the fact that the album's music really paints, quite well, the picture of schizophrenia. To add to the savage and brutal and explosive percussive feel of Schizophrenia, which is paired with a unique and advanced musicality for the genre's caliber, this album just OOZES a brooding, dark and horrifying atmosphere. I am certain that this atmosphere is rooted in the sound production's muddiness and lack of clarity, and the muffled sounding growls. But how?

Think of how Tom g Warrior deliberately turns his tone knob all the way down to create that signature dull tone of his. Think of how the legendary Persecution Mania by Sodom is mixed at quite a rather low volume. These kinds of musical aspects, to me, spark a feeling of gloom and dread and most importantly, cultivate uncertainty and depression into the mind of the devout listener, surely. The lack of crispness, the lack of volume, the lack of noise, the lack of information, makes the mind void of answers, void of understanding, void of security, void of peace and order, surely. Such voids are felt deeply in the heart of a schizophrenic, surely....

Bordering on precision, if all the instruments were in-tandem with each other. But really, next to flawless. A good concept of the serious mental illness such as "Schizophrenia", plus they were young. I'd conclude that "Schizophrenia", "Beneath The Remains" and "Arise" are the best 3 Sepultura albums. A lot of intensity here. Max and Andreas crank out on the guitars, not a bad sounding album even though it seemed a bit of below budget recording quality. But still, because of their talent, they were able to crank this one out pretty much "scott-free". Max sounds more like a death metal vocalist. And the musicianship was above par.

The electricity upon recording was big sounding and a lot of intensity to the album. It's tight, too. The rhythms were original and straight-forward intense. I love the intro to this album, it fits right in to the essence of this whole release. Brutal and demonic. Two things about Schizophrenia as a mental disorder characterized by hallucinations and delusions that may also accompany violent mood-swings that this album seems to accompany within it. One of my favorite tracks on here (besides all of them) is "From the Past Comes the Storms". It just has so much substance to it and the picking frenzy that goes along with it!

The intensity of this album is electric. So much balls to this, it's way kick ass for a novice stage of Sepultura. This features the first 4 musicians. Max, Igor, Andreas and Paulo. This is when they began to kick ass. They totally slowed down as years passed so enjoy the 2,3, and 4th albums! Paulo actually wasn't listed as a band member in the original quartet he was on violens. But here-there-after he became a long-time member! Jairo was involved in the songwriting process but wasn't actually a member. This album is one of the pinnacle sounding Sepultura releases. The music itself stole you (the listener). At least it did me! The only poor thing about it was the low-budget recording but Scott Burns produced this! That part is HUGE! These guys were bound to be a successful thrash act till they changed entirely featuring albums like "Roots", "Chaos A.D.", etc. Those are pretty much the lousy Sepultura just hold onto the early days and be aware to hold on tight to this one, "Beneath The Remains" and "Arise". Nuff said!

"Pre-Derrick Green" Sepultura was one of the greatest symphony-spewing bands that defleshed trash metal through the 80s and early 90s. The Slayer's powerful influence under the name of thrash metal was forming variants and variants of bands, using the style of composition, rapid half-step down riffing, with rabid and fresh skank beats in 170-200 beats per minute, swinging a balance between brutality and melody. The work spent on Sepultura was worth it since the band gets hundreds of fans per day. After the complete dissection of this mucilous, fresh-ass full-length, I could dig deep into the graves of death/thrash metal. Songs like "The Wall", "From the Past…" prove the love of Sepultura for Slayer and old Venom's material.

A reverb-filled instrumentation can be found in this album, along with delayed bass-boosted vocals, cacophonous Slayer-based riffing, skank beats, and all the shit that you can call kick-ass thrash metal. Every track spews out a melodic combustion of riffs and solos. Escape to the Void's insane arpegio is one of the millions of highlights found on this full-length. The guitar tone causes a vile and brutal atmosphere to the full-length, with the tuning and reverb helping its work. Treble-reduced raw guitars, well-executed chord progressions, and drum beats focused on the roots of thrash/heavy metal—a bit of traditional metal can be found on Escape to the Void's verse.

The composition bludgeons you to death with awesome Slayer-like monstruous and proliferated mad riffing, with harmonic prevail and raw guitar tone; the stringed instruments' brutality blended with the drum's rapid snare-spanking sessions; it's a complete psychopathic mixture of these elements that are legendary even separated from each other. Fusing these elements with the cavernous climax, it blends brutality with atmosphere, forming a complex nexus of Sepultura's prime age. As a common element found in "a-bit-more-extreme-than-Metallica" thrash metal, everyone needs to think that the 80s was the time that thrash metal was kind of underground.

Pasteurizing sessions of corroiding musical succulence are presented on the mixing too, with defleshing production and engineering, with treble-reduced guitars and bass-boosted drums and vocals, forming a very thin and one-centimeter open wound on the full-length, but it was 1987, Brazil wasn't living their best times, but at least Sepultura released it. Without Sepultura's malignant serenity of music, extreme thrash metal scene would be a complete joke along with Brazil's metal scene.

It's time to talk about the guitars again, the guitars is a force-fed incarnation of riff-to-riff sections, a battle of brutality between each section; each verse, chorus, bridge, or solo (e.g., Screams Behind the Shadows) shows tons and tons and tons of gelatinous rapid riffing, expurgating the slop called thrashy speed metal. Within Max's talent as a guitarist, their chromatic riff abuse is one of the marks of early Sepultura.

To finish this, I could say that Schizophrenia is a milestone of thrash metal, insane composition, insane everything, from production to lyrics to composition and artwork.

