Ukrainian Brutal Death Metal band of brothers, SCHIZOGEN return in 2020 with their new album, Spawn of Almighty Essence. This new album follows their debut album in 2016, Parasitic Origin. Since 2016, the band has changed more than most with a complete clear out excluding founding member Pablo Limbargo. Grinder replaced IBehemoth in 2016, Pavlo Shkodyak replaced Andriy Danko in 2015 shortly after Parasitic Origin had been recorded, and Vadim replaced Volodymyr Markevych, who had replaced Roman Korotkov following the release of Parasitic Origin. So a few changes, let us see what chemistry is on show on this album.

"Birth of the Great Mass" starts with a slow intro but you know something is about to kick in. The BDM Vocals tear about the silence. The beat builds up as you would expect from most BDM songs, a slow melody and a few breakdowns here and there, nothing we haven't heard before, but also, nothing wrong with it when executed as well as this. Solid enough start, hopefully having something more original to follow.

"Galaxies Systematic Infection" continues with the heavy hitting and high-octane pace set down from the start of "Birth of the Great Mass". It has a decent build up all round working well together, and although BDM vocals are hard to understand, they do go well with the melody. The only issue with BDM bands is when they slow everything down into Doom speed like BLACK TONGUE. Luckily, SCHIZOGEN do speed things back up after a short lapse of pace, which is a welcomed feature that adds a further depth to not only the song but also the album. The last third of the song is decent close with raw aggression in the vocals seeping through to blend the high-pitched guitar licks, even when it slows down once more.

"The Physical Essence of the Devourer" follows the same steps to start off as before, it's hard hitting and fast paced. The issue that may happen is every song can blend into another and have little differences, which is not always a bad thing if there is a decent sound from it. The only difference in this is that the pace is set and does not slow down, which is a good addition is styles and stops all the songs following suit and sounding the same. It is a welcomed change. This is a good thing to mix the styles of structure so early into an album and not be caught in a continual loop as many have done before; hopefully we hear a few more styles

"Biological Damage Processes" starts heavy again, but it is such a good start that no one cares about it is a repeated strategy. The style is set to frenzied, which works because I am not sure they have a backup plan, but if it is not broke then do not fix it as they say. As on "The Physical Essence of the Devourer" it does not change pace, but adds further high-pitched guitar licks to create a different sound. Not a bad sound at all, but again, I want to hear something new being tried out.

"Roots of the New Civilization" starts as if "Biological Damage Processes" never ended, which is good when hearing the album throughout. Also, they seem to be trying new elements, but they are not changing anything enough to separate the sounds from before,. If you listen to every song throughout it may lose intensity, but if they are mixed into a playlist, you may enjoy it more as there is nothing wrong with the song.

"The Genes Recoding" is certainly slower to start, which is neither a good nor bad thing, it's a new thing. The lack of pace does not create a similar vibe to what we have heard so far, which is what I have been wanting to happen, but this feels too slow to benefit the album. So, not exactly what I meant. The pace dos pick up gradually, but never exploding into a new life.

"The Last Stage of Colonization" takes a slightly faster approach when starting, but still feels like it has dropped down a gear from before. I think it has a few more technical plays inside, but not enough to create a harmony the likes of RINGS OF SATURN would do whilst trying this approach. The songs are starting to fade away from intensity and become almost dull, I think the band can see this and are trying to compose new idea, they just aren't hitting the same highs as before.

This is a good singular album. What I mean by that is the songs can be repetitive in structure and sound if heard all the way through but mix these into a playlist and they can be appreciated more. It is a stereotypical Brutal Death Metal album, not heavy enough to be Slamming, but still with the high=pitched guitar swerves here and there and the raw aggressive vocals apparent throughout.