The rhythm section is the standout here, only DiGiorgio could come even close to overpowering the onslaught of guitar work from Chuck and Masvidal. Same can be said for the entire album really, but on “Suicide Machine” a more aggressive approach is taken. The second riff in “Flattening of Emotions” provides a lot of the jazzy flair which helps build Human’s character and the riffs are cycled in and out in dizzying manners while still remaining very attractive to the ear. There’s no misstep out of the gate though, the one-two punch of “Flattening of Emotions” and “Suicide Machine” is downright lethal. This is more due to the fact that pretty much every song Chuck ever wrote was high quality, but the highs of this record certainly stand tall amongst the rest. He still has traces of thrash metal in his playing but Human has far branched out since Scream Bloody Gore, and the progressive elements are far more prominent here.Īs crazy as it sounds, Human might be Death’s least consistent album to date. And Chuck himself is as fierce as ever still very intelligible in his vocal delivery and still evolving as a musician next to the world class Masvidal. His and Masvidal’s contributions usher in hints of jazz that wouldn’t fully emerge in their work until the aforementioned Focus, but it makes for a unique quality that Human holds over the first three Death records. The late Sean Reinert on drums doesn’t necessarily bring the same reckless ferocity that Bill Andrews provided on Leprosy, but he’s a different class of musician than most. Razor sharp riffs performed in a less orthodox manner than the previous Death records equipped with a clear and powerful production make Human’s songs pop out, and with the unrivaled Steve DiGiorgio filling out the sound with his bass work, Human makes for a refreshing experience while still staying true to Death’s foundational style and sound. Masvidal’s best moments as a musician wouldn’t come until he released Focus in 1993 with Cynic, but on Human he showed the greatness that was yet to come. James Murphy is a great guitarist and his melodic leads were welcome on Spiritual Healing, but his replacement in Paul Masvidal is as good as it can get. ![]() The atmosphere is crisp and the guitars still have plenty of crunch, and the performances themselves seem to have gotten more ambitious. Chuck Schuldiner cleaned house and brought in a whole new lineup for Death’s most technically impressive record yet, as well as their cleanest sound so far. With Human, the gap between old school death metal and technical death metal is properly bridged.
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