Human

Death’s fourth album, Human, is considered a masterpiece of technical death metal by many. Up until this moment in time, most bands within the death metal genre focused on being as fast and brutal as possible. As soon as the first song begins on Human, you know you are going to be in for a ride. The song begins with a drum solo that leads into the opening guitar riff, setting the tone for the album. The main factor that makes this album so great is that even though the song structures are extremely complex, the songs never seem to get boring.

First of all, let’s get into the drumming. The drums were the first thing that struck me as being utterly amazing. Chuck Schuldiner had definitely made a great choice with acquiring their new drummer, Sean Reinert. The speed and precision of the double bass drumming in this album is unbelievable. Sean Reinert manages to keep things interesting, even mixing in some jazz fusion and Latin influences into his playing. Personally, the drums are the best part of this album. Seeing live videos of Reinert playing songs from Human is mind blowing.

The bass in this album inspired a lot of future death metal bassists, but the bass could have easily been louder in the mixing. The new bassist, Steve DiGiorgio does a superb job. The mini bass solo in Cosmic Sea is one of the best moments of the album. Cosmic Sea does a great job of displaying the band’s diversity, and their ability to write unique songs. Not many metal bands at the time were utilizing the bass on the same level as Death managed to do.

The guitarists in this album do a great job of utilizing interesting riffs with many odd time signatures. Even though most riffs are extremely fast, the precision of Chuck Schuldiner and Paul Masvidal is striking. The solos on this album NEVER disappoint. Schuldiner and Masvidal have many alternating solos, both with their own unique sound to them.

Chuck’s social and political lyrics on this album show how much the band has matured. Compared to the lyrical content of their first few albums, revolving around gore, zombies, and horror films. Song topics include everything from schizophrenia to euthanasia, and Chuck even explores topics such as the question to whether blind people can see in their dreams. Chuck’s vocals are still growled, but seem a bit more audible than in previous albums.

This album pushed boundaries of speed and technicality in metal music. I never liked death metal until I heard this album, but it totally changed my perspective on the genre. If you take the time to really listen and notice how amazing the musicianship is, it changes how you look at the death metal genre. Without this album, metal today would not be the same. Human is a timeless release that will continue to influence death metal bands for years to come.