THE SOUND OF PERSEVERANCE

This is obviously one of the most amazing metal albums of all time. It's basically the perfect all-round metal album, and is a perfect representation of metal as a whole. It does an excellent job of combining many disparate styles into one: jazz, death metal, black metal (mostly in the vocals), thrash metal, progressive/technical metal.

No one plays like Chuck. No band sounded like Death. Their early work made them perhaps the most important death metal band around. Their later work made them one of the most important progressive bands around. The musicianship is extremely tight. And while some (very few) might view that as a bad thing, it actually works well in the case of this album. This music wasn't meant to be played legato. It's complex, but it's not overdone or hard to follow. And Death's song structure is anything BUT ordinary. The music doesn't often go in predictable routes. It's enough to keep you guessing. But at the same time, it's not overdone to the point where each song has has parts that are too unrelated. Each song on this album is still a song, and forms a coherent musical musical thought without wandering off track just so the musicians can show off. In other words, every riff and melody in each song fits the meaning and direction of that song.

This album is heavy, yet filled with intense emotion and meaning. Death has always done their own thing, and is not derivative in any way. Cheers to Chuck for writing an original and intensely well orchestrated masterpiece for the metal world to remember for years to come.