From Belgium came SCHIZOPHRENIA with the debut EP "Voices," just less than 20 minutes of deadly Death/Thrash Metal with a technical flair. The technicality added moving pieces to this brutal EP that was made by the sick, for the sick.

While there was much to be praised in this short EP, the first track, "Structure of Death" was extremely underwhelming. In fact, it was very offsetting to the rest of the release, as it was the listener's first impression of the band. The track seemed uninspired and dull while moments were poorly written, and everything seemed too by-the-books. Fortunately, the rest of the EP was a huge turn-around.

"Perpetual Perdition" started out with an eerie intro that was already far more interesting than the previous track. It delved into a technical riff, and the song progressed from there into a riff salad. Looping in and out of interesting riffs and motifs, the first, technical riff was reprised at the end which gave the track closure. It came full circle in this moment, and it created a touch of hope for the EP.

"Mortal Sin" was a heavy riff-fest and a great follow-up to the previous track. It contained a similar sense of technicality as before, but this time it was more absorbed into the traditional thrash riffs. "Schizophrenia" took this concept even further by creating groovy instrumental thrash breaks, one of which had rather polyrhythmic drums. The vocalist, reminiscent of DEATH, gave a snappiness to some moments on this track especially.

The EP ended on "Beyond Reality," a fast, to-the-point thrash song with little filler. The song ripped through passages of slight technicality scattered across fortified riffs. The tumultuous drums added a bed of artillery underneath the raging guitars in the EP's finale.

Schizophrenia is a band that has a lot of potential. The only problem with this EP was that it started out too dull. While I do encourage bands to finish as strong as possible, I also encourage them to start out strong. While the beginning is not as important as the end, it is still very important.