Death: Human
I love Death's first two albums, and
Symbolic is pretty cool, even if it's not my favorite album on Earth.
Spiritual Healing, was also pretty sweet, even if it was the first step to Death becoming boring, but
Individual Thought Patterns was one of the most disappointing DM albums I ever bought. Just dull, self indulgent wank that sounds like a robot's idea of a death metal album. I've never really given
Human the time of day since I imagined that it would be somewhere in between
Spiritual Healing and
Individual Thought Patterns. So, here goes...
Alright, it definitely doesn't sound anywhere near as dull as
Individual Thought Patterns, so it already has a point in it's favor. It is much more technical and complex than their first two though, and I generally prefer my death metal raw, simple, and ugly, so I don't see this being my favorite Death album. I am intrigued though.
I can't say that I love this, but I definitely like it. It's furious as hell, and the complexity is always balanced by brutality. This album definitely feels like it probably gets better with multiple listens, since it's complex enough that it's not always as accessible as their earlier works, but not so much that it just becomes dull. I was worried that this was going to be an exercise in futility after the last two albums, but I have been pleasantly surprised by
Human. Kewl.