Death Symbolic 1995
Death is a band I have had this distant curiosity of. Many of the early records really didn't gel with my palate. I wasn't entirely ready to intake all the raw grapple. I think because of Chuck Schuldiner's vocals which I think is still an acquired taste.
Chuck's vocals eventually leveled out somewhat during the early 90's with Spiritual Healing, Human, Individual Thought Patterns, and Symbolic. Each release (of the 90's) bore witness to Chuck's ongoing evolution of his guitarwork, lending more to the side of progressive than the ellipsoid of the 80's Death version.
His vocals on Symbolic are bitter, like a sour pomegranate. But with its tart taste, I felt it was very philosophical in tone, as I feel he is searching, and questioning. There is a great deal of perfection in the ambiance, and textural construction to the songs. Both the music and lyrics were constructed with deft knowledge, and a permanence that has more relevance now than when the songs he composed during that period.
It's somewhat nostalgic in terms of our current era we've been moving into since the 90's. Many of the songs have hidden allegories, that I'm still uncovering bits and pieces to the narrative going on underneath.
With regards to the artwork, its a dreamlike state, always aware, trying to look forward, while dealing with humanities trivialities. As the the lyrics contend, I feel the artwork portends seclusion, and isolation in trying to find reason when there is none to be had.
Of the four records, and I say this comfortably, I often come back to Symbolic because of the deeper introspection that it is eliciting. It may not be as widely listened to in this day, but I still feel its reason was clearly motivated to be uncovered later on rather than right away. Give this a spin if your curious. Thanks for reading.
B.
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