DEATH — Human (review)

DEATH — Human album cover Album · 1991 · Technical Death Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
5/5 ·
Time Signature
Together two as one...

Genre: progressive/technical death metal

One of the things I like about "Human" is that it is way more complex and innovative than its predecessors, and the level of proficiency and execution much higher - yet it has one of the most brutal sound productions I have ever heard - especially the distortion of the guitars which has a lot of bottom and just enough edge to prevent the sound from becoming messy, is so brutal that, when the guitar riff kicks in on the first track "Flattening of Emotions", it is almost scary. The downside is that the bass is almost inaudible at times.

With Cynic musicians Paul Masvidal and Sean Reinert as well as bass wizard Steve DiGiorgio in the line-up, Schuldiner finally cooperated with musicians who were at his own level of proficiency (or perhaps even above his level of proficiency at the time - Masvidal has described the songs on "Human" as easy to play compared to Cynic's material). I certainly do think that its was through working with musicians like these that Chuck Schuldiner finally realized the musical vision that is weakly evident on "Leprosy" and more so on "Spiritual Healing".

In terms of compositional complexity and dynamics, the level is more or less the same as on "Spiritual Healing" (well, probably a bit higher), but the level of musical ability and awareness from the band is so much higher than it would be unfair to "Spiritual Healing" to even start comparing them. It's the fact that the musicians are now able to execute Schuldiner's ideas, I think, which has caused "Human" to be considered the conception of progressive death metal; I tend to agree.

Highlights are "Flattening of Emotions", "Suicide Machine", "Lack of Comprehension" and the fusion-jazzy "Cosmic Sea".

"Human", I think, is the first of four consecutive progressive death metal masterpieces, and I recommend it to any fan of technical death metal and progressive metal.
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