The Sound of Perseverance

The Sound of Perseverance was my first Death album. I was 15 at the time, with the anatomical and mental maturity of the average 13 year old, and the uplifting, motivational themes of most of these songs struck a resonant chord with me. I listened to this quite a bit, and it was at the time one of the few death metal albums I could tolerate. Little did I know, however, of Death's true masterpieces - Scream Bloody Gore, Human, Individual Thought Patterns, and Symbolic. I deified this album, in a way, and I wrote a draft here heavily praising it. A few years later, let's see what I think of it...

Every band that exists for longer than a decade has a turning point where they stop releasing original classics and begin churning out self-derivative material, copying their own characteristics to appease devoted fans. From what I can tell, the Sound of Perseverance would have been the start of that had Death continued on. Maybe it was just a flop album, but the recycled riffs and pandering lyrical themes firmly tell me otherwise. Both "Scavenger of Human Sorrow" and "Voice of the Soul" (an instrumental which I will further explain later on) reuse riffs from "Out of Touch" from Individual Thought Patterns. Maybe this signals that the masterwork of Death's classic albums was ephemeral; something which had to have a logical conclusion - Symbolic. Instead, Sound of Perseverance perpetuates the same technical death metal sound beyond its farthest extent, rather than taking the band somewhere new.

Lack of originality aside, Death's final album still showcases the talents of the band. Amidst some of the shitty alternative rock inspired melodies that scream "90s", there is the same blistering technicality heard on prior albums. Listen to the way the opener "Scavenger of Human Sorrow" begins with insane drumming and shredding. Also expressed here is Death's softer side, which permeated the brutality in songs like "Crystal Mountain" on the previous album. "Voice of the Soul" is a three and a half minute long instrumental. It consists merely of a beautiful acoustic melody and layered lead guitar. It is somewhat minimalistic in regard to the instruments used, but with only guitars, a lot is accomplished in the way of creating a grandiloquent atmosphere. Easily the best song on the album, there is no understating what the listener will feel in this. Sadly, it is buried in the middle of Death's worst album.

Back on a negative note again, Chuck Schuldiner's vocals have continued their transition from deep growls to higher screams. I really liked his sound on the last album; the high end growls reminded me somewhat of David Vincent on Altars of Madness. They are even higher here, but they sound weak, as if his unfortunate illness was afflicting his voice early on. Maybe it's not his fault that the vocals here aren't up to Death's standard, but in any case they rub me the wrong way with their lack of charismatic aggression. Also lacking in aggression are some of the riffs. My least favorite is that alt rock melody from "Story to Tell". It's too soft for a death metal song, and it borders on melodeath territory to me. Riff wise, this album is really a mixed bag. As a final criticism, the album drags a bit, especially at the beginning and at the end due to its stylistic and thematic redundancy - the songs are very similar, and the lyrics seem to all cater to the same types of people-those who listen to nu-metal.

While The Sound of Perseverance is in no way a bad album, it no longer resonates with me, and I would go as far as to say that it is Death's worst release. That doesn't necessarily mean that the typical fan wouldn't enjoy it, in fact on the contrary. However, understand that this is not classic Death at its finest.