THE SOUND OF PERSEVERANCE

When a band creates its greatest work, it also creates its greatest monster: This monster is the seemingly un-toppable work that all their fans will use for comparisons within the band's discography.

"X is a good album, but don't think it's as good as Y" "The band became terrible after they released Y" "I wished they did more albums like Y"

Death almost (I reiterate, almost) faced a similar situation when they released Symbolic: It just couldn't get better. All their fans proclaimed it as their master work (which is understandable) that would never be topped.

But I said almost. When The Sound Of Perseverance released, it seemed like the band didn't go one step forward like its three predecessors, but it didn't go one step backwards either. It continued Symbolic's trademark of heavy, technical riffs and melodic guitar solos, combined with some admirable progressive aspects and characteristics within Death Metal: It was just as good as Symbolic.

Most of the time I'm actually thankful that Death's discography ended with this album, because their discography is pretty much perfect, and this album really felt like a great closing statement within their list of albums.

Giving it five stars. It's my favorite album and, in my opinion, just as good and essential as the master work Symbolic.