The Sound of Perseverance

Few bands have perfect discographies. Death is one of those bands. All of their albums are awesome, and each one pushed death metal into new territories. Chuck and crew always were one step ahead of their competition, and this album is no exception, as they take things to a new level of complexity.

From the beginning, the drum intro of "Scavenger of Human Sorrow", you know this is going to be a good album. When the lead guitar kicks in, you know this will be something more than just a good album. Finally, Chucks vocals come in, and you finally realize what kind of awesome quality you're in for on this disk. With Chuck's songwriting talent in full flight, and the extremely talented band working at full force, there isn't a moment here that feels wasted.

This album is even more progressive than the last, and this is both its biggest strength in terms of quality, and what makes the album matter. This proved just HOW progressive death metal could get and still be good. With each album, Death got more progressive, but here they take it as far as perhaps possible. This progressiveness works everywhere on this LP, but the songs "Spirit Crusher", "Flesh and the Power it Holds", and "Story to Tell" are pure magic, mostly due to their progressive tendencies.

This is an album that draws from a creative pool, filled with Watchtower, Atheist, and Cynic, but is still 100%, unadulterated Death. There is no way to confuse this album for someone else's. If you have heard Death before, you'll be able to tell who's album this is. For an album to so clearly build off other bands work, yet have an identity completely its own is quite rare. No one can truly imitate Death. This is what makes Death so... them, their sound has been copied, but never reproduced at anywhere near the quality of what the band themselves made.

This is an album that requires your full attention to really appreciate. Even the instrumental "Voice of the Soul" can't fully be understood unless the listener is dedicated to listening to it. Few Death metal vocalist can sound as evil as Chuck, yet still be understandable. Being one of the few death metal bands where a person can know what is being said without having to look at a lyric sheet is a huge bonus, this also makes claims that no one can understand death metal lyrics moot for this record. This also means that you can focus on the music and still know the lyrics, allowing you to appreciate both the music and the lyrics, something quite special.

I feel a whole paragraph is needed to honor the greatest cover ever, Death's cover of Judas Priest's Painkiller. What can be said about this cover that hasn't been said by so many before me. It has Chuck's best vocal performance, kicking off with a scream, who's qualities can be used to describe the rest of the songs vocals, that is equally death metal as it is power metal. Just as beautiful as it is raspy. Chuck screeches his way though this song, and I think it would make Rob Halford proud. Not to mention the rest of the band does a great job with the music, it is both faster, heavier, and ever so slightly different so it doesn't just seem like a redone version of the song, it almost feels like a different song entirely. Guitarist Shannon Hamm, bassist Scott Clendenin, and drummer Richard Christy (of course with Chuck) form what is without a doubt the single best line up of Death, and one of the most technically skilled line ups found in any band ever.

I think if any single person was responsible for the explosion of death metal during the 90's, Evil Chuck (R.I.P.) would be as good an answer as any. His beyond impressive vocal skills, and his godlike guitar abilities made Death a band impossible to match. As I am 15, I never got the chance to see Death live, but the YouTube videos I've seen of their performances were quite impressive. Few bands this technical can actually play the stuff they write well live, but Death could. This paired with his unrivaled songwriting talent made Death, and death metal, a force to be reckoned with. Their complexity and intellectual lyrics (should have) put to rest claims of metal being the musical choice of imbeciles.

This is an album fans of Spastic Ink will like just as much as fans of Cannibal Corpse will like, assuming they have some appreciation for the other bands sub-genre. This is Death at their best. This is death metal at its best. This is a metal classic in every way, and is a necessary purchase. If you call yourself a fan of extreme metal, you can't go though your life and not have heard this album at least once, and I would find it hard to believe if you didn't love every second of this awesome, awesome album.