Human (Death album) Puns

I don't dislike any of Death's discography and am down with both the OSDM sound of the early albums as well as the tech-death and ultimately proggy sound of Death's later releases. But Human is the album I am most at odds with the popular opinion of the metal community. I discovered Death with TSOP in 2005 and worked my way backward in the discography. To this day, Human is the album I listen to the least. I like Suicide Machine and Lack of Comprehension a lot, but the other tracks are ultimately not that memorable to me - Cosmic Sea seems to be a waste of a track in particular that doesn't really go anywhere. Voice of the Soul from TSOP is a much better instrumental track.

Human was probably a gamechanger back in the day, but in retrospect listening to the albums in a marathon, I don't get the hype. Really listen to Spiritual Healing and Human side-by-side for example and SH is equally technical when it comes to technical riffs, odd time signatures and melodic solos (the solos are actually much better on SH as Murphy > Masvidal as Chuck's 2nd guitarist imo) - SH just has more of the OSDM sound whereas Human inserts more jazz elements.

I can't directly compare every Death album in a ranking from best to worst because it ends up being apples vs oranges, but I separate their first three albums with their last four.

Early Death fav to least fav:

1. Spiritual Healing

2. Leprosy

3. Scream Bloody Gore

Later Death fav to least fav:

1. Symbolic

2. Individual Thought Patterns

3. The Sound of Perseverence

4. Human

So I guess I'm taking crazy pills though because so many people say Human is the best Death album while in my opinion it's the only album in Death's discography where I'm like "eh, it's okay". It doesn't have the OSDM appeal nor does it have the more melodic appeal of Symbolic/ITP. To me it's the awkward middle child.

So, I was listening to Death, as you do, and while I was listening to Human I noticed that the bassist was awesome! He was doing some cool harmonies and really providing different textures to the songs. The only problem I have is that you can barely hear him, which is unfortunate. I'm not saying that he should be turned up to Getty Lee or Les Claypool levels, but at least enough so that you dont have to go looking for him to hear him.

I was listening to it on spotify and not the deluxe edition. Do you guys know why this was? Or, what's your take on the whole situation? OR, what's your take on bassist sound level in general? I'm curious.

This is how I would rank the albums currently and my favorite song from each one:

1. Symbolic (1995) favorite song: title track

2. Leprosy (1988) favorite song: pull the plug

3. Human (1991) favorite song: lack of comprehension

4. The Sound of Perseverance (1998) favorite song: scavenger of human sorrow

5. Spiritual Healing (1990) favorite song: title track

6. Individual Thought Patterns (1993) favorite song: the philosopher

7. Scream Bloody Gore (1987) favorite song: zombie ritual

Love each album, they all offer kickass death metal and each time vocals are slightly different than the ones before, love Chuck's vocal abilities as well as his musicianship. What is your ranking of the albums?

Super vague, I know. My dad died of covid-19 this past November 18th, and a good friend committed suicide on January 5th. (Additionally I'm going through the breakup of an engagement in the middle of all of this, but I don't really want any break-up songs.) There's been a ton of change in my life lately, and I'm kinda grasping right now. I'll take any recommendations for music that explores death, or is vaguely related, or just has a similar vibe.

Edit: There are so many! From the bottom of my heart, thank you to everyone who commented. I want to make a playlist with all the suggestions and listen through them, so I may possibly comment in three months (or years) time saying I appreciated your suggestion. Truly, thank you.

Additionally, as long as it doesn't break the subs rules, I wanted to talk briefly about my friend. I knew that she dealt with depression, but I had no idea it was as severe as it was. After she died, I learned that she thought that the people around her were strong enough to handle the pain of her death, but she didn't think she could handle her pain any more. I honestly don't know what's more selfish, us wanting her to stay, or her wanting to go. I do know that her mother sobbing at her coffin side was the most heartbreaking thing I've ever heard, and she didn't have the best relationship with her mom/family.

If you are considering suicide, know that you will be sorely missed, beyond anything I previously was able to fathom. There's a dad-shaped hole and a friend-shaped hole in my heart that will never go away. Even if I don't know you, DM me and I will talk to you. <3

I got into Death a couple months ago and after listening to each and every album a few times, I’ve gotta say that Human takes the cake for me. All of their records are awesome, but there’s something about cosmic sea, flattening of emotions, suicide machine, etc. I think what does it for me is the insane drumming, the uniqueness of every song (for example the intros to cosmic sea and lack of comprehension) and Chuck’s vocals also sound aggressive, but still coherent at the same time. I recently began a record collection and Human is the very first album I bought on vinyl :)

Goodmorning, just wanted to hear what you guys are currently vibin to.

