ThanatoSchizO
Encyclopedia
ThanatoSchizO is a metal group from Santa Marta de Penaguião
(Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro
, Portugal
), founded in late 1997. Practicing a sound associated with progressive death metal, the band makes various incursions into other musical genres such as black metal
, doom metal
, world music
, progressive rock
, atmospheric and electronic music
, thus being generically included in the avant-garde
musical range.
Initially called Thanatos, the group has a discography that includes four albums (Schizo Level, InsomniousNightLift, Turbulence, and Zoom Code), an EP
(Melégnia) and a demo
. The band has been with many labels (Rage of Achilles, Divenia Records, Burning Elf Records, Misdeed Records); Presently the group is in the ranks of Portuguese label Major Label Industries.
The band has just released its fifth studio album - Origami -, which consists on semi-acoustic remakes of songs of their previous four full-length CDs.
and the British Senser
in Festival Internacional Praias in Praia de Mira.
In late 1998, the band went to Rec’n’Roll Studios to record the EP
Melégnia in three days (it were, in fact, three mornings and two afternoons for the recording and one more afternoon for the mixing). All the material was practically recorded on the first take and resulted on six themes (three of them came from Demo ’98 but now with better arrangements and interpretation), which had an overall more defined sound.
The EP was financed by the group and released on February 1999. It was distributed by many national and international entities and received very positive critiques, mainly because it was a breath of fresh air in a scene that was too attached to the clichés of the symphonic black metal so trendy at the time. In a Top 20 elaborated by the national radio show "Holocausto," the band reached 11th place, as the best Portuguese band.
Melégnia’s promotion on the road entailed more than 60 concerts side by side with bands such as Sinister
, Asgaroth
, Pandemia, Purgatory, Tarantula
, Sirius, and Aborted
. During the "Chaos & Disorder Tour" (Melégnia’s promotional concerts) and mainly during the rehearsals where the new material was being composed, it was obvious that a change had to occur, in order to prevent a feared stagnation, and this happened in October 2000: Guilhermino and Paulo stuck together, Tomané and Marco (for health issues) left the band.
After some rehearsals and a brief pre-production, the group returned to Rec’n’Roll Studios and recorded its first album during almost a month. Schizo Level is a completely atypical CD: it starts with an aggressive black metal
tone and then wanders through atmospheric music, doom metal
, world and electronic music. The necessity to create something really unique lead to the decision to invite some musicians that could play trumpet
and horn
in the opening song "RAW", which resulted in a cacophony of extreme black metal
with wind instrument
s; or, in another case, a flute
in "Nightmares Within." The album was released by Misdeed Records, a recently formed independent label that had previously worked with the band for distribution of the EP. After finishing the recording process, the band started to look for a bassist. Guilhermino had recorded the album’s bass lines; now Miguel Ângelo joined the group
When the CD was released (in digipack
), it was very well received but probably misinterpreted. Critics analyzed it from a monochromatic perspective thought it was a black metal album, proof that they had only listened to the first three tracks (these were indeed black metal songs) and neglected the rest of it.
Anyway, a first place was reached in a listener’s poll for the best international album of 2001, once again on the Portuguese radio show "Holocausto." On a poll counting the votes of the producers from this radio show, Schizo Level got fifth place. Moreover, the album was included in a top 20 list voted by the readers of the Portuguese magazine LOUD!.
From this point on the band started to value the "song" format and to pay more attention to the voices. Eduardo began to make more use of his clean vocals and Patrícia became more important in the group’s sound. If the previous tendency was to deconstruct, the idea now was exactly the opposite.
In early 2002, the recording of InsomniousNightLift’s began at Rec ‘n’Roll Studios and Luís Barros was once again the producer. The whole process took about two and a half months, during which the band signed a contract with the British independent Rage of Achilles and thus assured the worldwide release of the album in January 2003. The Portuguese audience would have access to a pre-release in September 2002 through Misdeed Records. Kerrang!
and Metal Hammer
(both British publications) valued InsomniousNightLift with 4 out of 5 possible stars. This last one even wrote that the future of the doom/death metal would ThanatoSchizO’s freshness and originality.
