Death - The Sound Of Perseverance review
| Band: | Death |
| Album: | The Sound Of Perseverance |
| Style: | Progressive thrash metal |
| Release date: | August 31, 1998 |
| Guest review by: | K✞ulu |
Disc I
01. Scavenger Of Human Sorrow
02. Bite The Pain
03. Spirit Crusher
04. Story To Tell
05. Flesh And The Power It Holds
06. Voice Of The Soul
07. To Forgive Is To Suffer
08. A Moment Of Clarity
09. Painkiller [Judas Priest cover]
Disc II [Remastered version - CD 1] [2011 reissue bonus]
01. Spirit Crusher [No bass] ['98 demos]
02. Flesh And The Power It Holds [No bass] ['98 demos]
03. Voice Of The Soul [No bass] ['98 demos]
04. Bite The Pain ['98 demos]
05. A Moment Of Clarity ['98 demos]
06. Story To Tell ['98 demos]
07. Scavenger Of Human Sorrow ['98 demos]
08. Bite The Pain ['97 demos]
09. Story To Tell ['97 demos]
10. A Moment Of Clarity ['97 demos]
Disc III [Remastered version - CD 2] [2011 reissue bonus]
01. Bite The Pain ['96 demos]
02. Story To Tell ['96 demos]
03. A Moment Of Clarity ['96 demos]
04. Bite The Pain [Paul Payne vocals version] ['96 demos]
05. A Moment Of Clarity [Paul Payne vocals version] ['96 demos]
06. A Moment Of Clarity [Chuck vocals version] ['96 demos]
07. Story To Tell [Chuck vocals version] ['96 demos]
08. Bite The Pain [Shannon Hamm vocals version] ['96 demos]
09. A Moment Of Clarity [Instrumental] ['96 demos]
10. Bite The Pain [Instrumental] ['96 demos]
11. Story To Tell [Instrumental] ['96 demos]
12. Voice Of The Soul [Instrumental] ['96 demos]
13. A Moment Of Clarity [Instrumental] ['96 demos]
I'm not going to start this review with whining about how unfortunate we are for having lost Chuck Schuldiner back in 2001 and The Sound Of Perseverance being the last Death album. Chuck was a great musician indeed, but fate was too cruel to him, and he passed away. The legacy in form of his music though is with us, so let's talk about it.
After a regular - or almost conventional - line-up change in 1996, could you expect a bad album from Death in 1998? Of course not. Indeed, The Sound Of Perseverance is a decent continuation of their previous album Symbolic, maybe a little different, but definitely not disappointing, and a great album to savour every now and then. The progressive sound is still there, but the overall feel is that there is more aggression in music, lyrics, and vocals performance. Nonetheless, the lyrics traditionally remain very ambiguous, vague and with a lot of imagery, yet as usually they carry something that is deep, profound, and meaningful. Chuck's screaming has become "cleaner," more intense, and tighter compared to Symbolic, where it was deeper and more growl-like: an alteration noticeable enough to be mentioned. The production itself has become a little cleaner on this record (which is what Chuck zealously strived for), and is not too bad since the general sound is very qualitative. What hasn't undergone any changes is Chuck's sick (in a positive way) style of riffs, solos, and melody twists, which are all as brutal as ever. For instance, the first ten seconds of "Scavenger Of Human Sorrow," the first track on the record, already blow you away by the drum intro and berserk guitar riff.
The two real novelties on The Sound Of Perseverance are the presence of an instrumental entitled "Voice Of The Soul" and a cover. The last and only instrumental in the Death discography up until The Sound Of Perseverance was "Cosmic Sea" from the Human album, which was a very moody and depressive track with some keys overdubs. "Voice Of The Soul," on the other hand, is a song with an acoustic intro and rhythm sections, but a great distorted lead. This instrumental was a step to another level of the progressive sound of Death taken by Chuck. As far as the cover is concerned, Judas Priest's "Painkiller," it is so well played and sung that it's still hard to believe it was Chuck singing; plus, the sweeping part right before the first solo is just amazing and played differently than in the original piece. If you ask me "can there be a classic cover?", I will say yes because Death's cover is one.
