Symbolic

While Death excelled metal music by laying fundamental hands in popularizing death metal genre, they also helped crucially in fortifying the progressive/technical face of this music, and this record was indeed a potent brick in the erection of the subgenre. Death has always been the constant drive in my playlist and this 1995 album appears to be, according to me and many more, the best one from them. Their earlier releases may exceed to some, especially the death metal purists or those who think being technical is a contamination in death metal – yes Human, Scream Blood Gore, Leprosy etc. are truly milestones and I guess not a single album from the band has even shown a tiny fragment of weakness, but all things considering, Symbolic means a complete perfection to me.

Furnishing the emergence of death metal, with progressive aspects prevalent from the very beginning, after a while this Chuck Schuldiner band leaned more towards turning their music into something increasingly technical than before and this emphatically has a sizeable blow in a horde of today’s spawning progressive/technical death metal outfits. Still, technical here does not denote the dullness being done by most of these acts, who suffer a zero sense of feeling. Moreover, this album has concealed a huge expressiveness beneath it, which has been offered song after song, and one can finely admit that this is not progressive and technical just for the role of sounding complex. The songs here do sound a bit complex in structure, but isn’t as complex as Atheist, which may be a good facet here, as it has further supported the aforesaid ‘feel’ in a precise magnitude.

The mastermind Chuck Schuldiner has yet again struck this time with his more-than-amazing songwriting skills plus the raging shrieks. And the instruments are very much harmonizing with each others with a perfect match, thus forming a splendid sound. We can perceive this equally brutal and progressive as in earlier albums, with enlarged technicality and extra melody and thus forming a breathtaking experience.

The first track which is the title track is indeed an utterly good opener. The intro riff provides a typical Death gesture which assimilates into delightful slow and fast paces, and it may be no surprise to find the same passion streaming right till the end.

The guitar work by Schuldiner as well as Koelble is praiseworthy to a behemoth degree. Koelbe, as the second guitarist isn’t overshadowed at all by Schuldiner, and he has showed his own things at times, which are much interesting to get, in fact. The lead solos and fills are genuinely Schuldineresque (which synonyms to above-excellent). Likewise the bass guitar by Kelly Conlon is impressive, which is very much audible and he has given his own portion through the instrument here and there.

The drums by Gene Hoglan are substantial – his duty is presented with complex beatings, advancing progressions and fair technical constituents. Quite impressive job there by the drummer – really beautiful and powerful slamming, providing the equivalent extent of power to other instruments, and thanks to the production that the drums are heard as plainly and noticeably as they could possibly be.

Every track is made distinctly tremendous; there are so many moments to remember within the fifty minutes mark where each track has to offer one great thing or the other, or to be exact, to offer everything great. Take the expressively beautiful intro of “Empty Words”, the intro lead solo of “Sacred Serenity” or the relatively slower chorus part of “Zero Tolerance”, they all present genuine sentiments. However the principal highlight was the seventh track “Crystal Mountain”. This one may not be the most complex or technical one in the album, but surely is the track presenting few of the most wonderful moments in the album. Great song!

Now the vocals are familiar Schuldineresque again this time, but a little raspier and a little more high-pitched than before. Honestly, I am not a huge fan of his vocals but I am also not against them. His deliverances are truly strong and I guess his higher screams suit the lyrical themes perfectly. Well, could something liberated from a Chris Barnes throat mix well with songs like “Empty Words” and “Perennial Quest” in terms of their lyrical meanings?

The music revolves around old school death metal surfaces too, and the whole album is an incorporation of brutal melodies, as I would say. Death are obviously more melodic than most bands tagged as melodic ___ metal. Listen to the whole “Crystal Mountain” for this regard, this is what melody is meant to be but with equal heaviness and consequently in a brutal format. This is what makes Death different from other bands, which at times gets distracted with melody-crushing riffs, which still form a healthy synchronization between the segments.

This album most likely has the heaviest guitar-bass sound evident among the previous releases by the band, or for that matter. The reason – because the tones of everything are undeniably fine and this is much aided by the enormously improved production quality, which is no way near the preceding primitive degree. Everything is crystal clear and you can easily identify every note being hit.

As a whole, it is because of albums like these that Chuck Schuldiner is immortal. This is one flawless product.