When the national press made a balance at the end of 2002, ThanatoSchizO reached an important first place in the list of the best national/ international albums in the now dead site “Metal Open Minded” and, in LOUD! magazine 5 out of 7 collaborators selected InsomniousNightLift as one of the best national albums. The Portuguese edition of Rock Sound the group in a poll for the best albums (voted by its collaborators) and placed Miguel Ângelo (bass) and Filipe Miguel (keyboard) in the top 10 musicians’ pool of that year.
Intense promotion of InsomniousNightLift garnered the group a supporting act position when Katatonia and Finntroll played in Portugal in April 2003.
From late 2003 to April 2004, the band returns to Rec’n’Roll Studios. Tommy Newton, a well-known German producer, was in charge of the mastering. The record had a special pre-release in Portugal through Misdeed Records in July 2004. Limited to the national territory and in a digipack format, it included a multimedia section with a studio diary, many promotional photos and a video with several episodes shot during the recording process. The international release was taken care of by the Australian Burning Elf Records and not by Rage of Achilles, a deal which had ended abruptly.
Turbulence was very well received by the fans and the . The high point occurred in January 2005, when LOUD! magazine published the votes for "the best of the best" from the past year: the readers chose the album as the best national release, the band as the second best Portuguese group (right behind Moonspell), and Guilhermino as the third best national musician. Moreover, the radio show "Holocausto" nominated the third album of the group as the second best international release of 2004. Also, the Portuguese magazine Underworld - Entulho Informativo listed the group in a poll for the best albums of 2004.
The band headlined some events, was the opening act for the Swedish Nightrage in Festival Outubro Negro 2005, and was invited by the well-known Portuguese journalist António Freitas to be part of the itinerant Festival Alta Tensão, side by side with Moonspell and Ramp.
(Lisboa and Braga
, 6 and 7 July respectively) and the Swiss Samael
(Corroios, 14 July) for their Portuguese gigs.
Moreover, Gauchos de Acero—the Argentine group aged between 10 and 14 that became famous through Youtube, due to their Sepultura
and Iron Maiden
covers-–recorded an interesting version of the song "Suturn" from ThanatoSchizO’s first album Schizo Level.
), mastered by Tommy Newton (Conception
, Helloween
), and features guest appearances by Timb Harris
(Estradasphere
, Secret Chiefs 3
) and Zweizz
(Fleurety
, ex-Dødheimsgard
).
In May, Mexican label Sun Empire Productions released a special deluxe edition of ThanatoSchizO's first album Schizo Level, in digipack format. On May 17, ThanatoSchizO celebrated their 10th anniversary at Liperske IV Festival, with Before the Rain, Pitch Black, Daemogorgon, Loss Spectra of Pure, My Eyes Inside, and Primordial Melody. The band performed songs from all their releases and played for almost two hours. That same week Zoom Code went straight to the first place of the metal magazine LOUD! Broadcast Top List. On June 28, ThanatoSchizO performed at Metal GDL Festival (Grândola, Portugal) right after Krisiun
and Devildriver
, as the only Portuguese band on the main stage. During September and October, the band headlined Berço Fest (Guimarães, Portugal) and presented live a semi-acoustic version of the songs in Zoom Code at the Fnacs in Lisbon and Porto.
On the end of the year balances from the international press, Zoom Code has collected numerous praises, being the nominations on the sites Metal District and Metal Imperium a good example of that. On a national level, the voting from LOUD! magazine's readers pointed out ThanatoSchizO as the fourth best band of 2008. In the same magazine, the album was mentioned on the top 5 by 3 of its collaborators.
The group has also headlined/co-headlined three festivals: Barreiro Metalfest (Lavradio, Portugal), Metal Horror Picture Show 2 (Fundão, Portugal) and Silent Night - Christmas Metal Fest (São Pedro do Sul, Portugal) and played at Festival Ilha do Ermal with Sepultura, Obituary and Blind Guardian as the main attractions.
During the Summer, the group initiated the tracking process of Origami, the fifth studio album, which consists on semi-acoustic remakes of songs of their previous four full-length CDs. The recordings took place at Teatro de Vila Real and at the band's own Blind & Lost Studios. The production was handled for the first time by Guilhermino.
After ten years with a stable set of members, TSO was now reduced to a quartet. Patrícia, Guilhermino, Filipe and Paulo started to rehearse with two session members.
Santa Marta de Penaguião
Santa Marta de Penaguião is a Portuguese municipality in the district of Vila Real, in the northern region of Douro. The municipality, comprising 11 parishes, covers an area of 69.28 km² with a base population of 8400 inhabitants.-History:...
(Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro
Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro
Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro is a historical province of Portugal located in the northeastern corner of the country. Vast plateaus, river valleys, mountains, and castles abound in Trás os Montes e Alto Douro....
, Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
), founded in late 1997. Practicing a sound associated with progressive death metal, the band makes various incursions into other musical genres such as black metal
Black metal
Black metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include fast tempos, shrieked vocals, highly distorted guitars played with tremolo picking, blast beat drumming, raw recording, and unconventional song structure....
, doom metal
Doom metal
Doom metal is an extreme form of heavy metal music that typically uses slower tempos, low-tuned guitars and a much "thicker" or "heavier" sound than other metal genres...
, world music
World music
World music is a term with widely varying definitions, often encompassing music which is primarily identified as another genre. This is evidenced by world music definitions such as "all of the music in the world" or "somebody else's local music"...
, progressive rock
Progressive rock
Progressive rock is a subgenre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s as part of a "mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility." John Covach, in Contemporary Music Review, says that many thought it would not just "succeed the pop of...
, atmospheric and electronic music
Electronic music
Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...
, thus being generically included in the avant-garde
Avant-garde
Avant-garde means "advance guard" or "vanguard". The adjective form is used in English to refer to people or works that are experimental or innovative, particularly with respect to art, culture, and politics....
musical range.
Initially called Thanatos, the group has a discography that includes four albums (Schizo Level, InsomniousNightLift, Turbulence, and Zoom Code), an EP
Extended play
An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...
(Melégnia) and a demo
Demo (music)
A demo version or demo of a song is one recorded for reference rather than for release. A demo is a way for a musician to approximate their ideas on tape or disc, and provide an example of those ideas to record labels, producers or other artists...
. The band has been with many labels (Rage of Achilles, Divenia Records, Burning Elf Records, Misdeed Records); Presently the group is in the ranks of Portuguese label Major Label Industries.
The band has just released its fifth studio album - Origami -, which consists on semi-acoustic remakes of songs of their previous four full-length CDs.
The early years (1997–2000)
The band started in late 1997, continuing a previous cover project, Blind & Lost, by founders Guilhermino Martins, Paulo Adelino, and Marco "China," who were joined by singer Tómané. After a regular series of rehearsals during three months, recorded its first demo, in the studios of Rádio Universidade (Vila Real), which was only used to enable the band to enter music contests. In August 1998, the group was invited to be the opening act for the Swedish ClawfingerClawfinger
Clawfinger is a rap metal band from Sweden and was one of the earliest bands to adopt this sound. Clawfinger is known for aggressive but melodic music and tackling political and anti-racist themes in their songs.-Band history:...
and the British Senser
Senser
Senser, a politically-charged UK band, originally formed in South West London from a group of friends in the late 1980s, Nick Michaelson , Heitham Al-Sayed , Kerstin Haigh , John Morgan , James Barrett and Alan "Hagos/Haggis" Haggarty and in 1992 they were joined by Spiral Tribe D.J, Andy Clinton...
in Festival Internacional Praias in Praia de Mira.
In late 1998, the band went to Rec’n’Roll Studios to record the EP
Extended play
An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...
Melégnia in three days (it were, in fact, three mornings and two afternoons for the recording and one more afternoon for the mixing). All the material was practically recorded on the first take and resulted on six themes (three of them came from Demo ’98 but now with better arrangements and interpretation), which had an overall more defined sound.
The EP was financed by the group and released on February 1999. It was distributed by many national and international entities and received very positive critiques, mainly because it was a breath of fresh air in a scene that was too attached to the clichés of the symphonic black metal so trendy at the time. In a Top 20 elaborated by the national radio show "Holocausto," the band reached 11th place, as the best Portuguese band.
Melégnia’s promotion on the road entailed more than 60 concerts side by side with bands such as Sinister
Sinister (band)
Sinister is a death metal band from Rotterdam, the Netherlands, assembled in 1988, disassembled in 2003, and reassembled in 2005 by Adrie Kloosterwaard on vocals and Alex Paul on guitar...
, Asgaroth
Asgaroth
Asgaroth was a black metal band from Barcelona, Spain formed in 1995. It started as a one man-project by Lord Lupus. Their international attention increased after their second album release, Red Shift, through Peaceville.-Peaceville Records:...