Out of Sepultura's early streak of thrash albums, Schizophrenia seems to be the one that's talked about the least. I see this usually getting little more than a passing mention in comparison to Morbid Visions or Beneath The Remains, generally called a transitional album between the two, and a glorified prototype of the latter. And to be fair, there's some truth to that. This album does not have the raw proto-black appeal and influence of the debut, nor the wider spread and streamlined aggression of the followup, which was actually their first album to be released on a major label, and, due to this, saw much wider exposure to the public. What it does offer, however, is a more unrestrained and, surprisingly, sophisticated take on that same approach to thrash metal that later became their claim to fame. Schizophrenia saw the light of day right around the time when thrash really began to expand beyond its basest conventions, incorporating a much wider range of heavier sounds and creative arrangements, and it pays heed to both in a way that gives it its own identity.

Sepultura's take on thrash is one that concentrates on a bludgeoning guitar sound, muted chugging and tremolo riffs, explosive drumming and punishing rhythmic breaks at appropriate moments. All trademarks of their thrash sound are present here: crushing, yet catchy riffs, chaotic shredding solos with a tinge of trad metal melodicism, and Max Cavalera's gruff, howling vocals. If you compare this to Beneath The Remains, however, you'll find that his vocals here are much lower in the mix, and they sound far more filthy and distorted. It gives the impression that he's calling out to the listener from some sort of deep chaotic abyss. This is further compounded by the lyrics, which are far more gruesome, but also less coherent and more of what is commonly known as "Engrish". "From The Past Comes The Storms" is all that needs to be said.

However, there's far more to Schizophrenia than what initially meets the ear. This album's secret weapon lies not only in the increased emphasis on melody and busier riffing ("To The Wall" is a fine example of this), but specifically in the arrangements of the songs. You see, this album is a prime example of a songwriting approach known as the "riff salad". What this means, simply put, is that the songs do not possess clearly defined verses, choruses and bridges. Instead of having a set of rigid, recurring structural elements, they function largely as linear progressions of different riffs. This is the very same approach which would later become a staple of death metal.

Indeed, this is the final piece of the puzzle that ties it all together while also reinforcing their "death/thrash" credentials. Though this album is already chock full of impressive riffs, they're structured in such a way that they just KEEP COMING, hitting you from every direction and giving the songs an added air of menace - again, something that death metal would grow to rely on extensively. Songs like "From The Past Comes The Storms" (bonus points for the tasty Engrish), "Septic Schizo" and especially the instrumental "Inquisition Symphony" rely heavily not just on the impact of the riffs themselves, but on how said riffs transition into and compliment each other without repeating themselves. This approach also draws you to the sheer number of said riffs, and it creates an epic and, dare I say, progressive feel to a lot of these songs, despite this being as far away from prog metal as most other old-school thrash albums. For a demonstration, listen to "To The Wall" or "Inquisition Symphony" - those songs manage to feel like an entire journey through their pacing and phrasing, and Sepultura accomplishes all of this with JUST RIFFS. No clean sections, no dedicated epic buildups, no uncommon time signatures, no real attempts at subtlety - just three Brazilian barbarians playing their asses off.

This kind of sound is something Sepultura never really recaptured later in their career. Their next two albums did this too, but to a much lesser extent, only really doing something similar during dedicated middle portions. The riffs on those albums are still quite effective at wrecking your neck, but here they are arguably even more impactful, adding constant anticipation and sudden changes to wholly different keys and tempos to create a constant assault on the senses that was rather unique for its day. The only notable thrash bands at the time that frequently used similar arrangements were Megadeth and, fittingly enough, Possessed, and even they weren't this overt about simply throwing riff after riff after riff at you.

When all is said, Schizophrenia is a fine example of how relatively simple, barbaric riffs can be used in unique ways to create a distinct and memorable album. It is one that requires many listens to get the most out of it, but at the core, this is so much more than just a beta version of Beneath The Remains. Even then, speaking of said followup, its success can largely be attributed to taking the crunchy, pummeling aggression of this album, then adapting it to a more conventional songwriting approach. This is not the best of Sepultura - I'd say what came two years after barely wins out by having a more consistent set of catchy riffs - but it's very close, and still destroys the majority of other thrash albums of its time in both riffing dominance and creativity. Go and get it now, lest you be smashed by a holy shit. Don't worry, that's just Cavalera's epic Engrish poking its head out of the text.

Sepultura were still very much in their early, grimy, and bestial form when Schizophrenia rolled out in 1987. They were still with Cogumelo at this point, but their sound had managed to congeal into something more solid, vicious, and dark. The primitive and underdeveloped production and instrumental skills displayed on Morbid Visions are improved to feel more capable and mighty. Schizophrenia is where we see Sepultura come out of their infancy and develop into the musical demons who would terrorize far beyond the dark jungles of their tropical homeland. This album is a beast that grips you by the shoulders, carrying you through a cyclone of evil, never loosening its grip.

The first thing you'll notice after the goofy intro consisting of the sting music from the film Psycho, is just how fast, shadowy, and ripping this is. This is dark-as-hell, demonic thrash metal with the primordial, blood-dripping rage of early death metal thrown in. This is barbaric stuff, but not without skill, far from that, with the songs on here having riffs that eviscerate, but still manage to grow on you like a possession slowly taking over your mind. Speaking of possession, Max's throaty, demonic growl sounds like a menacing presence that exists just to torment unfortunate souls. The guitars call to mind bands like Slayer and Kreator, matching them on terms of darkness thanks to speed, tones and riff patterns of pure menace. "From the Past Comes the Storms" and "Rest in Pain" are downright sinister moshpit starters and are perfect choices to respectively start and end the album with. With everything between offering up a new pitch-black tornado of riffage and screaming, hair-raising solos at top speed with hellish barks describing the morbid scenarios. It is insane just how wicked Schizophrenia feels, and how they make their speed work without everything sounding too similar. There's not a lot of stylistic shuffling, but at least the songs are generally strong on their own.