By some considered as Death's best album, The Sound Of Perseverance is a good one to start listening to this legendary band from. Great riffs, incredible solos, insane drumming, violent and expressive lyrics, a few all-time favourites: these things are a concise description of this eminent creation of Chuck & co, but regretfully the last one. All we are left with is to enjoy it and "keep the metal face alive."
P.S. I can't help but say this: "R.I.P. Chuck Schuldiner (05.13.1976 - 12.13.2001)"
Rating breakdown
| Performance: | 10 |
| Songwriting: | 9 |
| Originality: | 10 |
| Production: | 9 |
Written by K✞ulu | 06.07.2008
Guest review disclaimer:
This is a guest review, which means it does not necessarily represent the point of view of the MS Staff.
This is a guest review, which means it does not necessarily represent the point of view of the MS Staff.
Rating:
9.9
9.9
|
Rating: 9.9 |
What started off from Individual Thought Patterns and continued through Symbolic as a slight progressive-thrash deviation for Death casts its full blown dominance in The Sound Of Perseverance. Just before Chuck goes out with his plans on Control Denied, this album comes out. It is very hard to single out highlight songs from an album with so many exquisite technical creations, nevertheless, "Scavenger OF Human Sorrow", "Spirit Crusher", "Voice Of the Soul", "Bite the Pain", "A Moment Of Clarity" stand out among the tracks. Listening to the whole album from beginning to the end is a downright MUST and also a request. Read more ›› |
Rating:
9.3
9.3
|
Rating: 9.3 |
What better name for a metal band? Especially one concentrating so fixedly on the snuffing out of life? The sonic blood-curdling career of mainman Chuck Schuldiner is one of the most celebrated in the development of death metal as a thrash sub-genre. Death were the daddies of this hack 'n' slay brand of guitar violence, and anyone with even the vaguest wish to count themselves as practitioners of extreme noise, from Carcass to Deicide, from Obituary to Cannibal Corpse, would count Schuldiner's unholy racket as a major influence. Read more ›› |
Guest review by
Yanko
Yanko
Rating:
10
10
|
Rating: 10 |
This is it. Finally, after more than 10 years of waiting, we have got It. The one, the only the true thrash metal album. Death have had six releases, have made some drastic changes in their style and have achieved it finally. Despite being labeled as the fathers of death metal, only their first album is truly death metal, mainly due to vocal abilities of main-man Chuck Schuldiner, who was never really a death vocal. His singing has steadily and gradually evolved into more and more shrieking, until now on this album we hear him really screaming. Not many people came to terms with it and have accepted, but it is what thrash metal is all about. Its most distinct feature are the vocals and Chuck has shown what thrash vocals should sound like. Screaming, aggressive, full of feeling, coming right from the heart. True thrash metal that is. Read more ›› |
Comments
Comments: 24
Visited by: 187 users
| Katatronik Angel of Lust Posts: 1018  |
MASTERPIECE! My favourite Death one, I prefer The Sound Of Perseverance to Symbolic...
---- "The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown." Howard Phillips Lovecraft
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| K✞ulu Seeker of Truth Posts: 2573  |
Man, this is the third time that you are being the first to start commenting on my reviews 
---- Savor what you feel and what you see Things that may not seem important now But may be tomorrow R.I.P. Chuck Schuldiner Satan was a Backstreet Boy
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| Katatronik Angel of Lust Posts: 1018 |
I'm fast as a shark! 
---- "The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown." Howard Phillips Lovecraft
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| K✞ulu Seeker of Truth Posts: 2573 |
actually you are not 'cause it was published yesterday, but on the other two yes... you were reacting pretty fast
---- Savor what you feel and what you see Things that may not seem important now But may be tomorrow R.I.P. Chuck Schuldiner Satan was a Backstreet Boy
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| Demonmayonnaise Posts: 362  |
This is one of my favorite albums ever. It gets played almost daily. Chuck's solos are amazing.
