Man, Schizophrenia are a weird band. Which is a good thing, really, because if you're listening to raw punk and d-beat in the year 2016 you're not just wanting to hear another band aping Discharge; rather, you're listening for the quirks and the subtleties that reveal how each different band interprets the whole history of raw punk that starts with Discharge. There are a million different approaches, ranging from Disclose's almost religious reverence to Thisclose's subtly mocking, but also clearly reverent take on the sound. Well, Japan's Schizophrenia seem a little more into a slightly different brand of raw punk, particularly the slightly more UK82-informed stuff coming out of Finland in the mid-80s. I mean, they name many of their influences on the insert to this record, but a few of them like Appendix, Laukaus, Pohjasakka, Court Martial, and Ultra Violent stand out as being particularly apparent in these recordings. In addition to those quirks of UK82 and even pogo-punk (mostly apparent in the rudimentary tunefulness of some of the choruses and the slightly obnoxious, high-pitched vocals), it strikes me that Schizophrenia are a raw punk band that doesn't really sound that raw at all, either in their songwriting or their production. The recordings collected here (BTW, this release compiles a bunch of out-of-print demo and 7" releases) are generally clear and powerful, the songs are pretty sophisticated in their musicality, and the drummer, guitarist, and bassist can all really play. So, while this isn't a release that will challenge you sonically in the way that that D-Clone LP from a couple of years ago did, I think it is really interesting how Schizophrenia's music navigates and puts into dialog influences from raw punk and UK82 that don't necessarily go together as easily as one might expect. Further, if you aren't as apt as I am to over-intellectualize this stuff, there's a heck of a lot of raging to be had on this 12".
