Schizophrenia is the second album from Brazillian metallers, SEPULTURA from 1987. The album marks a bit of a departure from the black / death metal sound and sees the boys moving into a more thrash metal direction. The album is also the first album to feature new guitar player Andreas Kisser, which now completes the classic line up of the band.
After a “friday 13th” esq horror movie type intro the band bust straight into “From the Past Comes the Storms” and it’s obvious the band are aiming for bigger things than the sound their first album would indicate. I think for a band to get out of South America they needed to do something with a wider appeal than their first album and this was just the ticket. The guitar tone is much cleaner and more inline with what was going on at the time. This would have fit in really well with what a lot of the heavier thrash bands like Sodom and Kreator etc were doing.
There are some really catchy riffs on this too and some brutally fast stuff. There’s a bit of something for everyone.”To The Wall” Keeps the engergy levels up well and then we have long time live staple “Escape to the Void” .
The second side is really cool too with “Inquisition Symphony showing off some cool riffing styles whilst also proving that that a thrash metal instrumental is possible. The album continues in great style with what is now some very addictive and strangely easy to listen to thrashy death. Side two finishes with a nice little acoustic interlude and then the song R.I.P (Rest in Pain) which is one of the fastest tracks on the album!
Overall this is a huge step forward for the band and their careers. I really like this album and for what its worth they changed styles at the right time, career wise. Just before this stuff was going to get huge.
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