Review of the Album the Sound of Perseverance the Last Musical Work by Guitarist Chuck Schuldiner's Band Death

The Sound of Perseverance is the last musical work by Chuck Schuldiner and his Florida death metal band Death. It would not be proper to not review this album. Fans around the world need to know about this 1998 album and how this was as his last work. Personally, I would have chosen a different band name but that’s what was decided in naming this band. Chuck treated this as his band which it essentially was because there have been different band members throughout the years that have contributed to this “project.” I put project in parentheses to signify that this was like a solo project in a sense without actually being a solo project. Playing the drums on this album is Richard Christy. Don't allow the album's title to throw you off because it might as well be considered a pretty darn good album considering how talented of a guitarist Chuck was.

There is also an instrumental song on this album called Voice of the Soul. The song is progressive in nature while also showing a classical influence. There is a mix of acoustic and lead guitars. It is my belief that Chuck Schuldiner was one of the finest American born heavy metal guitarists and he had no less talent than guitarists such as Dave Mustaine or Marty Friedman. But due to his unfortunate passing, he did not accomplish as much as he could have. There is also a cover version of Judas Priest’s Painkiller song. The cover version is pretty good featuring some falsetto like screams by Chuck. This is a fitting way for Chuck to have finished his career by accident because I don’t even think he would have wanted to have an end to his life.

The first song called Scavenger of Human Sorrow is a song that describes a person that will go through whatever they can to cause pain and sorrow on others because of their sick obsession to control others and spread their misery. The song slows down as we hear this progressive influenced guitar and bass. In the song called Bite the Pain, the song speeds up to sound like a thrash metal song as you can hear the bass which complements the song nicely. Once again, the lyrics focus on the flaws of human nature. Some humans will go to whatever length they can to make life harder on others, sometimes becoming criminals. The song Spirit Crusher starts with some bass guitar as Chuck’s vocals take over.

The melodic song called Story to Tell might as well describe that every person has a life experience, a story to tell. If we just remove our ability to judge that other person and try to understand that they also have had their trials and tribulations in life. I don’t know if Chuck foretold his own death by writing this song but even he knew that there is an end for all of us as we will depart from this world.

The song called Flesh and the Power it Holds is a song that describes what it is like when we inhabit this human body. There is pleasure as well as pain in this life. We have our senses such as touch, taste, smell, and the ability to breathe. The strongest songs in The Sound of Perseverance are Scavenger of Human Sorrow, Bite the Pain, Spirit Crusher, and Voice of the Soul. The album would get no less than 85 points out of 100. Voice of the Soul has an acoustic part that reminds me of the song called The One That Got Away. That song is a great song but once again, this is an example of Chuck Schuldiner having influenced other artists and that’s one more reason to have reviewed The Sound of Perseverance.

Sadly, for Chuck Schuldiner, this album would be the last full length album that he would be a part of as he would die of brain stem cancer in 2001 because the cancer would return. Chuck was active as a musician from 1983 until 2001 and in that time, the band Death released at least 3 very good albums in a row if we start from 1991.

As we take a look back at what was to unfortunately would be the last album for perhaps the best Floridian death metal band ever, the type of melodies that we heard on the Human album just seven years earlier are still present here on this album. There is a melodic kind of thrash metal influence on the song Spirit Crusher. More than two decades have passed since the band Death released this album and I have to say that this is by no means a weak effort at all!