Metal Album of the Week: Death - The Sound of Perseverance

With so much good death metal coming from Sweden, it’s easy to forget that the subgenre had its origins not in the cold, dark, subarctic climate of Scandinavia, but in the sunny state of Florida.  Although its exact moment of birth will always be debated, most enthusiasts of the genre credit Death’s 1987 album “Scream Bloody Gore” as the first true death metal release.  Birth is always painful, and in this case it’s painful for the listener as well.  Despite its significance in metal history, I find it almost impossible to listen to “Scream Bloody Gore.”  I know most metalheads cite the first three Death albums as three of the best metal albums ever released, but for my ears the pain continues until the fourth album, 1991’s “Human.”

Death’s sound was clearly evolving through the first three albums and with each release the music sounded less and less like poorly recorded noise.  But with “Human” there is a much more noticeable shift away from the raw brutality that characterizes the first few albums toward the technical and more melodic metal of Death’s later releases.  I’m not sure which album is considered the first technical metal album, but Death are often credited with playing a founding role in this subgenre as well.  They continued developing their sound throughout the 1990s, and their evolution ended only with the death of Chuck Schuldiner, the band’s singer, lead guitarist, founding member, and creative genius, in 2001.  The band’s final release, “The Sound of Perseverance,” which is more of a melodic, technical metal album than a death metal album, displays Death at their most refined and stands among the best metal albums ever released.

Before discussing “The Sound of Perseverance” in more detail, I should say more about Chuck Schuldiner as it’s inaccurate to write simply that he founded the band and provided its creative energy.  Schuldiner was Death.  He obviously benefitted from the work of several very talented musicians, but the other members were essentially hired help, and the line-up changed with each album.  Schuldiner wrote all the music and lyrics, which means that if Death created both death metal and technical metal, these subgenres were largely the product of one man’s brain.  I don’t want to exaggerate Schuldiner’s role in metal history.  He had help not only from the musicians who worked with him but from all the metal bands that came before Death that laid the groundwork for the emergence of the death and technical metal subgenres.  But while it is a stretch to claim that Schuldiner single-handedly created two subgenres of metal, it’s also true that it’s difficult to overstate his influence on heavy metal.

It’s easy for non-metalheads to form the impression that all metal songs are about death, destruction, and Satan because many of them are, and this was certainly true of Death’s earlier songs.  But their lyrics evolved with their sound.  Whereas the first few albums featured Schuldiner growling songs like “Regurgitated Guts,” “Baptized in Blood,” and “Open Casket,” “Perseverance” has him shrieking “Spirit Crusher,” “Story to Tell,” and “Flesh and Power it Holds.”  As their titles suggest, the songs on “Perseverance” are mostly about emotional pain. 

“Flesh and Power it Holds,” the album’s best song and probably the best song Death ever recorded, was probably written after a break up.  Unlike the pussies on the radio who whine about their broken hearts and beg their babies to come back to them, Schuldiner’s anguished lyrics accurately convey the pain of a failed relationship:

Passion is a poison laced with pleasure bitter sweet
One of many faces that hide deep beneath
It will take you in
It will spit you out
Behold the flesh and the power it holds

But above all, he was a guitarist, and “Flesh” features lots of intricate guitar work, layered sounds, and unconventional structures.  Lacking any musical background, I’m ill-equiped to discuss the technical aspects that make this song, and the album as a whole, so great.  I’ll just add that it’s a great metal song, acknowledge that I can’t provide an adequate explanation of why, and invite you to listen for yourself:

Other songs on the album approach its theme of emotional pain from different perspectives and all of them display Schuldiner’s musical talent at its height. Highlights include the album’s opener, “Scavenger of Human Sorrow,” about one who takes pleasure in spreading hurtful lies; “Spirit Crusher,” which encourages listeners to “stay strong and hold on tight” when faced with one who is “human at sight, monster at heart;” and “Story to Tell,” which rages against attempts to reduce a person to a story after a relationship has failed.  If you’re starting to think that Death was more emo than metal, never say this to my face, but also be aware that unlike the hardcore emo bands that Death’s music inspired, they never wallowed in the pain.  They channeled it into anger.

