Human

Very few bands have albums that will live on far past their time. Led Zeppelin has it. Metallica has it. And with the release of this album, Death achieved it. Not only a landmark album in Death Metal, but this is Death's best album. "Human" takes the whole Death Metal genre to new heights. The album is musically advanced and lyrically complex.

Some history of the band up to this point: Death, coming off their poorly critical acclaimed album "Spiritual Healing", begins with a fresh slate. Maestro Chuck Schuldiner recruits a new line-up consisting of bass extraordinaire Steve DiGiorgio and Cynic band mates Sean Reinert and Paul Masvidal. Schuldiner was growing angry by the inconsistency of band members and opted to use studio and touring musicians.

"Human" is musically their best attempt at newfound complexity. Up until this album, their music hadn't been nearly this complex. Each song can be defined with guitars consisting of fast riffing accompanied by complex fills and odd time signatures, bass playing technically complex and out of this world, and drums that blast hard and complement the music to make it well rounded and complete. Early traces of the melody that would be very present in their later albums can be found in songs such as "Lack of Comprehension" and "Cosmic Sea" while still keeping the fast and aggressive pace that was present in their first albums in songs such as "Flattening of Emotions" and "Suicide Machine". Their best example of new found musically advanced complexity can be found in the song "Secret Face".

The landmark record is also a subject to new lyrical themes. Abandoning the gore and death themes of their early albums, "Human" shows the lyrical evolution into reality. Songs such as "Lack of Comprehension" and "Flattening of Emotions" are prime examples of the lyrical adventures exploring into new territory.

This record opened many doors in the Death Metal genre, allowing new skills and abilities to be brought to the table. It created a new dimension for Death Metal. "Human" will love long past its years and has proved to not only be a technical death metal essential, but a metal essential as a whole. Some interesting facts are that this is the first Death album that Ed Repka (most known as being the creator of the Megadeth mascot "Vic") didn't create the cover for.

Nothing is perfect though, this album does contain errors. The album losses points in its biggest error which is in the field of production. The guitar leads and rhythms sound awesome, but you have to look into the less than stellar production to find the awesome bass of DiGiorgio. After one or two listens, you will be able to tell the instruments apart and production isn't a very big issue anymore. But it's a shame that this album couldn't enjoy the production of later albums like Symbolic and The Sound of Perseverance. However, given the time period, excellent production wasn't as easily accessible.

Favorite Track: Flattening of Emotions
Least Favorite Track: none. Seriously, this album doesn't contain a track that is less than a 10/10. I suppose if I had to pick one, it would be Vacant Planets because it's the shortest. But that doesn't say a lot.