Symbolic

The first time I listened to Death's sixth album--like, really sat down and listened to it--I knew almost immediately that I would love it. It wasn't one of those quick love affairs, where you get super excited about the album right away but it wears out quickly. No, in the case of Symbolic, I liked it at first, but I could tell that it would only get better with subsequent listens; there was just so much going on, and I knew that there was a lot more waiting to be unearthed the next few times I dove in. But that the album was able to tell me that AND got me to fall in love with it on first listen is in itself an incredible feat. Sometimes it might be one or the other, but almost never BOTH at the same time!

On Symbolic, Chuck Schuldiner's progressive songwriting reached a perfect intersection with his technical ability. It's a hard-to-reach point, but when that balance was found, it's almost like he couldn't stop cranking out awesome music if he tried. And for nine songs, drummer Gene Hoglan, guitarist Bobby Koelble, and bassist Kelly Conlon all kept in perfect stride with Chuck's genius. Before this album, the band was almost at that point, but it felt like Schuldiner was still trying to figure out how to make his songs flow better; meanwhile, on The Sound of Perseverance, which came after Symbolic, the progressive and technical elements (in my opinion) were stretched out a bit too much to the point where they superseded songwriting. But on Symbolic, technicality and songwriting simultaneously meet together at a glorious summit, meshing together like yin and yang.

Two other elements on this album that mesh fantastically are Death's own unique sound and the sound of their influences. The band roars out at the listener in a new style all their own, but at the same time they don't forget their roots. Conlon's basslines in songs like "Sacred Serenity" harken back to Steve Harris' in Iron Maiden, while guitar solos leap and dance as wildly and gracefully as Glenn Tipton and K.K. Downing did in Judas Priest. At the same time, the band doesn't leave out its more extreme influences, throwing in thrashy tremolo-picked riffs reminiscent of Slayer and Kreator into every track. But Symbolic is neither a thrash nor NWOBHM worship album; it's Death being freaking DEATH. They mix their influences, either blending them or segregating them whenever it is most benefiting to do so. And Chuck/Death injects every song with the signature grit and rawness that he innovated so brilliantly, resulting in an album that is 100% influences and 100% Death.

What's so impressive about Death's blending of sounds on this album is how they can change tempo, tone, and mood on a dime, seamlessly, without ever interrupting the song's flow. "Crystal Mountain," one of Death’s best and most popular songs, bursts out of the gates immediately at the song's beginning with a pounding riff and matching drumbeat; but this only lasts for a few measures before the band switches to a softer passage, with haunting clean guitar and dreamy atmosphere. Completely different, and yet equally fun to listen to and still fitting to the song. Death continues to dance back and forth between these styles effortlessly in just that one song--not to mention the rest of the album. The heavy parts are groovy, wild, dynamic, you name it; and the softer parts, on top of creating atmosphere, provide stark contrast that accentuates the heaviness to come.

Lead guitar on Symbolic is especially unique. The role of the lead guitar is taken beyond that of solos and expanded into breaks, counterpoints, and melodies. In “Zero Tolerance,” Chuck’s vocals trade off with leads that accentuate the song’s atmosphere. Soon afterward, the song plunges into a long instrumental section featuring Schuldiner and Koelble dueling fiercely. Throughout the entire album, little moments pop up here and there where the lead guitar pokes in, as if through a metaphorical door in the back of the metaphorical room, and drops a beautiful passage that, while sometimes complex, never devolves into mindless technical noodling. And of course the actual solos are incredible too. Sometimes the song leads up to the solo and explodes in climax; sometimes the solo suddenly leaps out of nowhere. Either way, the solo always takes the listener on a wild adventure, each one standing out in its own uniqueness.

Have I worshiped this album enough yet? No? Excellent. One last thing--Chuck’s voice. Wow. It’s commonly discussed how much his band’s sound changed over the course of seven albums, but not as much discussed is how his vocals changed with them. Symbolic-era Chuck molded his Cookie Monster death growl from earlier days into something that was more human--halfway between a scream and a shout. There’s really no way to put it into words, you just have to listen to it. But it sounds more human, more real. It kind of fits the music and themes, too. Earlier Death was obsessed with typical death-metal horror-movie imagery; later on they moved to more contemplative topics--the general theme of Symbolic is achieving inner peace. It’s a bit more grounded in reality, and Chuck’s vocals sound a bit more real and human here. Of course, on The Sound of Perseverance, he’d take his vocals to the opposite banshee-like extreme; but here, just like everything else, the vocals work perfectly with every other facet of the music.

Well, I think I’ve just about gushed on this album as much as I possibly can at this point. There’s not a whole lot left to say besides that Symbolic retains a firm spot in my top five albums of all time. Probably somewhere around third or fourth place; I don’t think this unseats Master of Puppets or Rust In Peace, and it contends heavily with Reign In Blood, but it is still more than worthy of being in that kind of company. Every riff, lead break, solo, drum fill, and vocal performance is absolutely killer. No other album has as unique a blend of brutality, technicality, precision, emotion, and beauty as Symbolic by Death. While Chuck won’t ever grace us with another work like this, it’s still a worthy testament to his greatness and should stand tall as a classic for a long, long time.