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: | metaniac |
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]
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.
Striking tempo changes within each track with a dash of thrash along with trade mark Chuck growls which have gone high pitched and with more clarity compared to other albums, also worth mentioning are the track timings reaching an average of 6 minutes, longer compared to other albums. Still at no point in the album does it feel like the songs are pulling off a drag, every note sounds fresh with many riff structure changes within each song giving the artists a lot of room for display of their technical prowess. Solos within each track are breathtakingly creative, all credits to Shannon Hamm on the guitars. Drumming patterns perfected by Richard Christ which also change continuously as seen in "Spirit Crusher" and "Bite The Pain". Similar to Symbolic the lyrics have deep meaning attached to them which might look vague. This album also holds the best ever creation ever by Death, "Spirit Crusher". The acoustic guitars on "Voice Of the Soul"(instrumental) are fantastically fresh like a continuation off the solo from "Flesh and The Power It Holds ", what a classic it turns out to be. A creation straight from Chuck's heart, no doubt a cry from his soul. Even though the Judas Priest cover "Painkiller" looks like a slight mediocre attempt, it has to be realized that Death rather paid more attention on making the song their own than something similar to original. I dare say they could have done a better job than Judas Priest themselves though matching Rob Hallford's vocal could be bit of a stand off. The production values for this album are also quite commendable. It would be unjust not to give this album maximum rating,
All in all, Charles "Chuck" Schuldiner is a legend and this progressive thrash/(death) metal masterpiece of his is going to go down into history as the very definition of prog-thrash(death) metal. As Chuck said: "For anyone with a dream, this album is for you!".
Rating breakdown
| Performance: | 10 |
| Songwriting: | 10 |
| Originality: | 10 |
| Production: | 10 |
Written by metaniac | 28.10.2010
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:
9.5
9.5
|
Rating: 9.5 |
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. 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: 18
Visited by: 174 users
| vezzy Stallmanite Posts: 3493  |
All things aside, it's a very good album, though not a lot of it strikes me as death metal.
---- Licensed under the GPLv3. Relinquish proprietary software for a greater GNU/America.
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| iMorphball Posts: 285  |
" Performance: 10 Songwriting: 10 Originality: 10 Production: 10 " 9.9?
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| K✞ulu Seeker of Truth Posts: 2573  |
Written by iMorphball on 28.10.2010 at 17:41 lol
---- 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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| Uirapuru Liver Failure Posts: 2955  |
Let's go boys! We're very close to surpass Wintersun in number of overrated fanboyish reviews. o/ yip yip
----  ---- member of the true crusade against old school heavy metal, early 80s thrash, NWOBHM, traditional doom, first and second wave black metal, old school death metal, US power metal, 70s prog rock and atmospheric doomsludgestoner. o/
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| metaniac Posts: 12  |
My first review... might got a little carried away... now that i have come so far also into exploring and experiencing all genres of metal including the recent DJENT genre..i'm gonna set my views to be rather a little more critical...thanks for your response(s)...
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| metaniac Posts: 12 |
ALL : I wrote this a couple of months past...i've been off this site due to My Educational organizations websense filter...now that i'm on route back and have gained a lot more technical info and know how....(currenty playin drums for my college band HIGHWAY 67).. the errors would be appropriately dealt with...
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| K✞ulu Seeker of Truth Posts: 2573 |
Disagree on two points: 1. Spirit Crusher being their best creation (you should add "in my opinion" when making such statements). For me basically each song on Symbolic is better than Spirit Crusher + Scavenger of Human Sorrow itself is a better contender for that title. 2. The Painkiller cover being average. I said it in my own review, but I'll repeat a few things. Painkiller has got to be one of the best covers I've ever heard in my life. While one could argue that the solo work is better in the original version, you just can't disregard Chuck's outstanding vocal performance. It's unbelievable. P.S. By the way, the drummer's name is Richard Christy, no Christ. It's a typo I know. 
---- 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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| BitterCOld The Ancient One Admin Posts: 15287  |
First thought on the review - if we already have two 9.5+ fanboi guest reviews for an album, and you are also going to score it a 9.5+... pick another album. otherwise the review is absolutely superfluous and offers nothing new but the same gushing that others already have. and i found this album to be, by far, my least favorite death album. whereas Symbolic is one of my all-time favorites for the nice balance between aggression and skill, combined with production that worked... this didn't measure up at all. just rubbed me entirely the wrong way.
---- get the fuck off my lawn. Beer Bug Virus Spotify Playlist crafted by Nikarg and I. Feel free to tune in and add some pertinent metal tunes!
