THE SOUND OF PERSEVERANCE

It's hard to tell which one of Death's albums is the biggest anthem to Chuck's genius. From Individual Thought Patterns onward, each of the Death albums to me are close to the ultimate music experience: Constantly shifting tempos and structures, catchy and aggressive riffing and beautiful melodies that require more than one spin in the CD-player to fully appreciate. Chuck's death grunts are an added bonus to me, adding a nice aggressive edge to his razor sharp lyrics, although I realise that many of the ProgArchives visitors despise death grunts. Their loss! :-)

Concerning Perseverance: This is the last official Death studio album before his tragic demise, and a feast it is! Tracks 1 thru 7 are all of an incredibly high level, blistering riffs, ankle-breaking rythm changes, and a beautifully crisp and transparent production. Listen to the full stop breaks in Story to tell, for instance. Turn up the stereo and listen to the detail as the bass guitar dies out. Or check out the opening track, Scavenger of human sorrow. Wow! Among all the aggression, the instrumental Voice of the soul is a thrilling break in the stride with its breathy guitar solos. The last two tracks, A moment of clarity and the Priest-cover Painkiller are a couple of notches below the rest, and in my opinion the album would have been better off without them. Nevertheless, it doesn't get much better than this, and if you are interested in digging into Death's discography, TSOP is a great way to start! If you don't like this one, don't bother trying out the others. May you all see the light!