, Pandemia, Purgatory, Tarantula
Tarantula (band)
Tarantula is a Portuguese power metal band established in 1981 and ranked as one of the very first power metal bands, that has played concerts in Portugal and Germany...
, Sirius, and Aborted
Aborted
Aborted is a Belgian death metal band formed in Waregem, Belgium in 1995. The group comprises vocalist and founder Sven de Caluwé, guitarists Eran Segal and Mike Wilson, bassist J.B. Van Der Wal, and drummer Ken Bedene. The band members of Aborted are from Belgium, France, Israel, United Kingdom,...
. During the "Chaos & Disorder Tour" (Melégnia’s promotional concerts) and mainly during the rehearsals where the new material was being composed, it was obvious that a change had to occur, in order to prevent a feared stagnation, and this happened in October 2000: Guilhermino and Paulo stuck together, Tomané and Marco (for health issues) left the band.
The experimentation era (2001)
With the new material practically ready to be recorded, Filipe Miguel (keyboard) and Patrícia Rodrigues (vocals) joined the group respectively; both had worked with the band in the past. For a lead singer, the band invited Eduardo Paulo, an old friend who had previously been in the project Blind & Lost, completing the line-up which would record the first album, Schizo Level.After some rehearsals and a brief pre-production, the group returned to Rec’n’Roll Studios and recorded its first album during almost a month. Schizo Level is a completely atypical CD: it starts with an aggressive black metal
Black metal
Black metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include fast tempos, shrieked vocals, highly distorted guitars played with tremolo picking, blast beat drumming, raw recording, and unconventional song structure....
tone and then wanders through atmospheric music, doom metal
Doom metal
Doom metal is an extreme form of heavy metal music that typically uses slower tempos, low-tuned guitars and a much "thicker" or "heavier" sound than other metal genres...
, world and electronic music. The necessity to create something really unique lead to the decision to invite some musicians that could play trumpet
Trumpet
The trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...
and horn
Horn (instrument)
The horn is a brass instrument consisting of about of tubing wrapped into a coil with a flared bell. A musician who plays the horn is called a horn player ....
in the opening song "RAW", which resulted in a cacophony of extreme black metal
Black metal
Black metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include fast tempos, shrieked vocals, highly distorted guitars played with tremolo picking, blast beat drumming, raw recording, and unconventional song structure....
with wind instrument
Wind instrument
A wind instrument is a musical instrument that contains some type of resonator , in which a column of air is set into vibration by the player blowing into a mouthpiece set at the end of the resonator. The pitch of the vibration is determined by the length of the tube and by manual modifications of...
s; or, in another case, a flute
Flute
The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...
in "Nightmares Within." The album was released by Misdeed Records, a recently formed independent label that had previously worked with the band for distribution of the EP. After finishing the recording process, the band started to look for a bassist. Guilhermino had recorded the album’s bass lines; now Miguel Ângelo joined the group
When the CD was released (in digipack
Digipak
Digipak is a patented style of CD, DVD or BD packaging, and is a registered trademark of AGI World Ltd., an Atlas Holdings company.-Features:...
), it was very well received but probably misinterpreted. Critics analyzed it from a monochromatic perspective thought it was a black metal album, proof that they had only listened to the first three tracks (these were indeed black metal songs) and neglected the rest of it.
Anyway, a first place was reached in a listener’s poll for the best international album of 2001, once again on the Portuguese radio show "Holocausto." On a poll counting the votes of the producers from this radio show, Schizo Level got fifth place. Moreover, the album was included in a top 20 list voted by the readers of the Portuguese magazine LOUD!.
Adulthood (2002-2003)
If Schizo Level’s material was practically composed when Eduardo joined the band, the same couldn’t be said about InsomniousNightLift. He started to take his acoustic guitar to the rehearsal room very early and suggested many riffs, which made him the band’s main composer. Almost unconsciously trying to get rid of the black metal stereotype brought by the previous album (too narrow to the members’ eyes), the band started to compose very homogeneous themes in a progressive doom/death metal style. The musical ambiguity from the past was now followed by a very consistent work.From this point on the band started to value the "song" format and to pay more attention to the voices. Eduardo began to make more use of his clean vocals and Patrícia became more important in the group’s sound. If the previous tendency was to deconstruct, the idea now was exactly the opposite.
