Customer Reviews

Human

5 star:		(74)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

None of the reviews that I have seen on this page to date make any mention of Sean Reinert, the drummer on this album, so I felt I should write something. He is one of the best drummers in the scene, and deserves some recognition. For me, a review of Human that does not mention the drumming misses the point.

For people obsessed with speed alone, his performance is the fastest I have ever heard. A decent standard for a "fast" beat would be something like Slayer's "Angel of Death", which clocks in at about 210 beats per minute (BPM). It is impressive because the feet are doing 16th notes of this on the bass drums, which makes the section sound quite intense. On Human, however, most of the songs clock in between 230 and 240 BPM. He maintains this performance for a majority of the CD as well....

But suppose we ignore this. Sean himself seems to know that musicianship is more than speed alone. A lot of drummers in the scene have speed, but their playing sounds very angular and predictable. Sean brings in the influences like Vinnie Colaiuta and Stewart Copeland to give the music a less predictable feel. His ability to syncopate and turn the beat around keeps this CD interesting, and he has a great rhythmic vocabulary.

Any drummer caught in a rut looking for someone to inspire them should check this out.

Death was unquestionably one of the, and arguably the primary innovators of the death metal genre, but it was with this album that Death truly built their legacy as one of the greatest metal bands ever. This marked a new phase for Death, turning them from a band into essentially a Chuck Schulinder solo project, with every song on this album, and all future Death albums, being written by Chuck alone. This also marked the beginning of a series of releases of rare, extraordinary quality culminating in the release of the phenemenol Sound of Perseverance, which I consider to be the best Death album, and one of the few greatest albums ever recorded by anyone. If you haven't heard any Death, that is perhaps a better place to start, but this fantastic release still belongs in any metal fans collection, and is probably my second favorite Death album.

Though Death was initially a pure Death metal band, this release and all future Death releases are better described as progressive death-thrash, perhaps leaning a bit more towards the thrash side. It's difficult to say why this is, other than to say that it feels more like thrash than death, to me anyway. Though it maintains much of the increased brutality of death metal, the riffs are very thrashy structurally, and they are always clean and crisp, not blurry and noisy as they tend to be in fast death metal. As a whole the riffs come a cross as a stylistic melding of those found in Reign in Blood and Beneath the Remains. Similarly, the drumming tends to be more thrashy, avoiding the blast-beat style drumming also common to death metal. Speaking of the drumming, Sean Reinert of Cynic is a fantastic drummer, though I prefer the later work of Gene Hoglan and Richard Christy. Sean doesn't seem to have as much personality stylistically as do those 2. To his advantage, he is probably the most accomplished double bass drummer I've ever heard, with even more extensive use of them than the latter 2. He can do them incredibly fast, but still mixes up the tempos more than any drummer I've heard. The rhythm guitar work is excellent as well, some of the fastest and most technically accomplished work around. Chuck seems unable to write an uninteresting riff. The solos/leads are good, but not great, and not nearly as good as they'd become just one album later. They still have their moments, particularly on the instrumental Cosmic Sea and and Lack of Comprehension. The bass is, sadly, pretty much MIA except on the aforementoined Cosmic Sea, where he does a nice, if short solo. Chuck's inimitable vocals fit the music very well, and he writes some thoughtful lyrics.

The only real conceivable complaint against this album is that other than the relatively mellow instrumental it has little variety. The intensity rarely relents, and it tends to focus on the extremely fast tempos, though every track drops down to more mid-paced tempos at leat occasionally. However, though it lacks variety, it is very consistent, with the track quality ranging from very good to brilliant. The opener, Flattening of Emotions is probably my favorite track, and is the fastest and most unrelentingly intense track on the album, though it still has a very memorable chorus. The next track, Suicide Machine, is another standout. A bit slower, though it still knows when to kick it up to speed and its got another strong chorus. Lack of Comprehension is another speedy number, with some nice stuttering, jumpy riffs and short leads thrown in as well.(It also has the best solo on the album.) Anyway, enough about the individual tracks. They all rule.

Thats really about all I got to say. Truly, a great metal album. Get it.