Better than any other Death album, “Perseverance” demonstrates not only the band’s technical skill, but also its uniqueness.  With its complex guitar work, it solidifies Schuldiner’s status as a metal god, while its dark lyrics about real horrors that we all experience make it accessible to metalheads like me who understand the greatness of the music even if they can’t explain it. 

Next:  Goatwhore – Blood for the Master

Should Citizenship Be a Birthright?

I recently reread Robert Heinlein’s “Starship Troopers,” which, in addition to telling an engaging story about an interplanetary war between humans and a race of communist, bug-like aliens, presents some interesting ideas about duty, responsibility, public service, citizenship, and voting rights, and it’s had me thinking a lot about these concepts.  In particular, I’ve been wondering whether it would be good for American democracy if our country’s laws required us to demonstrate a commitment to public service before being eligible to vote or hold a position of power. 

Heinlein doesn’t provide many details about the political system in the novel’s world, but he’s very specific about the citizenship requirements:  one can become a citizen only by completing at least two years of military service.  This requirement is justified by references to history.  Past democracies were believed to have failed because they operated on the well-intentioned but flawed assumption that citizenship should be a birthright.  Successful military service requires one to subvert his or her individual concerns to the greater good, which is also a requirement for good citizenship.  By demonstrating the duty and responsibility demanded of a good soldier, characters in the novel thus show that they are ready for the similar demands of citizenship.

Would American democracy benefit from a similar law?  It could, but it would be more equitable if the military service requirement were broadened to include civilian public service as well.  After all, serving in America Corps or the Peace Corps, working as a teacher, police officer, or fireman, and volunteering in homeless shelters or kitchens can also demonstrate a commitment to serving the public interest.  In and of itself, experience in public service—military or civilian—doesn’t necessarily mean that one will cast a vote or promote a policy in the interest of the public good rather than individual gain, but it does at least show that one can be expected to be capable of distinguishing between the two and acting accordingly.

It could be argued, of course, that one can make this distinction and act in the public interest without any prior experience in public service, but this doesn’t make the idea any less compelling.  Demonstrations of commitment to public service could help ensure that Americans trust each other to be good citizens.  Simply having the right to vote or hold public office gives a citizen a certain degree of power, and it’s not unreasonable to ask that one who is granted this power first be asked to demonstrate that he or she can be expected to wield it responsibly.

We’re fortunate that in this election both presidential candidates devoted themselves to causes greater than themselves—Obama as a community organizer and Romney as a missionary—before seeking positions of power and thus demonstrated their commitment to public service.  Granted, Romney has spent most of his adult life making lots of money, but he does seem to believe sincerely that his plans for America would improve the country and, unlike, say, Newt Gingrich, doesn’t seem to be seeking the presidency simply for personal gain.  I’m less certain, however, that a majority of the electorate will have the country’s interests in mind when casting their votes.  To be sure, we all vote on issues that affect us most directly, and  always have personal interests in mind, but I don’t have the sense that Americans as a whole are willing to accept that some policies they may not like would benefit the country as a whole, for example, by acknowledging that although no one wants social services to be cut or taxes to be raised such measures might be necessary.  Some experience in public service could make this acceptance more likely.

A public service requirement for citizenship would pose several logistical problems, the most obvious of which is how to define “public service.”  It would also create more bureaucracy and more opportunities for corruption and thus put even more strain on public finances.  Moreover, measures would have to be taken to ensure the requirement didn’t create insurmountable obstacles to citizenship for any members of the population.  However, if public service requirements for citizenship would strengthen our democracy then all of these problems could easily be overcome.

Heinlein, of course, wasn’t the first to propose such an idea, and several others have revisited it since “Starship Troopers” was published in 1959, but it’s particularly relevant today as a potential remedy to the partisan gridlock that has rendered our elected officials incapable of governing.  Would a greater emphasis on what it means to be a citizen help prevent the kind of ideological extremism that has made compromise nearly impossible?  It’s a question worth exploring.