When Chuck
passed away on the 13th of December 2001, the world lost one of its most gifted
and influential musicians. It is our fortune that he, despite his passing at
such an early age, left us with a substantial catalogue of music. The
development of Chuck and his music from the debut, 'Scream Bloody Gore', to this
album, 'The Sound of Perseverance', which will be re-issued by Relapse Records
shortly, was immense and a true ride for us fans. Every album would bring new,
amazing riffs and mark new ground covered for Schuldiner and his ever-changing
crew.
'The Sound of Perseverance' also saw Chuck entering new territory when it was
released in 1998. The band was in actual fact the same as the much more melodic
Control Denied project, but the style nothing like it. 'The Sound' was probably
the most aggressive Death album and many were surprised to hear Chuck's voice on
the album. His growl had changed and taken on the character of a more shrill
gnarling if you like. I remember it took some time to get used to the new Chuck.
But it was worth it.
Like it was the case with its predecessors, the music of this album showed the
indeniably great musical talent of Schuldiner and his capabilities as a song
writer. Complex, diverse and hard hitting patterns. Intelligent and
thought-through, yet chrushingly heavy with a major progressive side to it.
My favourite songs on this album were always the title track, Bite the Pain,
Spirit Crusher and Flesh And The Power It Holds. This remains true now that I
revisit the album upon the re-release. This doesn't mean that the remaining
songs are weak. Far from it. Voice of the Soul is a beautiful instrumental piece.
To Forgive Is the Suffer is a crushing piece. A Moment of Clarity throws punches
of heavy metal and thrash inspired heaviness and the Painkiller cover is
legendary.
The re-issue comes with an additional disc that contains the demos of all the
songs that would eventually become the album. As it is usually the case, this
kind of material is only relevant for the geeks and fanatics. I find it
relevant.
It is interesting to hear songs like Spirit Chrusher and Flesh... without
Chuck's vocal and to realise even more just how strong these tunes are. Bite the
Pain and A Moment of Clarity feature an even more crude and agonised vocal by
Chuck. Otherwise, you can muse over the funny drum sound, the lack of bass on
some songs and the odd guitar that falls out because of the lack of mix. As I
said - you have to be a fan to appreciate this!
This re-issue is an obvious opportunity for those who live in ignorance about
the greatness of Death and Chuck Schuldiner's legacy to finally behold the power
it holds!
