September AOTM #2: Symbolic

Album of the Month: Symbolic - Death

I think you could describe a trifecta of artist titles which apply to any given genre, scene, or style. There's the most popular, most defining/influential, and the critical darling. Certainly there are numerous examples of groups which nail more than one of these, even arguably all three. For example look at Metallica, whose first record Kill 'Em All released back in 1983, extremely early for Thrash metal, who are obviously the most popular thrash band, and several of their albums are considered among the greatest metal albums of all time. My point is that within the intersection of this three-way Venn diagram there's an exclusive club of truly revolutionary and undeniably great artists and bands-- and Death may as well be the clubs star pupil.

The late Chuck Schuldiner defined Death's music from start to finish, he led the band on vocals and lead guitar through a true revolving door of musicians, creating an institution which served as both proving ground and super-group for old school Death metal in the way that classic jazz bands like The Jazz Messengers had in the past. After forming in '83 and debuting in '87, Symbolic is Death's 6th and penultimate album. Produced by the legendary Jim Morris of Florida's Morrisound Recording and featuring the legendary Gene Hoglan on drums, Symbolic was Death's most melodic, accessible, and progressive album to date. This has turned it into not just the definitive starting point for the bands discography, but arguably the very best introduction to all of extreme metal.

Schuldiner was an unquenchably innovative musician, and to demonstrate how and why it matters I offer a brief history lesson:

Death formed in the titular genre's pre-history, in the genre-soup which spawned Sepultura and Possessed among others principally inspired by groups like Venom who slowly began to congeal extreme metal as we know it today. But Schuldiner seemed to grow impatient after Scream Bloody Gore in 1987 (by some the very first pure death metal album), and Leprosy in '88 which had already basically perfected the sound of OSDM. Technical playing became a mainstay on Spiritual Healing in 1990, before dominating the sound entirely in 1991's Human effectively defining the sound of the Technical Death Metal subgenre. Finally, Individual Thought Patterns in 1993 furthered the progressive song-structures and insanely technical playing present on Human and furthering Death's popularity leading up to 1995.

All this leads to Symbolic, an album which manages to match the mind-bending technicality of Human and ITP, while simultaneously refining the song-writing to create proggy tech-death which actually manages to stick in the listeners head-- even on a first listen, and even for someone unfamiliar with death metal. The opening riff to "Without Judgement" demonstrates this perfectly, it wastes no time in introducing itself-- throwing harmonized guitar lines, precise-yet-bumbling drums, and walls of distorted feedback right from the get go. Schuldiner crafts melodies in and out of his solos, unafraid to take advantage of those higher frets to balance the lower, aggressive riffs with sharper, less heavy, and more distinct ones.

Credit: "The Genius Songwriting Of Chuck Schuldiner", VARVIS

Symbolic is also a great example of Schuldiner's fairly unique attitude towards song structures, something which metal on the whole tends to do pretty differently from most other popular music and which it can often struggle with. A typical pop or rock track might be structured in the a standard intro-verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge-chorus-outro outline. Obviously there are plenty of songs which differ dramatically from this structure, but just as many are built around it or a close variation. Schuldiner typically structures his songs around looping the main section of song twice: once before the bridge or solo, and once after. Often times these sections are split into 2, 3, or 4 parts with distinct riffs, drum patterns, and feelings. This looks something like the chart to the right, sourced from an interesting YouTube video on the subject.

What Schuldiner accomplishes on a song like "Crystal Mountain" or "Symbolic" is a rapid sense of memorization and familiarity, without feeling at all repetitive. By giving the listener two chances to connect with a song, he makes every section feel more grand, and creates a strong feeling of closure at a songs' conclusion.

Lyrically and thematically Symbolic follows the social commentary of Schuldiner's quandaries on human behaviour and purpose. Chuck typically wrote his lyrics fairly literally with little riddle involved, he buries calls to action and strong-worded statements within the poetic language. Songs like "Misanthrope" and "Without Judgement" best exemplify this, though it's not that there aren't more abstract songs like the jaw-dropping closing track "Perennial Quest".

If you didn't notice, this is an album I chose to review entirely selfishly, unlike the other's I try to choose it isn't from a relatively unknown group, or an overlooked album from a popular artist, or something which doesn't get the graces it deserves. Symbolic is among the most renowned metal albums in existence, but it's also an album means means a great deal to me for genuinely changing my life. It's an album which astonishes me by it's quality on every listen, whose songs are both unbelievably fresh and instantly iconic. It's a beautiful mix of stunningly intricate lead guitar, punchy yet melodic riffs, and the kind of drumming which never distracts the listener with intensity or complexity but which baffles when truly focused on. Even if you are entirely unfamiliar with extreme metal, even if you are prejudiced against harsh vocals, I highly recommend listening to this-- and if you've already heard it as several of you reading this surely have, I hope you see what I see.

-Paul Taylor

(Assistant News Director at WXOU)