THE SOUND OF PERSEVERANCE

Unfortunately, I became a fan of DEATH too late to fully realise their contribution to the metal scene and this was probably the album that mainly drew my interest. Unfortunately again, the man behind this band, Chuck Schuldiner, lost the battle with cancer at the peak of his career - at the point where The Sound of Perseverance by DEATH and The Fragile Art of Existence by CONTROL DENIED (Chuck's side project) were released.

This release seems to have the best production of all DEATH albums. The overall and each individual instrument's sound is 'crystal clear', something that is adding to the quality of the compositions. While the distortion of the guitars represents a more heavy/thrash rather than death metal sound, the way that the tracks are performed justifies the term technical thrash/death metal. The album clearly steps on its predecessor, Symbolic, and moves a step further to even more challenging and technically oriented compositions. In this album the influences are presented in a very wide range: from jazz/fusion (everywhere in the album) to straight heavy and thrash metal in the vein of Judas Priest and Metallica (e.g. Spirit Crusher).

The amount of guitar riffs performed in this release is just phenomenal - the number of changes within the songs hardly countable. The drum performance, though it's not Gene Hoglan this time but Richard Christy, is at the highest level - metal fusion at its best! The vocals are a bit more 'high-pitched' than before but the aggression is still there; a point where some prog fans need to be aware if they are to invest in this release. The moments that I personally enjoy more are the changes between classic heavy/thrash groovy riffs in tracks like 'Scavenger of human Sorrow' and 'Spirit Crusher'. The diversity of creative moments is evident throughout: more sophisticated mid-tempo riffs appear in 'Bite the Pain' and 'Story to Tell' while the beautiful acoustic 'Voice of the Soul' is a pleasant surprise; an expression of virtuosity, passion and musical brilliance.

Picking up from this last one, the variety of different speed levels within each track is at least impressive. Heavy slow passages interchange with thrashy high-speed riffs and bizarre fusion breaks. If I had to pick any weak points, I would say the vocals on the (otherwise very good) cover of Painkiller. However, this does not remove the tag of a masterpiece...

Prog fans of technical extreme metal (heavy/thrash/death) should already have it in their collection. Not recommended to those that dislike 'aggressive' vocals or any form of extreme metal.

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