Symbolic

This album along with "A Celebration of Guilt" by Arsis are my absolute death metal shrines and if you don't own this album you cant truly appreciate the original death metal powerhouse known as death. Most fans of Death would tell you that 1991's "Human" is the best Death album because it balances out the elements of both there death metal days and more progressive sound material of there later works. Although I do believe that "Human" is indeed a masterpiece I tend to lean more towards Deaths progressive material so this was a natural choice for me. This is also the album responsible for my introduction to death metal along with Morbid Angel's "Altars of Madness" so this album will always be an album that I treasure for that reason.

This album kicks off with the title track and is arguably the highlight of this album as it is responsible for one of Death's most memorable riffs and without a doubt one of Chuck's greatest solo's and if you know his material thats saying a lot. This album goes on with such classic Death songs as "Zero Tolerance" which is also one of Deaths most recognized songs due to the drum intro and once again epic solo by Chuck schuldiner and later a trade off solo with Chuck and Bobby Koelble. Other great tracks on the album include "Sacred Serenity", "Without Judgment", and my personal favorite the most popular track off this album which is "Crystal Mountain". Crystal Mountain is a classic song from start to finish and all its moments are great from the main riff to the tapping solo and the acoustic solo that ends the song Crystal Mountain is to me Deaths finest hour. Another one of my favorites on this album is the last track "Perennial Quest" which I think is a very underrated Death song.

If you know Death you know Chucks extremely high standards for for musical ability in all the members he brings in and "Symbolic" is no exception. For this album guitar god Andy LaRoque from King Diamond who played on "Individual Thought Patterns" was replaced with Bobby Koeble who did a more than ample job on this album. Also bass duties were taken over by Kelly Conlan who replaced Steve Digiorgio. However still on drum duties was Gene Hoglan who will forever be my favorite drummer for playing on my two favorite Death albums (though his work with Testament and Dark Angel wasn't to shabby either). Currently Gene is working with Dethklok and Fear Factory who will be putting out a new album soon with Gene on drums so be sure to check that out.

Of all the albums on this site that got perfect album reviews this one without a doubt deserved this review because it is a goddamn classic death metal album that changed the way I write my own music. Today Chuck Schuldiner is still my all time idol both in music and in life since he had such great philosophies on living life and just enjoying every moment of it. If you don't own this album already you need to go pick it up now because it's key to any metal collection.

RIP CHUCK 1967-2001

Standout tracks
"Symbolic"
"Zero Tolerance"
"Without Judgement"
"Crystal Mountain"
"Perennial Quest"