Band:	Death
Album:	Symbolic
Style:	Progressive death metal, Progressive thrash metal
Release date:	March 21, 1995
Guest review by:	K✞ulu

01. Symbolic
02. Zero Tolerance
03. Empty Words
04. Sacred Serenity
05. 1,000 Eyes
06. Without Judgement
07. Crystal Mountain
08. Misanthrope
09. Perennial Quest
10. Symbolic Acts [instrumental demo version]
11. Zero Tolerance [instrumental version]
12. Crystal Mountain [instrumental version]
13. Misanthrope [instrumental version]
14. Symbolic Acts [demo]

1995 was very generous to the metal world with its great releases. One of them was Death's 6th studio album called Symbolic, a true masterpiece and a classic without a doubt. Everything about this music piece impresses to the very marrow of the bones: the riffs, the leads, the bass, the drums, the lyrics and the vocals. The album is even more versatile and progressive than the previous two, with most songs running for over 5 minutes.

A distinctive feature of Death's music in the 90's was frequent tempo and melody changes and going more technical and progressive. On Symbolic the band continues producing the customary sound of Individual Thought Patterns and Human and reaches the peak of musical virtuosity resulting in an album of rare sound and quality. The presence of melodious interludes on such songs as Sacred Serenity, Without Judgment and the fast-paced Misanthrope can't leave one indifferent. The intro to Empty words echoes with the one to Destiny on the previous release while the postlude and the truly progressive solo on Perennial Quest show how diverse and unpredictable Death can be.

Let me stop on the solos for a little. When listening to Symbolic you hear the solos in every song - solos so creative that they just make me take my guitar and try to emulate them, which is next to impossible. Every solo played by Chuck and Bobby Koelble on the album contains some slow, melodic parts that are skillfully interwoven with lightning-fast shredding creating the signature Schuldiner style. Some of the greatest ones can be heard in Zero Tolerance and Crystal Mountain, but overall every solo on the record is smartly composed and matchlessly played.

The lyrics are a perfect reflection of the album title. Most songs' titles on the CD give you the idea what they are about, but the way the words are spoken in those songs make a listener speculate on the hidden meanings of the texts. The drums and the bass work perfectly together with the guitars emphasizing the sound, but never being excessive. Gene Hoglan plays the hell out of his double bass and snare on the songs like Symbolic, Without Judgment, and Misanthrope. Gene and Kelly also play a nice intro to Sacred Serenity.

Symbolic is 50 minutes of pure metal (whether it's progressive thrash or death, it doesn't matter) that never gets boring due to the genius of Chuck Schuldiner. It's Death's Opus Magnum, which deserves all the eulogy that there is.