THE SOUND OF PERSEVERANCE

Death's Sound of Perseverence is probably one of the most progressive attempts at a straight up death metal album. Death is well known for their extreme metal innovation in the late '80s and early '90s. Sound of Perseverence is quite different, it's not about blasting heavy guitars with blast beats, this album is much more structured, musical, and technical than most death metal albums of it's time.

The vocals are not the gutteral growls that Chuck Schuldiner became so famous for, but they are much more like screams heard in melodic death metal bands like At the Gates or In Flames. the vocals may be too extreme to the average listener, but they have a clarity that most death metal albums do not have.

The guitars do some impressive work. Chuck Schuldiner and Shannon Hamm blend emotion and technique quite well. The album has dissonant melodies and precise soloing. The riffing is quite complex using quite unconventional rythymn figures. A true highlight is voice of the soul blending some acoustic and distorted tones togethor to create quite an instrumental piece.

The drums do some notable work too. Richard Christy does an excellent job of changing signatures and varying cymbals. It's quite technical drum work. The double bass is not typical extreme metal repeatition, but structured off and on beat precision. The fills are often and exciting. The drum tracks alone on this album are worth listening to.

The bass does some great stuff. For a death metal band, Scott Clendinon strays from root notes, and moves in and out of fills and time signature making the bass an excellent listen. The bass is a unique highlight from a genre that doesn't emphasize much bottom end technique.

The production is great. The extreme screams are clear and audible, a pleasant suprise. The guitar tones are strong and variant. The drums are crisp, clear, and powerful. The bass is potent enough to cut through this mix of powerful drums and a wall of guitars. I have no complaints from producer Jim Morris and Morrisound studios on this album.

Is this album progressive, definately. The album shows class musicianship and variation. The emotion is a rarity for extreme metal. The late Chuck Schuldiner made an album that has certainly touched all fans of his genre and many others. All in all this is quite possibly the best effort from a Florida Death Metal band to produce an album of progressive stature. Why not five stars then, as good as it is, it's not perfect. The compositions could be longer and more complete. I feel that as variant and precise the compositions are they lack the length to give a sense of completion.

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