You can also even hear how Sepultura have a little more ambition and creativity in them at this early stage. The wild, filthy, and deranged guitar soloing throughout the album, and the monumental, sinister, seven minute long instrumental "Inquisition Symphony" with atmosphere and riffs as blissful and as ominous as the onset of madness, are pieces that do a lot to show that Sepultura were aiming high, and they weren't playing around. While still very gritty and dirty, Schizophrenia shows more of a propensity for more focused songwriting and more planned-out aggression instead of going it 100% raw. It's the kind of shadowy and razor-sharp thrash that maintains a lot of rawness, but makes it so listeners will want to return to for the songs.

From start to finish, Schizophrenia by Sepultura is the kind of insidious thrash that gets a grip on you, and sends you flying hard and fast through its guitar assaults. With impressive speed, evil atmosphere, sinister riffs, and improved production and musicianship, Schizophrenia is the kind of album that shows that this band is ready and eager to shred your face off and keep you coming back for seconds with its songs. The music manages to exude a downright evil and malicious aura that gives this album a lot of its fuel. It's a sign that Sepultura will go even further towards adding more death metal to the mix on their music that you'd hear in their future albums. For a blend of wildness, whipping riffs, and wickedness that will rip you to pieces, Sepultura's second album, Schizophrenia is something to seek out.

What do once glorious bands like Flotsam and Jetsam, Dimmu Borgir and Sepultura have in common with the Third Reich? They just cannot stop until the reputation and everything else is completely ruined. Thank God, in sharp contrast to Hitler's domain, the glorious beginnings of the aforementioned groups were not based on a dangerous ideology. Sepultura's second full-length shows an aspiring thrash band that offers everything in order to storm the top of the bill. Fury and control are well balanced, ferocity is of high relevance, dynamic plays a main role as well. The high class riffs are a chapter by itself. Not to mention the powerful, rapid drumming. Please recognize the perfect double bass! Finally, the different song structures ensure a long-lasting joy of listening. In short, the pictures of the single band members on the back of the cover capture the energetic, horrifying and sinister atmosphere of the music very exactly.

The relatively crude sounds of the predecessors of "Schizophrenia" have made way for masterly flowing tracks. "Inquisition Symphony" is an instrumental with a duration of more than seven minutes and we all know that this configuration bears the risks of repetitiveness and mediocrity. Yet Sepultura pass the test with flying colours. The track presents a long chain of excellent riffs and the abrasive guitars, the tempo changes and the unbridled power of the restless horde create a great song which does not lack anything. This is not to say that the roughshod vocals fall short of expectations, but they are also not an elementary component for the success of the album. Max Cavalera does not reveal an overdose of charisma. Nonetheless, he fulfils his task in an acceptable manner. The entire second half of the full-length is acceptable as well, there are no throwaway tracks and Sepultura do not integrate any stylistically inappropriate elements. Nevertheless, the highlights have been bundled on the A side.

Obviously paved with good intentions, the Brazilians have forged three tracks that shine with maturity, musicality and velocity. "From the Past Comes the Storms", "To the Wall" and "Escape to the Void" surpass the more or less clumsy tunes of the first outputs with great ease. These tracks have a gargantuan inner strength due to their brilliant, Slayer-influenced riffing, catchy sections (for example the chorus of "Escape to the Void") and an adequate number of surprising breaks (inter alia at the end of "To the Wall"). This does not mean that the breaks kill the power of the songs. There are many relentless, straight and angry parts which have the potential to defoliate the Brazilian rainforest. No doubt, Sepultura prove their capability to write more or less sophisticated songs that do not lack of accessibility. The crucial factor might be that the band does not aim for overly non-conventional patterns as an end in itself. They just form the songs the way they like it and a fairly conservative pattern is not forbidden as well. "Escape to the Void" proves evidence in this context.

The production is better than the artwork and worse than the music. Stupid information? I agree. Okay, in other words: the sound is neither heavyweight nor very voluminous, but the guitars possess the right degree of sharpness, the drum sound does not split skulls, but it reaches a solid level and the overall impression is free from severe signs of weakness. Last but not least, "Schizophrenia" was the last album of the band whose mix scores with the charm of the underground. Its successors did not lack of a sterile high-gloss productions, but they showed a more professional approach. However, to listen to this work is always a good idea. It gives the listener a glimpse of hope that Sepultura will return to strength some day. And right now, you can call me a pretty crazy optimist, a "Septic Schizo" or whatever else, I don't mind. The long-term impact of "Schizophrenia" feeds my soul.

Ahh good old thrash! Quite a few thrash classics to choose from back in the 80s, but if I had to pick a list of my favourite albums from that era that still ring the nostalgia bell every goddamn time, this album would definitely be right up there. No two ways about that folks. This is Sepultura at their most bestial and primordial. Of course there will be that never-ending debate of "This band immediately started to suck the moment Max left the band" and let me clarify, that debate is for another time. This along with their other classic Beneath The Remains has officially been certified to obliterate your sorry ass and abandon your senses as you look for the nearest inanimate thing to pound into visps of nothingness.