In early 2002, the recording of InsomniousNightLift’s began at Rec ‘n’Roll Studios and Luís Barros was once again the producer. The whole process took about two and a half months, during which the band signed a contract with the British independent Rage of Achilles and thus assured the worldwide release of the album in January 2003. The Portuguese audience would have access to a pre-release in September 2002 through Misdeed Records. Kerrang!
Kerrang!
Kerrang! is a UK-based magazine devoted to rock music published by Bauer Media Group. It was first published on June 6, 1981 as a one-off supplement in the Sounds newspaper...
and Metal Hammer
Metal Hammer
Metal Hammer is a monthly heavy metal music magazine published in the United Kingdom by Future Publishing, and in several other countries by different publishers. Metal Hammer articles feature both mainstream bands and more unusual acts from the whole spectrum of heavy metal music...
(both British publications) valued InsomniousNightLift with 4 out of 5 possible stars. This last one even wrote that the future of the doom/death metal would ThanatoSchizO’s freshness and originality.
When the national press made a balance at the end of 2002, ThanatoSchizO reached an important first place in the list of the best national/ international albums in the now dead site “Metal Open Minded” and, in LOUD! magazine 5 out of 7 collaborators selected InsomniousNightLift as one of the best national albums. The Portuguese edition of Rock Sound the group in a poll for the best albums (voted by its collaborators) and placed Miguel Ângelo (bass) and Filipe Miguel (keyboard) in the top 10 musicians’ pool of that year.
Intense promotion of InsomniousNightLift garnered the group a supporting act position when Katatonia and Finntroll played in Portugal in April 2003.
The return to a heavier sound (2004-2005)
Having the same line-up as the previous record for the first time, the band felt the necessity to sharpen its death metal side for the third album, Turbulence. Eduardo changed from acoustic guitars to electric ones, reinforcing its importance in the band’s sound.From late 2003 to April 2004, the band returns to Rec’n’Roll Studios. Tommy Newton, a well-known German producer, was in charge of the mastering. The record had a special pre-release in Portugal through Misdeed Records in July 2004. Limited to the national territory and in a digipack format, it included a multimedia section with a studio diary, many promotional photos and a video with several episodes shot during the recording process. The international release was taken care of by the Australian Burning Elf Records and not by Rage of Achilles, a deal which had ended abruptly.
Turbulence was very well received by the fans and the . The high point occurred in January 2005, when LOUD! magazine published the votes for "the best of the best" from the past year: the readers chose the album as the best national release, the band as the second best Portuguese group (right behind Moonspell), and Guilhermino as the third best national musician. Moreover, the radio show "Holocausto" nominated the third album of the group as the second best international release of 2004. Also, the Portuguese magazine Underworld - Entulho Informativo listed the group in a poll for the best albums of 2004.
The band headlined some events, was the opening act for the Swedish Nightrage in Festival Outubro Negro 2005, and was invited by the well-known Portuguese journalist António Freitas to be part of the itinerant Festival Alta Tensão, side by side with Moonspell and Ramp.
Decoding (2006-2007)
ThanatoSchizO recorded Zoom Code at Rec'n'Roll Studios between February and May; it was mastered by Tommy Newton at Area 51 Studios (Germany). The group was also the opening act for the Israelite Orphaned LandOrphaned Land
Orphaned Land is an Israeli progressive metal band, formed in 1991, that combines Death/doom, Jewish and Arabic influences.- History :In 1992, the band changed its name from the original Resurrection to Orphaned Land....
(Lisboa and Braga
Braga
Braga , a city in the Braga Municipality in northwestern Portugal, is the capital of the Braga District, the oldest archdiocese and the third major city of the country. Braga is the oldest Portuguese city and one of the oldest Christian cities in the World...
, 6 and 7 July respectively) and the Swiss Samael
Samael (band)
Samael is a industrial black metal band formed in 1987 in Sion, Switzerland.-Biography:Although much of their music from the mid-1990s onwards has incorporated electronic sounds which would best define their genre as industrial metal, they are an early 2nd Wave black metal band and an innovator for...
(Corroios, 14 July) for their Portuguese gigs.