My current favourite album is "the passage of existence" by monstrosity

Make sure to drop your own! These are the songs that I think would catch their attention and be most likely to be enjoyed without taking my own favorites into account.

Sbg- zombie ritual

Leprosy- title track

SH- title track

Human- lack of comprehension

ITP- trapped in a corner

Symbolic- without judgement

TSOP- flesh

I'll go first

Scream Bloody Gore- Regurgitated Guts

Leprosy- Pull The Plug

Spiritual Healing- Spiritual Healing

Human- Lack Of Comprehension

Individual thought patterns- The Philosopher

Symbolic- Crystal Mountain

The Sound Of Perseverance- Spirit Crusher

Hello everyone and welcome to Day 2 of the r/indieheads Album of the Year 2021 Write-Up Series, our annual event where we showcase pieces from some of our favorite writers on the subreddit talking about their favorite records of the year! Up today, series founder u/ReconEG talks Philly indie rock mysterios SPIRIT OF THE BEEHIVE and their confounding 2021 album, ENTERTAINMENT, DEATH.

April 9th, 2021 - Saddle Creek

Listen:

Bandcamp

YouTube

Spotify

Background:

SPIRIT OF THE BEEHIVE are a Philadelphia-based band currently made up of frontman Zack Schwartz, bassist/vocalist Rivka Ravede, and multi-instrumentalist Corey Wichlin, with Schwartz and Ravede being the two remaining founding members of the band. Prior to forming SPIRIT, Schwartz was well-known for founding a completely different band, Glocca Morra, that fizzled out around 2014, the year Schwartz founded his new band with his partner at the time, Ravede.

The band steadily gained buzz in the Philly scene with releases like their 2014 self-titled debut and its 2016 follow-up EP, You Are Arrived (But You’ve Been Cheated), with the band really gaining buzz for their 2017 album Pleasure Suck and 2018 album Hypnic Jerks, both released by Tiny Engines. While critics weren’t fully hip to them during this time (myself included), the band had Frank Ocean as a fan, with “fell asleep with a vision” featuring on an episode of blonded RADIO.

With Tiny Engines shuttering in 2019 due to various royalty/pay disputes from artists (an aside: the shuttering of Tiny Engines and SideOneDummy, both relatively small labels, really caused a massive rupture in the greater indie-sphere, the ripples of which we’re still feeling today), the band found a new home with legendary Omaha, NE label Saddle Creek in 2020, who released the band’s standalone single "the door is open" that same year. But along with the label shakeup + an entire shakeup of the entire music industry during the COVID-19 pandemic, two of th

My favourite death metal album of each year from 2010-2021. No real purpose behind this, I just thought it'd be fun. Includes any and all subgenres and variations of death metal, e.g. black / death metal, technical death metal, progressive, brutal, etc.

Honourable mentions given to albums that I really had to wrestle with for top spot, not just any great albums from the year. I guarantee you that if I didn't list an album here, I did not forget it, I just didn't think it was good enough to make the list.

Most years will have six honourable mentions, years I consider the best for the genre will have...many more.

2010 - Honourable Mentions:

Vasaeleth - Cryptborn and Tethered to Ruin

Cauldron Black Ram - Slubberdegullion

Immolation - Majesty and Decay

Desecresy - Arches of Entropy

Ares Kingdom - Incendiary

Defeated Sanity - Chapters of Repugnance

*

AOTY: StarGazer - A Great Work of Ages

2011 - Honourable Mentions:

Blaspherian - Infernal Warriors of Death

Necros Christos - Doom of the Occult

Cruciamentum - Engulfed In Desolation

Gigan - Quasi-Hallucinogenic Sonic Landscapes

Ulcerate - The Destroyers of All

Funebrarum - Dormant Hallucination

*

AOTY - Flourishing - The Sum of All Fossils

2012 - Honourable Mentions:

Horrendous - The Chills

Morbus Chron - A Saunter Through the Shroud

Abominable Putridity - The Anomalies of Artificial Origin

Diskord - Dystopics

Ataraxy - Revelations of the Ethereal

The Slow Death - II

*

AOTY - Spawn of Possession - Incurso

2013* - Honourable Mentions:

Sacriphyx - The Western Front

Coprocephalic - Gluttonous Chunks

Obliteration - Black Death Horizon

Unhuman - Unhuman

Tribulation - The Formulas of Death

Vasaeleth - All Uproarious Darkness

Autopsy - The Headless Ritual

Slutvomit - Swarming Darkness

Altars - Paramnesia

Grave Miasma - Odori Sepulcrorum

Illuminati - The Core

Pestilence - Obsideo

*

AOTY - Grave Upheaval - Untitled

2014* - Honourable Mentions:

