I really got to hand it to Jason Tipton at Willowtip Records.  He has a unique ability to find some of the most intricately brutal death metal bands (Defeated Sanity, Putridity, Abysmal Torment, etc).  Ukraine’s Schizogen are no exception with their 2020 2^nd full length Spawn of Almighty Essence.

Musically these guys waste zero time beginning to pummel with the first track “Birth of The Great Mass”.  Schizogen are a four piece and with only one guitarist the overall production on this is quick massive. Pun completely intended.  The guitar work of Grinder is also over the place.  I would compare it to the frenzied fretboard work of Diego Sanchez from the almighty Disgorge.  It makes me wonder how many pinch harmonics he averaged per song.   Grinder along with bassist Pavel work extremely well together which with not having a second guitarist is pretty crucial for these type of arrangements. The drum work of Vadim is quite ferocious and provides plenty of tempo changes.

Lyrically a lot of the song concepts seem to revolve around biological catastrophes.  Tracks like “Roots of New Civilization” and “Biological Damage Processes” really speak to these themes as well as the awesome cover art done by Marco Hasmann.  Vocalist Pablo is not reinventing the wheel by any means but his vocals due fit the music quite well.   I really enjoy the contrast between the whammy bar dive breakdowns into more melodic phrasing.   Tracks like “The Genes Recoding” and “The Physical Essence of The Devourer” are great examples of this. At 36 minutes plus this is a fantastic 2^nd album and another great addition to the Willowtip roster.

2020 is going to be a busy year for death metal releases and it is definitely starting off to a fast pace. If you are into brutal, technical slam death in the style of Disgorge, Gorgasm, or Defeated Sanity then Schizogen will be right up your alley.  Do yourself a favor and don’t hold up aid to these Ukrainians.  Pre-order this right away!

[Visit the band's website]

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