Catatonic Schizophrenia

The Name

CS was taken from a PC game "Crusader Kings". In-game that illness caused characters to randomly freakout and go on killing sprees which somehow struck Riddermark as being particularly funny.

The Creation

Catatonic Schizophrenia is a one-man band led by Riddermark who can't actually play any musicalinstrument nor sing at all. The project was founded in 2004 when he recorded a short sample that aimedto mock the comical introduction of Rhapsody of Fire's song - Erian's Mystical Rhymes. The result wasaccepted pretty well by the Bulgarian Rhapsody community and that inspired Riddermark to try and makesomething more, for example a song, with his trusty and never till then used acoustic guitar.

Demos

Driven by grief and depression after the departure of his girlfriend, the self-proclaimed artist satdown and recorded a few songs that later resulted in the band's first ever demo entitled "Kampong". Thename was randomly chosen when Riddermark stumbled upon it in a dictionary and saw that it meant - anative village in Malaysia.

Delighted by "Kampong"'s initial success, the wunderkid quickly produced (on the very next day) anotherdemo entitled "Hobbits' Needs". It could be considered the first conceptual work, revolving around theLord of the Rings. Ecstatic reactions by Riddermark's 3 or 4 followers cemented his decision to releasea full-length album.

First Releases

The first album "Tension" started a revolution that continues to this very day. 11 songs at a totallength of about 10 minutes, horrific quality and album size of 1mb made it unique. But what is moreastounding is that the songs barely went over 30 seconds due to Windows Sound Recorder's limitations.Moreover there were no lyrics but these seemingly chaotic compositions have very distinct ideasimprinted on them.

The success that "Tension" brought changed the landscape for the band for ever. More people becameinterested in joining that unique creation. Soon quite a few of Riddermark's followers joined aspermanent members. Spacerunner that wrote the first ever review for the debut album was now thenarrator. Zdravko Peev introduced the electric guitars and TheDarkLich became a backing vocalist.

Another conceptual work, this time an EP, came to light. "Nine Heroes" truly marked the transitionalperiod for the band. The weird mixture of old and new, acoustic and electric came to head and presentedthe listener with a slightly different experience.

Despite the new members, the second full-length album "We Kill!" was done entirely by Riddermark. Heused a new approach by exploiting midi instrumentals of famous bands' songs and adding a bit of hisquite limited and awkward guitar playing. Little can be said about this release, whose only highlighttrack is "Imperial Rage".

Huge Success

Undoubtedly the defining album of the band was their 3rd. "Crusader Kings" ,christened after thecomputer game, combined every different approach used until then. Some midi instrumentals were used,but electric guitars were recorded over them. Addition of keyboards by a new member Dex enriched thesound along with Riddermark and DarkLich's vocals plus Spacerunner's narrations. The whole work was aconceptual story about the mad bard (Riddermark), his corruption of the most powerful of kings, thenear extermination of neighbouring kingdoms and of course his sound defeat and restoration of order.

This album became widely known and that's when the unique style of the band received its name. Chocho,one of Riddermark's best friends, dubbed it "Catatonic Metal". And so it stayed until this very day.All the excitement led to the creation of websites, myspace accounts, last.fm pages and much more inorder to promote the new trend.

End of the Road

The last official release was a Christmas single containing 3 songs with no vocals."ChristmasSchizophrenia" was a disappointment and barely received any recognition. It was January 2006.

The many releases within such a short period of time (3 in 2004, 3 in 2005 and 1 in 2006) exhausted thefounder and left him with no fresh ideas. At one of its last meetings at new year's eve the bandcontemplated on working on a catatonic-metal opera and even outlined a story but that never came topass. Due to personal disputes Spacerunner left. And with the busy schedule of all the members, actualwork on any new material became tedious and boring undertaking. Never officially breaking up, the bandsilently went from dilapidation to death.

Changes Ahead

In late 2007, Riddermark's inspiration returned and new song ideas surfaced. Working closely with theonly other member he had contact with (Zdravko), Riddermark composed and produced a new album thatbuilt upon the highly successful "Crusader Kings" but included many new fresh ideas. The name of theband had to be changed, thus marking the end of an era and the beginning of a new age. The age of DuckMetal. "Vanvettigand", a word invented by the founder literally meaning "Insane Duck", released theirnew opus "The Popara Code" that swept the fans with many of its original and unique hits.

However, Zdravko and Riddermark became roommates, which brought about the end of the one-sided role ofRiddermark as the head of the band. Their common ideas, developed the style of the band even further.The latest singles from 2008, "Bald Gipsy" and "MAAFAKA" showcase that to full extend. Despite thedramatic changes more fans were drawn in.

Rebirth of Schizophrenia

Inundated with personal problems and emotional hits, Riddermark once again entered the catatonic stateof silent depression. The only way of coping with the situation was to create music. The idea ofressurrecting Catatonic Schizophrenia as a solo-project had already surfaced in his mind, but now itwas turning into reality. 6 songs and 1 video were created that day. Some more the next and in about 3days the new album of the band was a fact.

The 2008, "Tumultuous Times" takes us back to the roots of the band, and the days when Riddermark usedonly his acoustic guitar, MS Sound Recorder and his voice to record the albums. This time it was nodifferent, although the years definitely changed him. This release, again reviewed by Spacerunner wasannounced as the best Catatonic Schizophrenia album so far. The official video to the title track"Chocho is a pig" also turned out to be a huge success.

Catatonic Schizophrenia is back!

Catatonic Schizophrenia - Chocho Is a Pig
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