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| K✞ulu Seeker of Truth Posts: 2573 |
Written by BitterCOld on 28.10.2010 at 18:43 While I agree that there is no point in writing the third review of the same album and give it a similar description and scoring, I wonder: do you consider every review scored with 9.5+ fanboyish?
---- 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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| BitterCOld The Ancient One Admin Posts: 15287 |
Written by K✞ulu on 28.10.2010 at 18:52 every one? no. but for initial review to be 9.9 or for someone with multiple reviews all above 9... for the most part, yes. i realize must guest submissions are people writing about their favorite albums, so i do wonder at some of the objectivity. if someone has a track record of 7's and 8's... then calls something a 9.5, it is clear to me this album must be a standout. i'm also a guy who proofs reviews, so there are far too many days when i open the queue and see six or eight reviews lined up, all 9.2+. i have "9 Fatigue".
---- get the fuck off my lawn. Beer Bug Virus Spotify Playlist crafted by Nikarg and I. Feel free to tune in and add some pertinent metal tunes!
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| Mad Mike Posts: 163  |
I absolutely adore the Priest cover... THAT'S HOW YOU SHOULD COVER A SONG!!! They took what was already a classic tune and made it their own, kinda like how Metallica did with Am I Evil. Nowadays whenever bands try to cover songs it's an epic fucking fail (*cough* six feet under *cough*).
---- Did you ever notice that the people who tell you to get a life are normally people who should be dead in the first place?
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| demonseed Posts: 58  |
Great album but the Judas Priest cover must be the worst ever.
---- A Servant in Heaven A King in Hell
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| UnknownCheese Posts: 205 |
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| K✞ulu Seeker of Truth Posts: 2573 |
Written by BitterCOld on 28.10.2010 at 19:22 Well, it's natural to write your first review about an album you really like. Your first review here has a 9.5 rating. Is it a fanboyish review? And what the heck does that word even mean? Now, what's wrong with writing about your favorite albums? I mean if you give something a 9, it already makes it one of your favorite albums (in most cases). And what is this talk about objectivity? It's like... I don't really like this album, but it's awesome for some category of people, so I will give it a 9, or vice versa: this album is absolutely brilliant, but that is my own subjective (unfair) opinion, so I should not write a review about it and not give it a 9. It's always YOUR opinion. It doesn't work any other way. Written by BitterCOld on 28.10.2010 at 19:22 if someone has a track of average ratings, and then rates something with 9.5, it has all the chances in the world to be "fanboyish" and not "objective" in your own words and with your own reasoning. Those 7's and 8's don't really matter. You will still here someone subjective opinion. Written by BitterCOld on 28.10.2010 at 19:22 As I said before, it's normal for people to write reviews of their favorite albums. Each person has his/her own way of perceiving music, and this person might see something about a particular album that you or I don't. Then he/she tries to share his view about the album. After all, there is no objective truth in music. So rating an album with 9.5 is just as legit as rating it with 3. To each his own. You have to take into account that each person's opinion is formed through his/her unique experience with music (and not only) that a particular person has had, which is not so easy to track. So all we are left with is to respect someone's view on a particular piece of music and maybe - if we really want to - to try to understand this view.
---- 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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| BitterCOld The Ancient One Admin Posts: 15287 |
Taking to pms as this is horribly off-topic, even if scintillating.
---- get the fuck off my lawn. Beer Bug Virus Spotify Playlist crafted by Nikarg and I. Feel free to tune in and add some pertinent metal tunes!
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| ScreamingSteelUS Editor-in-Chief Admin Posts: 5923  |
I fully support the 9.9 rating. In fact, I might do you one better and add a 0.1 to that. This is without a doubt one of my favorite albums of all time.
---- "Earth is small and I hate it" - Lum Invader I'm the Agent of Steel.
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| Marcel Hubregtse Grumpy Old Fuck Elite Posts: 40071  |
Imo the worst and by far most overrated (like a lot of Death's stuff) Death album out there. it's way too safe and missing the edge the first four-five albums had. this is playong to what the fans want to hear and pushing the envelope like they did earlier on. Btw this is also Chuck's worst vocal delivery by far. Here he sounds like Death Metal's Dani Filth... Donald Duck eat your heart out.
---- 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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| @gent_-_orange Posts: 905  |
Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 19.04.2011 at 01:49 Agreed... This and symbolic are certainly the worst in deaths discography (for me at least) with those two albums death put the focus solely on being technical and progressive... and the song writing suffers for it IMO.
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