SYMBOLIC

Symbolic is one of those rare Progressive Death metal gems from the 90’s, alongside Cynic’s “Focus” and Atheist’s “Unquestionable Presence”, that really crossed the bounds of conventional metal. Symbolic is deaths 6Th record, and by far their best record it’s very progressive, (surely their most progressive and technical) as well as having a pretty large thrash influence. Don't let the thrash influence fool you this is no Metallica sound alike.

Sound: The album is quite heavy, matched with a lot of time-signature alternations, and a very distinct sound it would be hard to confuse this album with deaths previous work since the overall quality is much higher. The band is at it’s best with tracks like “Misanthrope”, "Without Judgement" and "Perennial Quest", each with it’s own strengths. "Perennial Quest", for instance, is the epic closing track composed of great song structure and powerful singing accompanied with excellent and extremely technical guitar playing making this one of the best tracks on the album.

Vocals: In this reviewers opinion this is Chuck Schuldiner (RIP) best work, very well written lyrics and songs like "1,000 Eyes" are very clever and catchy definitely helps boost this album above and beyond the call of duty.

Summery: The band pushes the limits on metal (and progressive music in general), after listening to this album a couple times through I had a hard time appreciating other 90’s metal acts such as Metallica, Anthrax and Slayer. That's not to say those are bad bands, but Death was so much further ahead in sound development overall skill and composition. In conclusion a great record, recommended for thrash and tech/death metal fans. 5 out of 5