The first time I ever bought a Sepultura album, was indeed a shocking experience. I didn't know that Sepultura were actually death metal...to begin with, that is. Oh boy did I learn with this one! I really hated Schizophrenia to begin with because I was really infatuated by their pure thrash style of the Arise-era. Initially, I hated the vocals because they were a bit like death metal, but I still ended up liking the album, primarily because of the great music. I did get used to the vocals, although I prefer the powerful roars from the later albums.

Granted this album is not as great as their later albums. Some of the songs do run a bit together. Their musicianship was far from it's peak, which I can accept because they were so young, but it might also have something to do with the fact the production of this album is horrid. The guitar riffs and vocals sound muddy. I think they were about 17-18 years old when this album was recorded, so their recording budget probably had a lot left to be desired. But none the less, the album is quite an accomplishment, and you could tell what a huge potential this Brazilian quartet had. The album is 40 minutes filled with complicated powerchord riffs an muscle-numbing speed.

The albums, however, does contain a couple of gems, of which they would have plenty of later in their careers. The best song on the album is undoubtedly the spooky instrumental Inquisition Symphony, which is the song that cemented what a huge band Sepultura was going to be. Even before I disliked Max Cavalera's distinct cookie-monster voice(which is a long time ago), I had this song played on constant repeat. A symphonic metal anthem indeed; it starts with a hauntingly beautiful acoustic intro and progresses into some grade A thrash metal and then ends the same way it began. As you know with many heavy metal bands, they like to play instrumentals. Sepultura have made quite many of those, but the two best ARE from this album although their musical prowess hadn't completely evolved.

Their other instrumental on Schizophrenia, The Abyss is strictly acoustic, played by Andreas Kisser, who probably is the most skilled of the two guitarists. Anyway, this song is rather on the folky side, but the influences from Metallica do shine through here. Fade to Black comes to mind 50 seconds into the song. The song ends shortly after that.

I actually have two favorite songs coming from this album. Now as I said before Inquisition Symphony was the first. The second one is just a regular song with lyrics and vocals. Screams Behind the Shadows is not only an extremely creative title, but also one hell of a song. As usual with this album, Max's vocals are impossible to interpret because of a lackluster production and due to the speed in which he recites the lyrics. Most important of all the song contains an awesome and definitely rocking bridge shortly followed by a chill-inducing guitar solo. This solo is so damn nice that I must stand up and do air guitar whenever I hear it!

Schizophrenia is not sonic masterpiece. There's plenty of good songs, and is recommended for metal enthusiasts. But stay away if you dislike deep growling vocals!


Best Songs:

Inquisition Symphony
Screams Behind the Shadows
The Abyss
Troops of Doom

Recommended: Yes