Schizo
Cicatriz Black

In recent years, in Italy, there have been many reunions of bands that managed to achieve modest success both nationally and in some foreign countries in the past. This year, for example, the Schizo have returned to the scene. Not the ones from the '90s, intent on experimenting along the lines of Fear Factory with results not always satisfactory.

The band ready to invade the market with "Cicatriz Black" is dirty, furious, and eager to reclaim the throne occupied in the distant 1989, the year when "Main Frame Collapse" appeared on store shelves. If Venom taught the world that you could play more crudely and dirtily than punks, and before Slayer, then Napalm Death and Morbid Angel knew how to push the lesson to extremes, then Schizo, Necrodeath, and Bulldozer deserve credit for bringing such examples to our Nation as well.

"Cicatriz Black" features 2/4 of the original lineup (Alberto Penzin and S.B. Reder, accompanied by vocalist Nicola Accuso and Dario Casabona), continuing where "Main Frame Collapse" left off, but without indulging in sterile nostalgia, instead better targeting the aim to win over even the savvy audience of the new millennium. Beyond the historical importance of the lineup with guests like Steve Sylvester (Death SS), Flegias (Necrodeath), and AC Wild (Bulldozer), it is the music that grabs attention from the first notes. Often, in these circumstances, the band presents a proposal lacking in punch and pathetically melancholic. Not Schizo. "Cicatriz Black" strikes directly at the heart, attacking the listener with lightning-fast blast beats and riffing that doesn't shy away from bringing to mind people like Venom or Discharge, mixing the iconoclastic charge of hardcore with the orderly thrash assault.

If I had to summarize this CD in one sentence, I would say that "Cicatriz Black" represents for Schizo what "Mater Of All Evil" meant ten years ago for Necrodeath.