Moreover, Gauchos de Acero—the Argentine group aged between 10 and 14 that became famous through Youtube, due to their Sepultura
Sepultura
Sepultura is a Brazilian heavy metal band from Belo Horizonte, formed in 1984. The band was a major force in the death metal, thrash metal and ultimately groove metal realms during the late 1980s and early 1990s, with their later experiments melding nu metal, hardcore punk and industrial.Sepultura...
and Iron Maiden
Iron Maiden
Iron Maiden are an English heavy metal band from Leyton in east London, formed in 1975 by bassist and primary songwriter Steve Harris. Since their inception, the band's discography has grown to include a total of thirty-six albums: fifteen studio albums; eleven live albums; four EPs; and six...
covers-–recorded an interesting version of the song "Suturn" from ThanatoSchizO’s first album Schizo Level.
Zoom in (2008)
ThanatoSchizO inked a deal for the release of their fourth album, Zoom Code, with My Kingdom Music. The worldwide release date was April, 11. Zoom Code was produced by Luís Barros (TarantulaTarantula (band)
Tarantula is a Portuguese power metal band established in 1981 and ranked as one of the very first power metal bands, that has played concerts in Portugal and Germany...
), mastered by Tommy Newton (Conception
Conception (band)
Conception is a power/progressive metal band from Raufoss, Norway.-Formation and record label:The band was formed in Norway in 1989 by guitarist Tore Østby, singer Dag Østby, drummer Werner Skogli and bassist Freddy Samsonstuen. In 1990, after a demo tape, Arve Heimdal replaced Werner Skogli and...
, Helloween
Helloween
Helloween is a German power metal band founded in the mid 1980s by members of Iron Fist and Powerfool. The band was a pioneering force in the European Power Metal movement and their second and third studio albums, Keeper of the Seven Keys, Pt...
), and features guest appearances by Timb Harris
Timb Harris
Timb Harris is a violinist, best known for his work with the eclectic Santa Cruz-based band Estradasphere ....
(Estradasphere
Estradasphere
Estradasphere was an experimental band that originated in Santa Cruz, California during the late 1990s. The band, which in its last incarnation was based in Seattle, consisted of 6 multi-instrumentalists from a variety of musical backgrounds trained in disciplines ranging from classical music and...
, Secret Chiefs 3
Secret Chiefs 3
Secret Chiefs 3 is an instrumental rock group led by guitarist/composer Trey Spruance . Their studio recordings and tours have featured different line-ups, as the group performs a wide range of musical styles including surf rock, Persian, Arab, Indian, death metal, film music, electronic music,...
) and Zweizz
Zweizz
Zweizz is the primary performing alias of Norwegian musician and composer Svein Egil Hatlevik .Hatlevik started using the Zweizz alias in 2003 after leaving the Norwegian black metal group Dødheimsgard. According to Hatlevik, Zweizz should be considered a one man band, not a solo project...
(Fleurety
Fleurety
Fleurety is a Norwegian avant-garde metal band. The band was formed in 1991 by Svein Egil Hatlevik and Alexander Nordgaren.-History:The band released their first demo Black Snow in 1993. After that came the 7" EP A Darker Shade of Evil in 1994, released via the English label Aesthetic Death Records...
, ex-Dødheimsgard
Dødheimsgard
Dødheimsgard is a Norwegian heavy metal band formed in 1994. Dødheimsgard was originally a black metal band, but 1999's 666 International saw them change into an experimental and avant-garde / industrial metal band. In 2000, they shortened their name to DHG...
).
In May, Mexican label Sun Empire Productions released a special deluxe edition of ThanatoSchizO's first album Schizo Level, in digipack format. On May 17, ThanatoSchizO celebrated their 10th anniversary at Liperske IV Festival, with Before the Rain, Pitch Black, Daemogorgon, Loss Spectra of Pure, My Eyes Inside, and Primordial Melody. The band performed songs from all their releases and played for almost two hours. That same week Zoom Code went straight to the first place of the metal magazine LOUD! Broadcast Top List. On June 28, ThanatoSchizO performed at Metal GDL Festival (Grândola, Portugal) right after Krisiun
Krisiun
Krisiun is a Brazilian death metal band, founded by Alex Camargo , Moyses Kolesne , and Max Kolesne . Since its formation, in 1990, the group recorded two demos, Evil Age in 1991, and Curse of the Evil One in 1992, and self-released an extended play titled Unmerciful Order in 1993...
and Devildriver
DevilDriver
DevilDriver is an American heavy metal band from Santa Barbara, California, formed in 2002. The band was originally named Deathride, however, due to copyright issues and the name being taken by several bands, Deathride changed its name to DevilDriver, which refers to bells Italian witches used to...
