Customer Reviews
#1 Death Album on my charts
Let me say that I worship SOP, Scream Bloody, Human and Spiritual Healing but honestly all Death cds are incredible. Overall the #1 Death CD. This one is the best IMO by a small margin. If there is such a thing as eclectic Death Metal masterpiece here it is. You can really hear the progression of their music here. Just completely impressive - you just cannot go wrong with any Death album but if you are looking for a start. . . start here. .
Flawless
Chuck Schuldiner(R. One of the best metal albums ever! Bar none. I. P. ) has never written better music during his lifetime. Listening to Symbolic is quite the ride. It's brutal yet melodic. It's ugly yet beautiful. Every time I listen to this, I get something new out of it. You couldn't buy this album from me if you had a million dollars! Don't hesitate to get this one.
1. Symbolic - 5/5
2. Zero Tolerance - 5/5
3. Empty Words - 5/5
4. Sacred Serenity - 5/5
5. 1,000 Eyes - 5/5
6. Without Judgement - 5/5
7. Crystal Mountain - 5/5
8. Misanthrope - 5/5
9. Perennial Quest - 5/5.
Truly exceptional
It is extremely melodic and engaging, yet relentlessly heavy and brutal. First off, this is an album littered with marked contrasts. It is punctuated with Chuck's screaming, deranged and highly idiosyncratic vocal style, yet possesses many moments of rare and extreme beauty, like the ending to the final track, or the lilting acoustic guitar that appears at the end of 'Crystal Mountain'. The songs are for the most part highly concise and markedly well composed, trimmed of any excess and delivered to perfection, and as such manage to be accessible and enjoyable even on a first listen, despite the striking fact that each is technical and intricate to an extreme degree: the music is defined by numerous time changes, shrieking, schizophrenic riffs which interlock and contrast with each other, subtle rhythmic shifts, powerful dynamics, ultra-complex, groove infused drumming, and striking, endearing chorus sections.
The wealth of contrasts, however, does little to detract from the undoubted enjoyable nature of _Symbolic_. It is actually an album which is ruthlessly innovative and highly daring, fusing brutal, technical death metal with more progressive aspects, a tightened melodic sensibility and songwriting which I believe has never been bettered in the genre. Witness the stellar, breathtaking riff which opens the title track, the oh-so welcome release of tension which propels the ingenious chorus of 'Empty Words', the delicious interplay between bass and drums which underpins the intro to 'Sacred Serenity' (and lays bare the fundamental dynamics which drive the music under all the spectacular guitar playing), the epic, unpredictable twists of 'Perennial Quest', not to mention the blistering, space age thrash exemplified by the melodic '1000 Eyes' or 'Without Judgement'.
The intelligence in the compositions is mirrored by the intriguing nature of the lyrics-highly cryptic as always, but by now light years away from blood and gore death metal fodder. Chuck seems to tackle images, manipulation, discovery and perception, and each is covered well, providing a base which allows these cerebral and intricate pieces to flourish. The level of sophistication and abstraction is high, no doubt, but the spine-tingling, kinetic nature of the songs keeps everything exciting: this is heavy, brutal music of neck snapping intensity which is primal, engaging and fulfilling, all at once.
A remarkable and important statement from this landmark band, the sheer power and lack of compromise which exemplified Chuck Schulinder's work cannot be overlooked. It stands right at the pinnacle of metal albums as a whole, and the fact the Chuck would go on to push boundaries right to breaking point with _The Sound of Perseverance_ is genuinely frightening. I am thankful that he created this truly exceptional musical legacy and shared it with us all before he left us.
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