Spiritual Healing was a good album.Having said that,Death's fourth album Human is light years ahead of Spiritual Healing and Leprosy lyrically and technically.Human is what got me to love Death,and show me that there was more to metal than generic satanism.Though Death isn't my favorite band,Human is one of my favorite metal albums owing largely to its focused drumwork,dynamic guitar and intelligent lyrical content.Songs like Lack
Of Comprehension and the beautifully prog flavored Cosmic Sea offer up a depth of not only technicality but also emotion.Human expanded my musical and intellectual horizons and showed me that metal could indeed endeavor to be more than escapist fantasy.For fans of this subculture,prog rock or hardcore devotees,there's always something ripe for the picking in this masterpiece.Thank you Chuck for the inspiration and emotion.I'll never forget what you gave to me.

Some may be turned off by the pounding double bass, detuned guitar riffs, and of course, the growling/screaming vocals, but I love every second of this album. Chuck Shuldiner and Death have developed so much since the days of "Scream Bloody Gore". While SBG had simple riffs and gross lyrics, this album features much more technical and progressive songwriting and excellent lyrics. Mind you, it's still heavy as hell, and unbelievably fast.

Chuck Shuldiner was truly an outstanding guitarist. The riffs he wrote for this album are amazingly melodic and precise, yet complicated and very fast. His solos are fluent and melodic. The musicians accompanying him were the best he had worked with up until this point. Sean Reinert and Paul Masividal from Cynic joined on guitar and drums. If you're familiar with Cynic, you should know they're amazing. If you're not, you can trust me on that one. Steve DiGiorgio is a bass god, who has worked with Sadus, Iced Earth and others. He plays those incredibly fast riffs with his fingers. Whoa!

Chuck's songwriting took a more progressive and technical turn here, but it's still very much a straight Death Metal sound. "Flattening of Emotions" is about the best song ever, with it's incredibly fast double bass and awesome trade-offs between Chuck and Paul during the solo. It's also filled with Chuck's powerful growl/yell, which has always made him my favorite death metal vocalist. The album's fault, if it has one, is that it's not that diverse. I don't mind though, when the material is this good. "Suicide Machine", "Together As One" "See Through Dreams" and "Secret of Face" are all stand-outs as well, which feature excellent riffing and amazing guitar solos. "Lack of Comprehension" is an awesome song too, with it's awesome jazzy opening. "Cosmic Sea" is an instrumental with some extremely fluent soloing. It's damn close to impossible to play those patterns as clean and fast as either Chuck or Paul plays them on this song.

So, in short, this is more than another death metal album. Aside from their first few albums, Death has always had a more unique and innovative sound than most other death metal bands. In my opinion, Chuck also writes much more intelligent, thought out, and realistic lyrics. The average person can relate to many of Chuck's later lyrics. If you're interested in technical metal or death metal, you can't go wrong with this album. Unless you're turned off by the things mentioned in the first sentence of this review. I probably repeated myself a lot in this review, but oh well. The album's just so damn good. Also recommended: Death - Symbolic, The Sound of Perserverance.

This is not only my favorite death metal album, this was my awakening!. this album changed my life forever. i've been a death's fan for more than 12 years now, very much since they released spiritual healings and let me tell you by the time this got out i was incredibly impressed.....the album's technicity is just completely something else. the musical writting and composition is so intelligent that even today ultratechnical metal bands use human as a source of inspiration and technicity. chuck's lyric's are probably some of the must imaginative and intellectual ever to be put down into music. his musical inventiva was layed down by a very emotional,spiritual, complex and versatil imagination.....that can only come from love and passion for music greatness. every song stands completely by it self, every shop is clockwork orange. the gathering of some of the must incredible individuals in music virtuosity ( steve digiorgio, sean reinart and paul masdival)make this album a hall of famer. i will always remember u chuck for everything you taught me, musically and spiritually. ........your music will always be a source of inspiration, not only musically but personaly, god have you under his grace.you will be deeply miss and your albums depply overplayed by those who really appreciate true and intelligent heavy metal virtuosity. r.i.p.

This is the album that introduced me to death metal, and is still one of the best, if not the best death metal album ever. In all of his later work, but most successfully in Human, Chuck managed to combine brutality, impressive musicianship, and a keen, though twisted sense of melody. All the songs on this album, while viciously heavy, are memorable, and dare say it, even hummable at times. His unique songwriting skills and disgracefully underrated guitar playing were equally matched by the other players in this incarnation of the band: Paul Masvidal and Sean Reinert of Cynic, and Steve DiGiorgio, easily one of the best bassists in metal.