, as the only Portuguese band on the main stage. During September and October, the band headlined Berço Fest (Guimarães, Portugal) and presented live a semi-acoustic version of the songs in Zoom Code at the Fnacs in Lisbon and Porto.
On the end of the year balances from the international press, Zoom Code has collected numerous praises, being the nominations on the sites Metal District and Metal Imperium a good example of that. On a national level, the voting from LOUD! magazine's readers pointed out ThanatoSchizO as the fourth best band of 2008. In the same magazine, the album was mentioned on the top 5 by 3 of its collaborators.
The fifth step (2009)
On the 28th of February, ThanatoSchizO sold out the Vila Real (district) Theater while performing an entirely semi-acoustic set for 80 minutes.The group has also headlined/co-headlined three festivals: Barreiro Metalfest (Lavradio, Portugal), Metal Horror Picture Show 2 (Fundão, Portugal) and Silent Night - Christmas Metal Fest (São Pedro do Sul, Portugal) and played at Festival Ilha do Ermal with Sepultura, Obituary and Blind Guardian as the main attractions.
During the Summer, the group initiated the tracking process of Origami, the fifth studio album, which consists on semi-acoustic remakes of songs of their previous four full-length CDs. The recordings took place at Teatro de Vila Real and at the band's own Blind & Lost Studios. The production was handled for the first time by Guilhermino.
Growing pains (2010)
ThanatoSchizO spent all of 2010 in studio, recording Origami. The group had the collaboration of multiple guests such as Banda de Mateus (brass and woodwind ensemble from Vila Real), Ricardo Frade (a young local percusionist), Hugo Correia (from Fadomorse, responsible for orchestrations), Pan-lellos (a choir group), João Apolinário (accordion), José Silva (balalaika) and Francisco Sousa (cavaquinho).After ten years with a stable set of members, TSO was now reduced to a quartet. Patrícia, Guilhermino, Filipe and Paulo started to rehearse with two session members.
Origami (2011)
On the 19th of February the group sold out - for the second time - the Teatro de Vila Real during the presentation gig of Origami, which was officially released two days later.Current members
- Patrícia Rodrigues - vocals
- Guilhermino Martins – guitar, sampling, vocals
- Filipe Miguel – keyboardKeyboardistA keyboardist is a musician who plays keyboard instruments. Until the early 1960s musicians who played keyboards were generally classified as either pianists or organists. Since the mid-1960s, a plethora of new musical instruments with keyboards have come into common usage, requiring a more...
, samplingSampling (music)In music, sampling is the act of taking a portion, or sample, of one sound recording and reusing it as an instrument or a different sound recording of a song or piece. Sampling was originally developed by experimental musicians working with musique concrète and electroacoustic music, who physically... - Paulo Adelino – drumsDrummerA drummer is a musician who is capable of playing drums, which includes but is not limited to a drum kit and accessory based hardware which includes an assortment of pedals and standing support mechanisms, marching percussion and/or any musical instrument that is struck within the context of a...
, percussion
Previous members
- Eduardo Paulo - vocals
- Miguel Ângelo - bass
- ToMané - vocals
- Marco "China" - bass
ThanatoSchizO
- Schizo Level (2001)
- InsomniousNightLift (2003)
- Turbulence - (2004)
- Zoom Code - (2008)
- Origami - (2011)
Appearances on compilations
- Entulho Sonoro 5 - "L."
- Lusitania de Peso – Vol I – "Sweet Suicidal Serenade"
- Arauto Metálico - Vol II - "Freedom Subways"
- Pure Underground - Necromance Records Compilation Vol.13 - "Of Lunar Water..."
- Rock Sound nº6 (Portuguese edition) "Sampler CD" - "Sublime Loss"
- Thrash Publishing "Promo Compilation #4" - "Withering Art" and "Nausea"
- Riff nº23 "CD Vol. 6" - "Suturn"
- Abadon Cryptic Scripts II "Sampler CD" - "Love & Death"
- Thrash Publishing "Promo Compilation #1" - "Raven"
- Dismal Whispers... "Chapter II" - "Raven"
External links
