Schizofrantik: Ripping Heartaches

Bavaria based Schizofrantik is another recent discovery for me. The band have been plying their trade since their debut album Art Outrage released in 1998. The band remained independent until 2011 when they signed with The Gentle Art Of Music and released Oddities. Their fifth and latest album was released in 2017 titled Ripping Heartaches.

I found the band’s name to be quite apt and a fairly accurate description of what this band is all about. The frantic nature of the music contained within has elements of eclectic progressive rock and metal as well as avant-garde leanings. This is certainly a tale of diversity as the band also include more melodic components within their unique compositional framework.

The first track “Satan And Death Separated By Sin� is a thirteen minute instrumental beast of angular guitar phrasings and odd meter changes that surely must have been tricky to play. Add some math-like moments and even a bit of fusion and you have a diverse and definitely progressive sound. An ambitious piece to be sure. “A New Day� follows showcasing the band’s more melodic side with gentle keyboards and guitar. There is a sorrowful note, a bit dreamy with nice lead vocals from Mayrhofer. On “Personal Hell� the music again makes an ambitious statement with bursts of math rock guitars, soothing keyboard parts and rapid flurries of keyboard and guitar riffage. The musical change ups demonstrate the band’s talent but in no way is this a detriment as the their creativity truly shines. The distorted and clean vocals on the melodic yet highly progressive “Hungry Ghosts� makes for another cool track. Quirky guitar riffs and floating keyboards along with some tasty guitar soloing will be sure to satisfy progressive music fans. The album ending “Infinity� is both complex and enjoyable, an amalgamation of tight riffs, cool keyboards and generally stellar musicianship. Some gorgeous melodies round out the piece.

Ripping Heartaches is an excellent album. A further investigation of the band’s discography is certainly warranted.

Band members:
Martin Mayrhofer (vocals, guitars, bass)
Henning Lübben (keyboards)
Marco Osmajic (bass)
Christian Schichtl (drums)

Track Listing:
1. Satan And Death Separated By Sin (12:52)
2. A New Day (3:46)
3. Personal Hell (5:38)
4. Hungry Ghosts (7:24)
5. Why Is My Mind? (7:51)
6. Children Stopped Crying In Aleppo (4:02)
7. Infinity (11:50)

Added: May 21st 2018
Reviewer: Jon Neudorf
Score:
Related Link: Band's Official Site
Hits: 1192
Language: english

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