Enough people have spoken about these guys and Slayer side by side, but I will say this - With this album and Beneath The Remains alone, it’s safe to say that Sepultura completely obliterate the significance of the dreadfully over-rated Reign In Blood leaving it choking on the dust of the mega-moshpit generated in homage of these two thrash classics. With the level of musicianship and talent on display, it’s quite to believe that this was just their second album. The creepy intro gives way to an epic thrashout in the form of the excruciatingly brilliant gut-punch of a thrasher “From The Past Comes The Storms”. Hands down one of the best thrash metal songs ever and don't anybody else tell you otherwise. Don’t even tell me to pick standouts on this one, there’s no way in hell I’ll be able to do it. At first, hearing about a 7 minute instrumental immediately got my guard up. Hell, Metallica tried that with “Orion” and we all know how that turned out. However by the first listen itself, I was truly glad to discover how wrong I was. With eerie clean guitars parts and searing riffs along with some really psyched-out twists and turns in the realm of songwriting, “Inquisition Symphony” is one of the best metal instrumentals period, even rivaling Metallica’s “The Call Of The Ktulu” which is no mean feat. Also who can forget the darker and more morbid feel of “Escape To The Void” and “Screams Behind The Shadows” providing a nice dose of variety, desperately craved in most other thrash metal albums out there. If you’re looking for the more straightforward Bay Area inspired variant of thrash with a darker twist in general, “Septic Schizo” and “R.I.P (Rest In Pain)” are sure to hit the spot for you and even the minute long “The Abyss” fits in the album perfectly. Finally, what more can I say?? This is one heck of a nasty rotten thrash feast that absolutely no metal fan worth his/her salt should be without.

The searing guitar tone is raw as fuck but at the same time, avoids sounding like a chaotic wall of sound where you're barely able to differentiate between the notes. (cough*Dark Angel*cough). No worries of that happening here. In terms of sheer riff-craft and songwriting genius, this album arguably manages to surpass a lot of the classic bands at the time, namely Kreator, Metallica, Megadeth, Anthrax to name a few. Of course all of the bands had their share of classics back in the 80s and never-ending debates have ensued on that, but in terms of sheer viciousness and obliterating intensity, this album sends most of them right to the bottom of the totem pole. Okay maybe that was a bit of an exaggeration, but surely you get the drift.

The final verdict? THRASH TILL DEATH!!

Riffs.

This album would be boring and generic (today, anyway), without so many great riffs. Less raw Sepultura’s previous album, Morbid Visions, and not as well-known as its followup, Beneath the Remains, Schizophrenia is a short, punishing piece of Brazilian death/thrash. The band has had other albums achieve more popularity – may that be the positive attention garnered by Beneath the Remains, or negative, as in Chaos AD and Roots. This leaves Schizophrenia as one of the band’s favored albums, but not the best necessarily liked.

Schizophrenia unleashes a storm of furious, constantly changing riffs upon the listener. In fact, I have only one complaint about the riffs: the last one on the album, not necessarily better than the others, but one with a different guitar tone, is played only once! What a waste – there’s no telling what they could have accomplished with more of this type of variation. In addition to good soloing, the drummer is decent; he keeps up. The toms have a somewhat irritating, distinctive sound -- when I can’t tell the difference between early Sepultura and Slayer, that’s something I listen for. The bass is difficult to hear, but it’s there. Overall, the songs are consistent, assaulting, and fast, with the occasional acoustic interlude (beginning of Inquisition Symphony and the Abyss). The vocals, while they are bearable and fit the music well, don't do anything to improve it.

Inquisition Symphony is the obvious standout here. Unrestricted by Cavalera’s aforementioned mediocre grunted/barked vocals, the instrumentalists are allowed to shine. It demonstrates what the album is all about while rising above it. It’s unpredictable, exploding with amazing riffs, and it’s completely insane. The ominous acoustic guitar at the beginning that returns interwoven into the chaotic ending is a good touch, and it's overall representative of this album and early Sepultura's appeal as a whole.

While my major complaint, that the songs sound too similar to each other, still stands, this is classic early death/thrash. Short, sweet, and brutal, Sepultura has crafted a hell of a riff-fest.

The Sepultura came out of the depths of Hell in 1986 with "Morbid Visions", bringing with it a sound that Brazilians could have never imagined and stunned the world. Young boys from a country which, at the time, was considered a third-world country too treacherous for any metaller to survive in, formed a band and created Slayer/Venom-inspired music with low-fi production. That band, Sepultura, eventually decided to make another album in the hopes that they would be noticed by major labels like Metal Blade. I must say that that album, "Schizophrenia", is truly an excellent piece of work. It shows improvement in the young boys' musicianship and is a step up from "Morbid Visions".

Sepultura have come a long way from writing love songs to the Father of Lies, for they shifted their focus of Satanism as a lyrical theme to violence, injustice, and inner feelings as lyrical themes. Take for instance "To the Wall". That song is about the final moments of a person as a firing squad decides his fate. "Septic Schizo" is about a person dissatisfied with his own feelings and hurts himself because of it. This shows that the boys have expanded their lyrical horizons greatly and put the often overused lyrical theme of blasphemy as an afterthought. They have also improved on their riffing skills. While the E-note rhythm is present in every song on the album, they've done some exploring in terms of chord patterns. None of their songs sound too similar to each other. In its main riff, "Escape to the Void" has an interesting chord pattern that goes well with its E-note rhythm. Another song that features a cool chord pattern is "Screams Behind the Shadows", which can be heard during the verses. Those patterns aren't found anywhere on "Morbid Visions" and it shows how far the band has gotten in terms of musicianship. Andreas Kisser had entered the band at that time, so I can see why the riffage and solos sound better than it did previously.

