The Sound of Perseverance

As the years went on, Chuck Schuldiner’s styles and influences continued to change and become more progressive. The early Death albums are always going to be hailed as death metal classics, and the later work gets credited as some of the best technical and progressive extreme metal ever released. The Sound of Perseverance is so far down the rabbit hole of progressive styling that I’d label this a progressive metal album before I call it a death metal album. The quality is pretty much the only remaining characteristic of prior releases with even Chuck’s vocals transitioning from a harsh death growl to a raspy shriek. The music at hand is still very aggressive but the transformation of Death’s sound is massive, and it doesn’t at all surprise me that Chuck’s next project was a full on prog attack as Control Denied.

While some purists may write TSOP off as the black sheep of Death’s discography, there’s no denying that Chuck cooked up some of the most incredible guitar riffs of his career for this record. The opening track “Scavenger of Human Sorrow” sets the standard early, with a killer main riff complemented by build up and transitionary pieces which make the track highly engaging for all seven minutes of its runtime. Other examples include “Bite the Pain” with its more serrated riffing style and melodic intertwinement of bass and rhythm guitar, complete with stop and start sections of orgasmic melody. “Flesh and the Power It Holds” is another prime example; it’s the album’s longest track at 8:26 but it’s a proggy piece of melodic death metal perfection with the centric riffs driving the song along at a nice chug, building tension flawlessly. The acoustic break in the middle does this just as well, and the song picks up all of its momentum again in time for the last two minutes. Chuck’s ability to produce ear worm riffs and choruses (if you can even call them that) is unfathomable. And it was a bit of a slow grower for me but “Story to Tell” really holds its own nowadays against the other tracks that I seemed to have on repeat more often back when I discovered Death. There’s some classical flourishes in the guitar work from Chuck that I can’t wrap my head around: how did he manage to integrate all of his inspirations into his catalogue so beautifully?

His most inspiring guitar work in my humble opinion comes on “Spirit Crusher” which boasts an insanely hypnotic opening riff. It’s groovy and layered, and flows nicely under the verses. But it’s the riff after the bridge in this track (and repeated at the end of the song) that really blows my mind; to this day I can’t think of another singular Death riff that stuck out so much to me on first listen for its uniqueness and frenetic pace.

I’m definitely a fan of the instrumental “Voice of the Soul” for its acoustic use, but generally I’m not quite as high on the second half of TSOP as I am the first. The “Painkiller” cover is an absolutely insane finale and it does the original Judas Priest track justice but it still doesn’t really hold a candle to first half classics. There’s definitely a small but outspoken part of the Death community that feels TSOP has some unnecessary noodling due to over ambition. I wouldn’t call any of the material on display here “unnecessary” but Chuck’s second half experiments don’t always hit the mark the way they do in the first half of the runtime. Even so, “To Forgive Is to Suffer” and “A Moment of Clarity” have their moments and times to shine thanks to Chuck’s memorable guitar work.

TSOP may very well be the least consistent of Death’s records. It’s pretty top heavy and likely has the lowest lows (still very high lows) but this doesn’t make it a less than stellar album. It’s definitely the most ambitious and it nearly always hits the mark, but for me I find it in the bottom half of this flawless catalogue, especially considering albums like Individual Thought Patterns opt for less ambitious songwriting but provide such densely woven rhythms and technicality that it makes parts of TSOP feel too empty in comparison. I’ve given this record countless listens and I recognize it in and out just like the six that came before and I can confidently say that even as one of Death’s “weaker” moments, the band still went out on a high note. Chuck Schuldiner’s career may not have lasted long past this point due to his tragic death in 2001 but his legacy was set in stone long before he left us. There’s a strong argument for Death being the best metal band of all time, not just of the genre it created and I’m open ears to that argument all day. Some days I may even find myself advocating for it.