Death - The Sound of Perseverance (Reissue)

One of the single greatest losses for metal music comes by way of Chuck Schuldiner’s untimely and tragic passing from brain stem cancer in 2001. In tribute to his genius and importance to the death metal movement, Relapse is reissuing the Death catalog with bonus a bonus CD filled with demos much like the Control Denied effort a couple of months back. For those hardcore fans like myself there’s also a numbered edition that has three CD’s worth of demos and outtakes that are worth their weight in gold. What Relapse is doing with these is wonderful, considering that in a world of Dimebag Darrell, Ronnie James Dio, Peter Steele and Gary Moore the ‘smaller’ genres of extreme metal are often overlooked.  

Let’s begin with the actual album, even though it’s nearly 13-years old. The Sound of Perseverance is one of the more technical sounding efforts of Chuck’s career, not necessarily relying on the ‘death metal’ of old and exploring new polished territory ala Coroner’s sound for example. You can also hear the Control Denied influence seeping over into this effort (or vice versa), but these are both happy advancements. What is most enjoyable about tracks like “Bite the Pain” is the absolute perfection Chuck used to garner such a viable, yet lush sound. The production on the album goes without saying that’s top-notch all the way, with Scott Clendenin’s bass so sweet in the mix, not to mention every other instrument carefully and scrupulously honed to a fine point. What the fanboy in me gushes over, the regular ‘fan’ tears apart, pieces back together and understands just how ahead of his time Chuck Schuldiner was and will remain.

The music herein is more of a cross between progressive and technical death metal, finding a nice nestling ground between the two sub-genres. Songs such as “Spirit Crusher”, “To Live is to Suffer” and “Flesh and the Power it Holds” define and set the bar for these two add-ons in the metal fold. If Chuck had to be taken from us too early, as he criminally was, then this was one hell of an album to leave us. Good Mother Nature, that ending ripping guitar riff in “Spirit Crusher” is a thousand times heavier than anything produced today on mass or miniscule scales! If you can’t be forced to bang your head to that little ditty of scale work, then just turn in your metal shirts and music collections (preferable to the Psalter crew and me). This says NOTHING of the absolutely amazing cover of “Painkiller” by Judas Priest that is included on the album. I go out on no real limbs by saying that this is one of the better covers of a Priest song that I’ve ever heard, and I’ve heard a hundred in my tenure as a Priest fan. When you think of a musician that could do very little wrong, Chuck Schuldiner is tops in the genre, no question. 

While Spiritual Healing and Human will probably remain Death’s signature work, one listen to the bonus materials on the two extra discs in the set might just change your mind (until those aforementioned discs are reissued as well). Rather than go track by track I’ll simply state that the demos and various re-workings are priceless to Death fans. Even for rough tracks hardly produced these are still of high quality, wonderfully listenable, and terrific blueprints of what was to become Death’s swan song. There’s various incarnations the tracks, some with vocals by Shannon Hamm and Paul Payne as well. These artifacts are nothing short of buried treasures not even seen in bootleg form all of these years, and here they are serving as remarkable historical pieces. There is crappy bootleg quality here with tape hiss, etc. These are just as enjoyable as anything on the CD, though simply not as ‘ready’ as the main attraction. It even has slightly revamped cover art, so, hey, that’s a bonus! You will not be disappointed in this effort, and I encourage you to get one of the 2,000 3XCD sets that are available only through Relapse’s mail order quickly as they are limited and will be gone very soon. 

It’s saddening for me to sit here right now and hold back this ache in my heart knowing that while he was recording these tracks he had that horrible entity growing on his brain stem, ready and willing to take him so young. Much like Freddie Mercury’s performance on Queen’s 1991 opus Innuendo, the Death performance we’re left with on Sound is so tremendously overwhelming that it’s hard to imagine he’s been gone for nearly a decade. We can thank Relapse for securing the rights and making the deals with the appropriate people to get these out there…and there’s more to come!

Thank you, Chuck. You’re hardly forgotten, my friend.          

Release Date: February 15, 2010
Label: Relapse Records

TRACK LISTING

DISC 1:  (Orig. TSOP re-mastered album)
1. Scavenger of Human Sorrow
2. Bite the Pain
3. Spirit Crusher
4. Story to Tell
5. Flesh and the Power It Holds
6. Voice of the Soul
7. To Forgive is to Suffer
8. A Moment of Clarity
9. Painkiller

DISC 2:
1. Spirit Crusher - 1998 Demos
                                                    (No Bass)
2. Flesh and the Power It Holds - 1998
                                      Demos (No Bass)
3. Voice of the Soul - 1998 Demos
                                                    (No Bass)
4. Bite the Pain - 1998 Demos
5. A Moment of Clarity - 1998 Demos
6. Story to Tell - 1998 Demos
7. Scavenger of Human Sorrow -
                                              1998 Demos
8. Bite the Pain - 1997 Demos
9. Story to Tell - 1997 Demos
10. A Moment of Clarity - 1997 Demos

DISC 3:
1. Bite the Pain - 1996 Demos
2. Story to Tell - 1996 Demos
3. A Moment of Clarity - 1996 Demos
4. Bite the Pain w/Paul Payne on vocals
                                               - 1996 Demos
5. A Moment of Clarity w/Paul Payne
                           on Vocals - 1996 Demos
6. A Moment of Clarity w/Chuck on
                                 vocals - 1996 Demos
7. Story to Tell w/Chuck on vocals -
                                                1996 Demos
8. Bite the Pain w/Shannon Hamm on
                                vocals - 1996 Demos
9. A Moment of Clarity - 1996 Demos
                                             (Instrumental)
10. Bite the Pain - 1996 Demos
                                             (Instrumental)
11. Story to Tell - 1996 Demos
                                             (Instrumental)
12. Voice of the Soul - 1996 Demos
                                             (Instrumental)
13. A Moment of Clarity - 1996 Demos
                                             (Instrumental)

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*Comments:

Reviewer: Chris

February 15, 2011

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