While the boys improved with their riffage, there is still the problem with the production quality of the album. Although the problems with the production of "Morbid Visions" aren't present on "Schizophrenia", there are still some different issues that are definitely noticeable. Max Cavalera's vocals sound a little grainy and muffled, like he was singing through an old, beat-up microphone that had been used since the 1940's. The guitars sound a little grainy as well, but they don't sound like angry bees so much like they do on "Morbid Visions". The snare drum does sound like an actual snare drum rather than a plastic bucket that they brought in the studio, but the tom-toms sort of sound somewhat like the bucket drum of "Morbid Visions", but not much. The bass drum's sound is a little overdone too, for it seems louder than all of the drums combined.

Even with the production a little sub-par, "Schizophrenia" delivers some of the finest death/thrash metal ever to come out of Brazil. It shows that the young boys were not only growing up, but were also getting better at their game. It's a far cry form the primitive musicianship and production quality found in the "Morbid Visions" album put out a year earlier, and it's a must-have for all collectors of anything thrash or death metal. It helped push Sepultura further into the metal world and because of it, the boys have really earned their stripes.

Growing up there were few bands I worshipped more than Sepultura. Naturally that sentiment revolves completely around their first four albums, which I had discovered backwards from my introduction to the band, the bland "Chaos A.D." After adding "Beneath the Remains" to my collection, I seriously thought things couldn't get any better. Then I discovered "Schizophrenia," the band's second proper release and a highly noticable upgrade over the visceral yet immature "Morbid Visions."

I don't usually get ahead of myself when reviewing certain albums or bands, but Sepultura is one of those exceptions. I realize there are some bands who might have done things better than Sepultura (like another Brazilian band I keep hearing about called Torture Squad) but I have yet to hear them. In my opinion, which is sometimes considering blasphemy by metal's inner circles, but this album beats out "Reign In Blood" in terms of memorability and sheer aggression.

Some of the key ingredients to this new and improved band would be the upgraded performances of all of the musicians and songwriting process. The sound quality still isn't perfect, it persists with a raw flavor that keeps some of the more polished fans away from this kind of thrash metal. Yet as Igor Cavalera shakes your house off its foundation, Andreas Kisser and Max Cavalera conjure up a whirlwind of riffs that bitch slaps you merciessly into oblivion. Yes, this is exactly what you want out of a thrash metal album, and some of these songs are also memorable and pretty easy to recall, which only works to the band's advantage. As an added bonus, Cavalera's
proto-death vocals on this album are powerful, even more so than the slightly toned down version of it that we would hear on "Beneath the Remains."

One example of a destructive forces conjured up by thrash is "From the Past Comes the Storm." This song forced the American thrashers of the 80's to pay attention to this band, and destroys almost anything that came out around this time period with its buzzsaw riffs. It remains one of my favorite Sepultura songs, and for good reason. Not all are equally powerful, though none of these are anything close to bad. Some stand-outs would also include the grooving "To the Wall," the aggressive "Escape to the Void" and the remake of the Sepultura classic, "Troops of Doom." You are even treated to a long yet sufficient instrumental in "Inquisition Symphony," which has been covered by some but never will they emulate the greatness of the original. You also get a short acoustic interlude in "The Abyss," which is basically the calm before the storm in the closer "Rest In Pain."

Bottom line, you need this album. It is actually better in some ways than "Beneath the Remains," with the exception of sound quality. I personally like Cavalera's vocal performance here the best of all he's done, perfectly blending thrash and death vocal styles into one. The lyrics aren't all that great, given that the band was still learning to speak English and not incredible lyric writers at the time. Regardless, this is an essential album for thrash fans and one of the very best Sepultura have ever put out. Every time you're forced to endure more of the drivel the modern incarnation of this band puts out, reach for "Schizophrenia" and send that hardcore crap back to the dump.

Sepultura is a hero to everyone playing in a third-world country 'cause they are the few bands that make it big, course they later sold out but they still deserve respect. This album being one reason and the next being the other. Also the broken English lyrics are hilarious at times.

The album opens with the pretty much standard "scary crap from hell" intro. Well actually they rip off the "Psycho" theme, you know the one where Bates kills the chick in the shower. But since the album is called "Schizophrenia" I guess it fits. Then somebody says something in a distorted voice before "From the Past comes the Storms" riff comes. My friend said it reminds him of "Angel of Death" but eh whatever.

The first thing you notice, even in the remaster, is the fact that they have shit production. Considering they are from Brazil and back then nobody knew how to produce thrash in Brazil, I guess it's okay. The guitar tone makes it hard to make out individual notes in the riffs and you can't hear the bass a lot. The drums however get the best treatment and it's still a benchmark on how drums are supposed to sound in thrash. Oh and the growled vox with the Brazilian accent also sound odd at times and even by growl standards it's kind of hard to make out the words.

The second thing you notice is the fact that the first song sings about, well nothing really. There's something about apes, giants, dwarves (what the fuck does a "flight of dwarves/Strengthening the giants" mean?), fruit and nature though. Ah well it's still excellent thrash. Oh and the solo is awesometastic(tm) as well.

