Human

With Human, the gap between old school death metal and technical death metal is properly bridged. Chuck Schuldiner cleaned house and brought in a whole new lineup for Death’s most technically impressive record yet, as well as their cleanest sound so far. The atmosphere is crisp and the guitars still have plenty of crunch, and the performances themselves seem to have gotten more ambitious.

James Murphy is a great guitarist and his melodic leads were welcome on Spiritual Healing, but his replacement in Paul Masvidal is as good as it can get. Masvidal’s best moments as a musician wouldn’t come until he released Focus in 1993 with Cynic, but on Human he showed the greatness that was yet to come. Razor sharp riffs performed in a less orthodox manner than the previous Death records equipped with a clear and powerful production make Human’s songs pop out, and with the unrivaled Steve DiGiorgio filling out the sound with his bass work, Human makes for a refreshing experience while still staying true to Death’s foundational style and sound.

The late Sean Reinert on drums doesn’t necessarily bring the same reckless ferocity that Bill Andrews provided on Leprosy, but he’s a different class of musician than most. His and Masvidal’s contributions usher in hints of jazz that wouldn’t fully emerge in their work until the aforementioned Focus, but it makes for a unique quality that Human holds over the first three Death records. And Chuck himself is as fierce as ever; still very intelligible in his vocal delivery and still evolving as a musician next to the world class Masvidal. He still has traces of thrash metal in his playing but Human has far branched out since Scream Bloody Gore, and the progressive elements are far more prominent here.

As crazy as it sounds, Human might be Death’s least consistent album to date. This is more due to the fact that pretty much every song Chuck ever wrote was high quality, but the highs of this record certainly stand tall amongst the rest. There’s no misstep out of the gate though, the one-two punch of “Flattening of Emotions” and “Suicide Machine” is downright lethal. The second riff in “Flattening of Emotions” provides a lot of the jazzy flair which helps build Human’s character and the riffs are cycled in and out in dizzying manners while still remaining very attractive to the ear. Same can be said for the entire album really, but on “Suicide Machine” a more aggressive approach is taken. The rhythm section is the standout here, only DiGiorgio could come even close to overpowering the onslaught of guitar work from Chuck and Masvidal. Reinert’s percussion rhythms dance in and out of the other musician’s contributions that makes for a frantic display of musicianship which all comes together perfectly. “Together As One” is almost hypnotic with the construction of its main riff and has one of the easier choruses to follow along with. “Secret Face” isn’t necessarily as memorable as the first three tracks but the musicianship is undoubtedly still dazzling.

Side two of the record isn’t quite as strong but it’s held up by the incredible “Lack of Comprehension” which is among the best songs of middle era Death. Its acoustic dreamlike intro leads into one of the most powerful and rhythmic Death riffs and some of the most outlandish and exotic guitar work that the genre of death metal has ever provided to the world. For a song just under four minutes, its constant change in direction and pace is done incredibly well and it’s probably my favorite song from Human. I also appreciate “Cosmic Sea”; it might be my least favorite cut from the record but Chuck’s willingness to experiment with an instrumental that is very unique and atmospheric in comparison to the rest of the record needs to be acknowledged. It’s still technically flawless even if it’s always been a bit less memorable to me.

At about 34 minutes long, Human is Death’s shortest album. This is both a blessing and a curse. This record holds the lowest quantity of engaging ideas and writing centerpieces but they’re properly spread out with the shorter runtime. I’m a fan of how to-the-point Human is but Chuck is a great songwriter capable of filling up much more room than this album provides. It isn’t necessarily Death’s worst album but Human definitely feels like it could have had one more killer track to put it over the edge and slot it evenly next to the first three albums. It’s still a masterpiece, just an unfinished one.