ThanatoSchizO

ThanatoSchizO
2011 promotional photo
Background information
Also known as	Thanatos (1997–2000), TSO
Origin	Santa Marta de Penaguião (Portugal)
Genres	Avant-garde metal Progressive death metal Progressive rock Atmospheric Doom metal Art Rock New Prog
Years active	1997–present
Labels	Major Label Industries
Website	http://www.thanatoschizo.com/ http://www.myspace.com/thanatoschizo
Members	Patrícia Rodrigues Guilhermino Martins Filipe Miguel Paulo Adelino
Past members	Band members

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.

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 Clawfinger 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.