Up next, "To the Wall" a song about an execution. The riffs are damn fine yet again and the drums are damn brutal. So why did they go groove again? At least they had three thrash albums before they bought the farm. The song fades out, which is something I don't like 'cuz it ruins the experience unless it fades into something. Then out of nowhere, BAM! "Escape to the Void" comes in with a nice little solo before the thrash mania begins. Three songs in and nothing resembles Mr. Cavalera's future outputs. Seriously what went wrong?

Then comes the legendary "Inquisition Symphony". It starts with some acoustic stuff then break out into riffmania! This is much better than most thrash instrumentals *cough*Orion*cough* 'cuz it's heavy on the riffs. Then "Screams Behind the Shadows" comes though it's not as memorable as the previous tracks. Then "Septic Schizo" which, I guess, is the title track. Another good song but not as memorable. The last song is "R.I.P." or "Rest in Pain", well there is an instrumental before it, but it's more like a segue than a song. Good song yet again from the Boys from Brazil.

The re-release comes with "Troops of Doom", "The Past Reborns the Storm", which is an even more broken English laden "From the Past comes the Storms" though the production gives the guitars a wider space making you feel not as suffocated as the album cut, and rough demo tracks for "Septic Schizo" and "To the Wall" no solos or nothing, not even vox. The liner notes also detail the history of the record though not as much as the intro for the tab book. Neat pictures though.

Conclusion: essential thrash from Brazil, track down the re-release (well I had to, metal is fucking rare here.)

First of all, I’d like to say that even if they were immature and they did a quite death/thrash mess, I like the first two Sepultura efforts a lot. With “Bestial Devastation” and “Morbid Visions”, Sepultura were still very raw and not great musicians; but with this great album, “Schizophrenia”, they finally proved that their immature approach to the music was definitely over.

This album is terrific! This is a total riffs assault! On this new album they also changed a bit their music that now is less death metal in the production and in the guitars sound. Their distortion is thrashier, but a bit down tuned, just to give something more extreme to the sound.
Since the first two albums I've always liked Igor’s way of playing drums a lot, but with this album he definitely improved his technique and speed. Here the drumming is surely more various and inspired.

We must say that there has been a change of guitarist too. Yes, the new lead guitarist is the great Andreas Kisser that replaced Jairo T. The newcomer is surely a better musician than the former one, giving a new inspiration and variety to their sound, than now is more complex and, at the same time, always brutal.
His solos are very fast, but able to create a good “melody” that can be remembered. The Jairo T. ones were just noisy and senseless.

Like I said before, this assault is based on true fucking heavy guitar riffs, while Max’s vocals are still very raw but not so brutal and exaggerated like in the past.
This album contains all the Sepultura’s classics, like the great Escape To The Void, where a mayhem intro of drums and guitar ends into a big thrash riff. The refrain is so fast, and the guitars always change tempo. Mid-paced riffs, fast parts, raw, schizophrenic solos and a big dose of thrash/death metal.

Another classic is To The Wall, where the lyrics were written by another good Brazilian metal band, Chackal. This song, at the beginning is quite mid paced, but after a death metal riff takes dominion, followed by the screamed, desperate and angry voice of Max. The drums here are incredible, alternating fast parts to other slower ones…just incredible. The solos here follow the rhythmic guitar lines, to create a disturbing melody. The violence in the music and in the lyrics of this song is incredible…TO THE WAAAALLLLL….AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

Inquisition Symphony is an acoustic song, of about 7 minutes…incredible for a band that just one year ago didn’t seem to play an instrument as it was meant to be! Here the thrash riffs are amazing, among an infernal mix of different tempo parts and various disturbing guitar melodies. Schizophrenic!!
The Final song R.I.P (Rest In Pain), a part from being a masterpiece, ends in an incredible way: the drums and the guitars play a circus melody that actualy is very funny and reaches the top after, when a mess of screams and distorted instruments puts an end to this masterpiece.

The whole album is an incredible masterpiece of riffs and it's difficult to mark out the best songs. I cannot say that. At the time, I guess that nobody expected an album like this by Sepultura after their early works…simply a schizophrenic pleasure for my hears.

Whereas on their 'Morbid Visions' album these young Brazilian chaps were still worshipping evil early speedmetal and thrash they knew from early Kreator, Sodom and Hellhammer with Jairo T. on Lead guitars, they now brought forth an album with some grown up thrash incorporating some bay area orientated riffing and now a new guy on leads, called Andreas Kisser. I've been told Kisser joined the band when most of the material was already written so apart from his leads his presence isn't fully up to the max here.

The songs presented on 'Schizophrenia' are a large step away from 'Morbid Visions' in terms of tightness, technicality, variation and riffing. Also no more weird paint or studded braces and all that. 'From the Past Come the Storms' and 'Escape to the Void' are two fully grown up powerfull thrashers with some mighty riffs and an amazing performance on drums by Igor Cavalera. Especially these two songs were an omen of what to expect from their next album. The vocals of Max are the missing link between 'Morbid Visions' and 'Beneath The Remains' being less 'evil' yet more agressive but still having an overdose of 'blackish reverb' over them.

Hearing 'Inquisition Symphony' when you're used to 'Morbid Visions' is like listening to another band. Sepultura had a go at writing an long thrash metal instrumental like for instance Metallica did on 'Call of Ktulu'. They actually succeeded at it. No wonder the song was an inspiration for the Finnish celloboys Apocalyptica. It simply is that good. And I believe someone earlier on Metal Archives mentioned the briliant 'To The Wall' with its great Kisser solo before? Well, I just did it again. The B-side of the album isn't as superb as the A-side but still these songs, of which 'Rest In Pain' is my favorite, would get 85 to 90 points. (and no, I don’t count ‘Troops Of Doom’, I keep to the original tracklisting) So all in all we have a really strong album here.

