Schizophrenia – Recollections of the Insane
Release Date: 17th February 2022
Label: Self-Released
Bandcamp
Genre: Death Metal, OSDM, Thrash.
FFO: Immolation, Slayer, Vader, Cerebral Rot.
Review By: Andy Spoon
In the immortal words of American poet, Snoop Dogg: “That motherfucker don’t miss”.
Hailing from Antwerp, Belgium, Schizophrenia leapt onto the scene just a couple of years ago with their EP Voices, earning them acclaim from numerous reviewers and music industry heavyweights, including Francesco Paoli of Fleshgod Apocalypse renown, who stepped in to produce the band’s most recent offering, a full-length album titled Recollections of the Insane, to be released on February 18th, 2022.
Drawing influences from thrash, old school death metal, and blackened death, Schizophrenia has achieved something that not many bands in 2022 could do, which is draw the listener right back to the golden age of death metal and grindcore while sonically-maximizing the ability of more-modern production techniques to bring out the technical mastery and musicality of said old-school tones. Don’t believe me, have a look at the band’s music video for Cranial Disintegration and try to convince yourself that these chaps haven’t stolen the golden goose, just like we were living in 1992 Florida all over again.
Is it holistically-derivative? Yes, but that is also like saying that Brahms is equally-derivative of Chopin. Recollections of the Insane seems to hit every single button on the proverbial checklist for the elements of metal we actually want to hear released every year, something that could be attributed to the fact that this album was self-released and produced. Drama, angst, intensity, musical prowess, continuity, production value, and stylistic choices manage to hit the mark on the band’s first-ever LP, giving the listener something to play on repeat with absolute delight, something not-so common in a scene of tens of thousands of acts competing for your attention.
Singer/bassist Ricky Mandozzi’s vocal and lyrical stylings are reminiscent of Morbid Angel and Slayer, mixing lyrical rhythm over the mid-high fry register blending the death metal with the thrash/grindcore on top of layers of heavier vocals sprinkled-in with attention to dynamics. Romeo Promos Promopoulos’, and Marty Van Kerckhoven’s guitar work is where Recollections of the Insane really shines, making absolutely no room for question that this is 100% fucking death metal perfection. The entire album could truly be offered as a clinic on how to make a raw, edgy, beautiful death metal album with tiny pieces of symphonic, blackened, or thrash metal without having a single bad track for its entire 43-minute run time.
This motherfucker don’t miss…Recollections of the Insane sounds like what metalheads dream a death-thrash album ought to be, and still offers more entertainment and substance than could be expected. Did Schizophrenia capture lightning in a bottle in 2022? Or is it more likely that this is a winning formula that ought to pay big dividends for listeners in the future? Only time will tell, but it needs to be stated clearly, there is not one single bad track on this whole LP. Start to finish, this album fucks; and it is something that anyone interested in death metal ought to give 43 uninterrupted minutes before (hopefully) realizing that this type of work is a game changer.
I sincerely hope that other bands in the genre take note: There are too-many bands out there who aren’t interested in simply “phoning it in”. Schizophrenia is absolutely one of those bands; and Recollections of the Insane might be on a short list for a spot on the top death metal albums of the year list. 
(5 / 5)
