The Sound of Perseverance

Before fully entering with the elements and factors that I will expose here about this album, I think I need to say that this Death's sound is entirely different from their other releases, so I strongly recommend you, dear reader, that if you start listen to Death from here, maybe you will encounter a different idea about any comments you read on the internet or from another metalheads, so, I think is a good idea that you start listen the old Death and the reasons of that will be explained here in my opinion; and when you're ready, enjoy this awesome album as it should be.

When I discover Death about 10 years ago, I was hooked immediately because the high quality of their sound, Chuck vocals and talent of this "Father of death metal". Also, the moment of listening The Sound of Perseverance finally came and I really think that, at this time, Death was not even a shadow of it was in their first ages, but it can be negated that this production has a very skillful musicians playing their instruments with high accuracy and a lot of superb riffs.

In terms of music quality, the mastering, mixing, recording and that studio stuff was very well done in this one. Compared to the other release, is obviously that they improved exceedingly the quality. Additionally, all the instruments were recorded very well, the guitars, bass and drums can be heard perfectly. I think that maybe the bass could have more presence here but, it is a little element. Also, Chuck was characterized for looking for a very skillful musicians that satisfy his music style and proposals, for that reason, in this case, Richard, Shanon and Scott were the right ones to capture the Chuck's ideas, especially, the high ability of Richard Christy to play the drums, this man is a fucking machine, tempo changes, consistent double bass drum like in "Bite the Pain for example and absolute domain if his instrument. Shannon and Scott are also a very capable musicians and if you ask me, they have done an excellent job on this album too, feeding the album with a perfect sound, characteristic of progressive death metal bands.

At this point, why I say that you need to start listen to older Death's albums, simple, from the beginning, Death was a pure death metal band and I always think that when Death was founded, Chuck was almost a teenager so, from Scream Bloody Gore to this album, you can appreciate the Chuck evolution of his band and point of view about death metal in general, for that reason, I recommend to listen their albums in chronological order, to fully enjoy the evolution of Death and to realize why Death becomes the band that produce The Sound of Perseverance. The changes that they suffer with time and the sound of every album allows you to understand what Chuck wants for his music and why he constantly change the members of the band till reach the sound he wants.

It is true that The Sound of Perseverance is not "pure" death metal and their sound is more progressive, giving to the band a new way to play music separated from Death's original idea. But, this makes The Sound of Perseverance a bad album, not exactly, why? Because Chuck made good music, even if he changes the initial idea of his band, maintaining the line of making death metal in a different way.

But, unfortunately, not all in this album ere good things, Death committed some errors and are things that could be better or even, they could erase for this album, what are those things? First, in this production you can hear the very damaged Chuck's vocals that are nearly compared to black metal singers, giving to the album a different sound that doesn't fill at all. Second, in my opinion, I think that Chuck could do a better job writing the lyrics for this album, although the lyrics have a deep message, if you pay attention to each song lyric, you will realize that are not so deep and coherent. Third, a song like Voice of the Soul (that is a fucking masterpiece, really) could be included as a bonus track or something like that, because you are used to listen fast metal and headbanging riffs from the other release and The Sound of Perseverance is not the exception, for that reason, I think this song shouldn't be on this album as a regular song. And fourth, I have the idea that The Sound of Perseverance shouldn't be released as a Death album, I prefer to listen this one as a Control Denied album, Death finished their career in Symbolic, was not necessary to release another album, especially with Chuck's vocals so damaged at that time but, it can be negated that exceed my expectation and ended up being an awesome release.

To finish, Death always be a must-listen band for all metalheads and it doesn't matter if in the end, Death doesn't like you, is part of the death metal and metal (in general) history, Chuck became a pioneer and left a legacy of what metal is nowadays. I know that this is not their best album, but give it a chance, I know that even if you are more old Death fan, you will enjoy this production. Additionally, I want to recommend the songs that I consider the best ones: Scavenger of Human Sorrow, Spirit Crusher and Flesh and the Power It Holds (my favourite).