Only two things that keep me from giving it 95 points. For one the production. Some guitar- and drumtracks were recorded too loud, resulting in some annoying interference. It's really raw but knowing 'Beneath the Remains' it should have had that sound as well. Secondly the reverb on the vocals is somewhat overdone.

Ohw, by the way, check out the Hetfield-look Max has on the backsleeve of the album. I though that was quite funny.

I started listening to Sepultura circa 1996, Roots era. Little did I know how fucking excellent they were just a few years before. As I mentioned in the review of Roots my friend lent me this and 'Beneath The Remains'. Absolutely insane stuff. I immediately went to the store to buy this, BTR and Arise because I was recommended that if I liked the other two. Why Thrash Metal died or went out of style is beyond comprehension. This album is brimful of rhythm and riffs it's like an orgasmic experience for any Thrash Metal fan. When these guys were in prime form they were up there with Slayer, Kreator and Megadeth's best work.

Schizophrenia captures a young, hungry bunch of guys at their raw and creative best. It's also the first album with lead guitarist Andreas Kisser and the legendary lineup. They had so much to prove and they were highly influenced by various metal genres; black (Venom, Hellhammer, Sarcofago), thrash (Slayer, Metallica, Kreator), death (Death, Possessed, Sodom) metal. It contains a little bit of everything in there but made it all their own style. This was a time when they let loose and didn't care about record sales or image. It was when they played what they felt and were very passionate about it as well. Nowadays it seems like they just keep doing it just to keep themselves occupied and maybe cash in on past fame, albums like this one.

As for this album, where to begin? It's hard to pinpoint one exact song. They all follow a similar path, just thrash away with rocking rhythms and sick fucking solos galore. Andreas Kisser made such a great debut that he'd already immortalized himself before their peak on Arise. 'From The Past Comes The Storms' all the way up to 'Troops Of Doom' the band never lets up. Every song starts out fast and they don't really hit their peak until midway through each song with mind blowing solos and riffs. And each one is original and not recycled to boot. It was magic on tape, even if they re-recorded this music with the original lineup right now it still wouldn't sound as good as it did back in 1987. It was something that came form within that made this sound better than your average thrash band from the 80's. They had spirit, anger, passion, talent and creativity. They had it all working at once on put it out for this album and the next two releases for that matter.

Today, the well seems to have dried up. Every metal band goes through it, but some get that second wind back. Hopefully this band can make one last classic before it's done. Maybe not, but this album deserves to be owned by every metal fan in the world. Yeah it's Hall Of fame material. A truly magical moment indeed.

In this album, Sepultura though they should improve their technique from Morbid Visions and play this more traditional thrash-influenced material. While their first LP was more or less black/death metal lyrically and musically, this album is a foreteller of what has to come. To the Wall speaks about Max's tough life and struggles. That lyrical theme is an immature version of the themes in Beneath the Remains and Arise which are more or less about society and politics. Sepultura begin to know themselves and thats what drives them off their fake Satanism. Wagner "Antichrist" leaves the band and Andreas Kisser replaces him on guitars. He does an excellent job, It's easy to understand how much better a lead guitar player he is than "Antichrist".


The structure of the songs is more mature than Bestial but of course nowhere near Beneath the Remains.. But it's still quite good. There are more tempo changes and more riffs than Bestial. This album is very sincere in its teenage confusion and it's in the process of one understanding himself and creating a theory about life. The frustration and injustice of the world and of life itself is such a huge action that urges an equally huge reaction which is this album. Not very lucid, not a political message. Very very awkward and truthfull.


The above is the reason an asshole fan of the radio-friendly bands would never understand this album. They don't want to see all this injustice and hate so they find it useless to react and scream and fuckin hit the drums into creating an opus of anger and truth.


Schizophrenia is the point where quantity meets quality. Where rage meets technique. Where reaction meets comprehension. If you asked me why I liked this album I couldn't find a possible answer but however I wouldn't be one of the bunch of people who would say: "Yeah! This album kicks ass. Fuckin slayer fuckin staff. Thrashers mothafuckas". No not at all. This album is not simple anti-social teenage stuff that want to shock people. Screaming about Satan and Nazis, two of the biggest anti-figures in modern society just to be anti-society. Sepultura follow their heart and gradually begin to understand that there is no use to create a stupid image for your band and sound metal or sound punk or sound shit I don't know what. All that matters is play what you have in your head, play the music that expresses you. So in my opinion they are not just "Fuckin Thrashers" they are so much more than that. Go listen to "The Abyss" instrumental which is a truthfull statement in my opinion. The abyss is the harsh reality and the moving guitar melodies is the lost past innosence which is distorted again and again and again and eaten by the monster that is called real life.


I wouln't call this album quintessential thrash, DRI's Dealing with It is quintessential. CoC are quntessential. But this is an essential album if you know how to listen to your metal. If you prefer to listen to the truth than to listen to fake shit and poser-"music". There is emotion in this album, it is not just a wall of sound that equally trendys and "thrasin fuckin maniacs" would like to view it. If you feel ready go by this album.

Damn, this joke never gets old. Yeah, yeah, I know it ain't funny anymore. Well, to make my point clear: even though Sepultura weren't great at english, they sure were great at thrashing the hell out of everyone who bought their album or came to their show. This is often labeled as death metal, but I consider it more thrash than anything else. Sure, it certainly has some death metal elements, but after all, Sepultura started their career as a death metal band.

