HUMAN

Chuck Schuldiner surrounded himself with an entirely different cast of musicians for this album. And what an upgrade it is! While the music isn't different from a compositional point of view, the technical dexterity of this band raises the bar considerably. I wouldn't call it progressive, but they sure enter a playground here frequented by the prog kids on the block.

The band plays with a fury and passion that blows away the preceding album. The material has become much more technical, introducing non-4/4 time signatures and song structures that veer off in all possible directions. My appreciation of a death metal album stands of falls with on the quality of the vocals. Luckily, with Schuldiner's gruff wail you can be assured of unadulterated pain and craving.

Some short quiet introductions not withstanding, the relentless riff attack is still pure metal and will not please you if you're not into death metal already. Also, just like all modern metal albums it fails to do anything else but repeating the pattern of the opening song over the course of the entire album. These days, I prefer albums with songs that are more distinguishable from one another. But luckily the quality is outstanding throughout.

Classic technical death metal album. 3.5 stars