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| Elio Red Nightmare Posts: 4920  |
Written by Demonmayonnaise on 07.07.2008 at 20:02 it's not only for solos...lyrycs are fantastic....rarely i find something similar in death metal!
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| K✞ulu Seeker of Truth Posts: 2573 |
Written by Elio on 07.07.2008 at 21:32 For me a lot of Chuck's lyrics remain a mystery, I mean what he means by those words... But a lot are great too and sometimes one can guess.
---- Savor what you feel and what you see Things that may not seem important now But may be tomorrow R.I.P. Chuck Schuldiner Satan was a Backstreet Boy
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| Derelict Earth Posts: 259 |
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| dark awakening Posts: 574  |
great review, I totally agree. 
---- Baptized in a lake of acid tears...
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| K✞ulu Seeker of Truth Posts: 2573 |
gracie mille
---- Savor what you feel and what you see Things that may not seem important now But may be tomorrow R.I.P. Chuck Schuldiner Satan was a Backstreet Boy
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| Daggon Underpaid M.D. Posts: 1689  |
The First time I listened to this album I thought it was sickly boring, but now, after giving it a chance and after a well done analysis it became one of my favorites, simply fantastic, I don't know if people is allowed to make music so splendid like The Sound Of Perseverance, it should be illegal!!! hahaha. Chuck really was a great musician!!! Great review.
---- "Les vers savent qu'ils n'ont pas d'ailes, c'est pour cela qu'ils se cachent sous terre"
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| K✞ulu Seeker of Truth Posts: 2573 |
I really don't know how Death could bore some people, but somehow it just doesn't work for them. For me, this is a masterpiece.
---- Savor what you feel and what you see Things that may not seem important now But may be tomorrow R.I.P. Chuck Schuldiner Satan was a Backstreet Boy
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| X-Ray Rod Skandino Staff Posts: 18374  |
Written by [user id=5630] on 18.01.2009 at 05:12 I agree with this, I always "get something in the eye" every time I hear that instrumental. The solos are so inspired and emotional.
---- Written by BloodTears on 19.08.2011 at 18:29 Written by Milena on 20.06.2012 at 10:49
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| Elio Red Nightmare Posts: 4920 |
Written by [user id=5630] on 18.01.2009 at 05:12 Man you don't listen to music enough.
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| K✞ulu Seeker of Truth Posts: 2573 |
Written by Elio on 25.10.2009 at 17:28 Maybe he is not as EMOtional as other people  
---- Savor what you feel and what you see Things that may not seem important now But may be tomorrow R.I.P. Chuck Schuldiner Satan was a Backstreet Boy
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| nb Posts: 248  |
I was just listening to this album, I had not heard it in a long time. The music is incredible, and also incredibly complex, as in all Death albums. Chuck's voice however is a little different, his shrieks are very sharp compared to previous records, but it still sounds good.
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| SatyriconChick Posts: 248  |
Love the "Painkiller" cover on this album. The first time I heard it play on my iPod, I swear, I thought it was the original until the vocals came up.
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| Big-Al Posts: 548  |
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| K✞ulu Seeker of Truth Posts: 2573 |
Written by Big-Al on 11.12.2009 at 13:10 No, I haven't.
---- Savor what you feel and what you see Things that may not seem important now But may be tomorrow R.I.P. Chuck Schuldiner Satan was a Backstreet Boy
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| Big-Al Posts: 548 |
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| Demonmayonnaise Posts: 362 |
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| Marcel Hubregtse Grumpy Old Fuck Elite Posts: 40071  |
I am still crying my eyes out over this album when I compare it to their first three. What an incredible waste of death metal talent.
---- Member of the true crusade against European Flower Metal Yesterday is dead and gone, tomorrow is out of sight Dawn Crosby (r.i.p.) 05.04.1963 - 15.12.1996 
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