The only bad thing about this album is the production of it. It's muddy and unclear. It's not a major flaw though, because music doesn't suffer much because of it. Drums DO sound a bit tinny, but the guitar tone is still a killer (it's heavy, with bass turned up to 10 and not much of middle and treble, I think)! Vocals sound a bit delayed, but that only adds some additional evilness to them. Yeah, Max sounds totally evil on this one. I hate to use the term evil for a vocal performance, but it actually suits vocals on this record really well. I wouldn't really say he's growling, but the vocals also aren't pure thrash vocals.

The main quality of this record are the riffs. Oh, the riffs. The SHITLOAD of GREAT fucking riffs. There are lots of mosh and triplet riffs to be found here, but not as much on Beneath The Remains. While being brutal as fuck, the riffs manage to stay memorable and catchy. And the diversity... You probably get the picture if I tell you that there are over 40 riffs in From The Past Comes The Storms. The lead work and the solos are also remarkable. While being a bit chaotic and sloppy at times, the leads and solos on here were a high water mark for all death/thrash bands of that time. The solo in ''To The Wall'' is probably one of the best things that ever happened to metal.

Bass isn't really audible here, since it gets a bit drowned in the poor production. The drum work is great and it makes up for it's tinny sound. Double bass isn't overused, and the rhythms are usually played very tight. Drumming gets a bit repetitive though.

The standouts are with no doubt the riff monster From The Past Comes The Storms, with it's massive breaks and tempo changes; the instrumental Inquisition Symphony, with it's slow buildup and awesome riffing; To The Wall because of the great solo and again some great riffs.
There aren't any bad songs here. All of them have tons of riffs and memorability in them. Even the intro serves as a great mood maker for the following songs.

Damn, another great record. You are probably all tired of my closing sentences, since they're always the same, but hell: get the album, you won't be sorry! (I promise I will come up with something new for my next review :/)

Riffs...oh YEAH!! Damn this album has riffs. These riffs slay. These riffs kill! In fact, these riffs can be used to conquer small third world countries. If Russia had had Schizophrenia, the balance of power would've been shifted in their favor (if they knew how to use it). Someone once played this album, and then Kabutu in Congo was ousted by a coup. Coincidence? I think not..

All kidding aside, these riffs actually don't stand that strong in isolation. Rommel's panzers weren't victorious on their own either. No, you've got to pummel the enemy (bass&drums) before you can roll over them with your massive guitarriffs. Some psychological warfare (the violin intro at the start of the album, and the occasional acoustic intro) does wonders as well. Alternate your gruff vocals of mad despair with insanely intense guitarsolos, and the road to Tobruk is open.

And once there, you unleash the single perfect thrash metal song in existence, the 7 minute 16 long instrumental Inquisition Symphony..

Troops of Doom make for welcome reinforcements, although it's included on multiple other albums. The rough mixes and the demoversion of 'The Past Reborns The Storms' don't offer much. They're even rougher around the edges than the rest of the album, and that's saying something.

Long before Max Cavalera because a bushman/whigger hybrid, got an adidas endorsement, or grew pink dreadlocks, Sepultura played intense, chromatic thrash in the vein of early Slayer or possibly Possessed. Indeed, one may wonder how Sepultura's presence was barely felt up until the early 90s. One word: location. Before the modern era of telecommunication, and with no means of distributing their records, Sepultura were stuck playing for lizards and primates in the Brazilian jungle.

After your token "scary noises from hell" intro, From the Past Comes the Storm opens off with some simple, yet effective thrash riffage played at hyper speed. The midpaced, grinding style that would later develop on albums like Arise rears it's head every once and a while, but Schitzophrenia more or less relies on gritty riff after riff. Max Cavelara's voice is surprisingly guttural, and may require some adjustment for anyone who is used to his trademark shout.

To the Wall, Septic Schizo, and Troops of Doom (a holdover from their even more savage debut), are the standout tracks, as well as the two instrumentals: inquisition symphony, a 100 mph roller coaster ride that totally destroys the archetype of how much ass an instrumental can kick, and The Abyss, a masterful minute or so acoustic piece. In 87, few bands were playing this extreme (Death, Possessed, maybe Onslaught...), and in 84 (when Morbid Visions was released) even fewer. Also, one must take into consideration their age (17 or 18).

So the final verdict is: breakneck jungle thrash, and Sepultura's first memorable release.

This is the second pure thrash LP that Sepultura released (after the death metal Bestial Devastation EP and the riff monster Morbid Visions). And good God, did they manage to do a good job of it or what? The only reason this album does not get a higher rating than Beneath the Remains is due to the production - the riffs are as good, if not better than those of Beneath the Remains, especially on the first song, "From the Past Comes the Storm". That song is a perfect example of massively riff-oriented thrash: 41 riffs of 9 distinct categories, and 7 major tempo changes, if I counted correctly (I did, once!)

The rest of the album is no slouch either. "Septic Schizo" and the instrumental "Inquisition Symphony" stand out, as does the completely redone "Troops of Doom". Schizophrenia is an essential thrash album - the production is a bit weak (maybe the remaster sounds better, I have the original), but the riffs are completely godly.

At times, the tracks sound exactly the same (I swear there's a riff in Resti n Pain that is a rehash of a riff in Escape to the Void, but don't ask me to look it up right now), but ya know what, when you're crushing the cunts of those that signed up for such a treatment (by listening to In Flames, for example), it's perfectly okay to stab them twice in the exact same vital organ.

Recommended. Endorsed. Go and get it, or it will reborns you!!