Reviewed by:
slayerific, on december 17, 2007
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Sound: Death's third album proved to be a transitional album. This album had slightly more techincal songs and more mature subject matter. As we all know for Human and after Chuck took the band in a way more technical direction. A little fun fact is this is the only album where the band seemed to work together to write songs. Murphy and Butler each co-wrote 4 songs with Chuck.On this album Chuck sounds as brutal as ever, his riffs and vox are heavy and his solos sound awesome. James Murphy is featured as the second guitarist and his fluid Dave Murray like leads are the perfect contrast to Chuck's more staccato style. what's more is this duo comes out with some cool harmonies like the one in the middle of "Living Monstrosity" or the really cool intro to "Within The Mind." We still have the same rhythm section from Leprosy here, Terry Butler is barely audible, while Bill Andrews has somewhat improved, but I would say he is still the worst drummer Death ever had. The production is a slight improvement from Leprosy but it doesn't have anything close to a slick sound on this album, so you won't have to worry about that. // 9
Lyrics and Singing: On this album Chuck's lyrics are more critical of society. Songs like "Living Monstrosity" contain lyrics like "Born without eyes, hands, and a half a brain Being born addicted to cocaine". Another good example is in "Altering the Future" with lyrics like "Using our laws to help their escape An easy way out is what they create Claiming insane is the way to freedom People are stupid enough to believe them". There are tons of great lyrics to be found on this album, but for me, these ones stick out the most. // 9
Impression: A lot of people consider this Death's worse album but I would rank it as a close second with only Human beating it out. This album combines awesome, not overly technical songs, with great lyrics and some great solos. The only real drawback is the crappy rhythm section, but don't let that bother you to much. If this album was stolen from me, I would definetly go out and buy another copy, fortunately I won't have to since I burned another copy of this already. My top tracks: Living Monstrosity, Altering the Future, Within the Mind (cool harmonized intro), title track, Low Life (love that solo trade off section), Killing Spree. // 9
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