Chuck never really got his due in the annals of heavy metal while alive; let's hope he's now recognized as the musical innovator he always was.

When I first listened to this album, I was a bit skeptical and more partial to Death's newer material than the older. However, after blasting this album in my car, I was stunned with awe. Then I realized why this album had received such high praise. This was a turning point for Chuck Schuldiner and Death. Human was Death's first effort to deliver speed, technicality, heaviness, and melody...and they succeeded!

It seems Chuck has matured with his lyrics, while his brutal death metal vocals remain the same. The guitar riffs aren`t the most complex, but this is still a fairly large step for Death and they still manage to make unique tunes that actually sound good. The guitars have a raw and thick sound with a dosage of melody. Although Steve DiGiorgio is an awesome bassist his bass sounds like total crap in some parts of this album. Listen at around 0:24 into the song "Suicide Machine" and you hear what sounds like a rubber band, but it is supposed to be Steve's bass.

The drumming is rather burly sounding; nice and thick. Sean proves himself a worthy drummer as you listen to the dismal drums which take you into "Flattening of Emotions," as well as "Together As One". Paul shows that he can fill the shoes of metal guitar guru - James Murphy by playing his parts with obvious ease. It sure was nice for the members of Cynic to lend out their two best men. Yet again, Chuck shows that unless the line up is perfect, it doesn't fly.

Most of the songs are fast, with the exception of the beautifully welded instrumental - "Cosmic Sea," which more than makes up for lack of speed with carefully placed rhythm and humming melodies. There is even a quick little bass solo in this instrumental. This is a nice fresh listen - it contains expeditious speed, heaviness, with a nice dab of melody while keeping intelligent and unique lyrics in constant presence. Sad enough, music isn't made like this much these days. This is one of the album I own that I can listen to all the way through without the desire to skip any tracks.

At this point in time, this was a huge step of advancement in Death's existence. I would go as far to say that this album is a classic and should be owned by any and all death metal lovers. Hurry up and buy it if you don't own it yet.

A perfect five! An amazing line up of members from Cynic and Sadus. Sean impresses all with his drum skills. Paul completely obliterates with his blairing guitar playing. Steve conquers all with his bass skills. Chuck stands tall with his simply amzaing guitar and writing skills. Death has returned with Human, one of their finest. It's progressive death metal at it's finest. Human is heavy, brutal, and melodic at the same time. Embrace Cosmic Sea, Lack of Comprehension, Vacant Planets, and Flattening of Emotions. Some of the best songs you'll ever hear. It's worth buying, and every song does not disappoint.

When this came out I was eleven, I think. I didn't think it could get much heavier/faster than this album. Wow.

Chuck Schuldiner was a modern-day Mozart. He was the epitome of pioneer.
Steve DiGiorgio is an INSANELY sick bass player. Sadus/Testament, anyone?
Paul Masvidal is the perfect compliment to Chuck's wicked sick solos and riffing.
Sean Reinert is so underrated. He is, in my opinion, one of the best metal drummers around.

Anyhow - Fast, Progressive, SUPER Heavy-Crazy-Melodic Death Metal. This album most definitely belongs in your death metal collection. After all, Chuck helped invent it!

In a nutshell, a must have for any true metal fan.

R.I.P. Chuck

To be honest, I'm not the biggest death metal, speed metal etc. fan in the world. I love the energy, but much of it is severely lacking in musicality and/or drenched in silly violent/Satanic imagery. This band is (was) something different. Sonic assaults both technically impressive and musically creative. Some intriguing lyrics (when I'm able to decifer them). They sound good during their brief quiet interludes, and they thrash as hard as the heaviest. I particularly like the relentless, bone-crunching drums - just incredible. "Suicide Machine" is a standout and even the dreamscape diversion of "Cosmic Sea" is very impressive. The singer does (did) sound like a demonic banshee, impressively without voice distortion.

I'm not even a huge fan of Metallica in their speed metal heyday, but THIS is the genuine article. I'm told that the term "death metal" originated from this band. I'm not really sure if that's true, but I do know they are certainly worthy of it!