Review Summary: The epitome of drawn out.
Death are a band that stood as a pillar of the death metal world throughout their career, releasing classic after classic. Scream Bloody Gore kick started the genre with its superbly aggressive sound, whilst works such as Human felt far more refined and slick. This is without mentioning the monolithic achievement that was Symbolic that captivated listeners across the board from the opening chord of the title track to the beautiful and prolonged outro to Perennial Quest. So where did it all go wrong for the band on what should have been Chuck's swansong entitled The Sound Of Perseverance?
To get right down to business, this album is certainly not lacking anything on the creative frontier. Many of these compositions are finely put together, from the guitar riffs on Scavenger Of Human Sorrow to the marvelous solo on Flesh And The Power It Holds. Chuck still showcases his fantastic ability to riff like no other at numerous points throughout this album. The latter of the two mentioned songs and Spirit Crusher are so unparalleled in majesty that they could easily be listed as two of the best songs the band had ever put out. The constant changes in sound on these two tracks show a lot of potential for this album that the band just falls massively short of.
The tracks are too drawn out and just drag on. Songs such as Bite The Pain feel needlessly long, whilst Scavenger just fails to go anywhere despite the powerful and rather intricate, technical guitar riffs. There are just not enough riffs and changes in drum patterns to spark such lengthu affairs and this is where the album primarily fails to pick up the mantle carried by the titanic album that was Symbolic. Another major factor in the failure is the vocal performance. Chuck's vocals had never been the strongest, ranging from average growl to abysmal shrieks that felt completely out of place. Here his screams are higher than ever and an annoying production job forces them right down your throat.
The Sound Of Perseverance is an album that occasionally matches and rarely eclipses the bands soaring past heights but for the most part this is mundane and uninspired.