Diskord - Oscillations

Execration - Morbid Dimensions

Cauldron Black Ram - Stalagmire

Autopsy - Tourniquets, Hacksaws and Graves

Doombringer - The Grand Sabbath

Swallowed - Lunarterial

Emptiness - Nothing but the Whole

Bölzer - Soma

Innsmouth - Consumed by Elder Sign

Artificial Brain - Labyrinth Constellation

Coprocephalic - The Oath of Relinquishment

Diocletian - *Gesund

Before his untimely passing, Juice WRLD was frank about his morbid fascination with the end. Next to drugs, which took up the most space, death, the process of dying, and the emotions that simulated the closest thing to death, were primary to the then 21-year old’s music. Now that he’s gone, the end seems like something he can’t reach. There’s moral ambiguity surrounding any posthumous album, no matter how effectively it infiltrates and imitates the artists’ goals. Though it was certified with trademarks of Juice’s style, ‘Legends Never Die’ was also unnecessarily spacious. Unlike its predecessor, which housed poignancy on both ends, Juice’s latest posthumous release, ‘Fighting Demons’, rarely plays to the artists’ strength. His hampered nuance coincides with the loss of what little superintendence must remain to whoever’s combed through the archives of a late rapper to squeeze two albums out of their leftovers. And as long as there’s money to be made from his exploitation, it’ll likely never end.

During his brief time in the public eye, Juice was widely, and rightfully, regarded as one of the few real relatable superstars. Though definitely schmaltzy at times, his unwavering commitment to minimise the isolating stigma surrounding mental illness and addiction was inspirational. He highlights the most charitable aspects of that procedure on ‘Already Dead’, “I'm only here by popular demand (Yeah, yeah, yeah)/I'm stayin' alive for the fans”, suggesting that the struggle for survival was mutually fought and supported. True to his methodology, drug reliance is a recurring topic through the album’s 56 minutes, and although it’s treated as a comforting vice for Juice, it's impossible to share the relief knowing his cause of death. “Now I've been drownin' in this liquor bottle, but drowning's not enough/They tell me that I won't live to see tomorrow, but I don't give a fuck”, he sings with the last of his fading fanaticism on the chorus of ‘Not Enough’. He may be gone, but the voice that spoke to and for so many won’t ever cease.

By insisting to continue Juice’s mission, though, the album sabotages any original goodwill. Most potently, the carnage is carried out across the spoken interludes which contain excerpts from easily accessible media that, by being included, diminish Juice’s voluntary intent. ‘Juice WRLD Speaks’, for example, just isolates a portion of a Billboard interview, flattening any of the sincere dimensions to his unique responses.

What are the most emotional or saddest melodic Death Metal Albums?

Also I am looking for uplifting albums. Any recommendations for both?

Comment with most upvotes is most popular

DISCLAIMER: Only chose the "advanced" flair because I don't imagine there are a whole lot of death metal fans on this sub. Not trying to sound like some r/iamverysmart type, I promise.

At the risk of sounding like a snob, I'm really picky about my death metal. I can really only get into it — and music in general — if the lyrics are well-written. I have a hard time finding a lot of death metal that isn't just gore-for-the-sake-of-gore, although I'm open to a lot of flavours of death metal as long as there is meaning behind it. Some specific albums for those first three artists that I like:

Gojira: From Mars to Sirius (HUGE fan of concept albums), The Way of All Flesh, L'Enfant Sauvage

Cattle Decapitation: Monolith of Inhumanity, The Anthropocene Extinction, Death Atlas

Opeth: Blackwater Park, Ghost Reveries, Watershed, Deliverance

>Stench of Death welcomes you

>In a crypt of agony

>Dwelling in morbid thoughts

>Awake, forgotten misery

>Crawling maggots paradise

>Rats consuming flesh

>Hanging stiff on hooks

>In the statement of his Eden

>Searching for the truth

>Root of life

>Sickening experience

>Reaper's knife

>Sick, evil, god, The abomination

>Right, wrong, human

>Beast, angel, divine, morbid revelation

>Labyrinth of mind

This is a discussion thread to share thoughts, memories, or first impressions of albums which have lived through the decades. Maybe one first heard this when it came out or are just hearing it now. Even though this album may not be your cup of tea, rest assured there are some really diverse classics and underrated gems on the calendar. Use this time to reacquaint yourself with classic metal records or be for certain you really do not "get" whatever record is being discussed.

Band: Asphyx

Album: Embrace The Death

Released: November 19th, 1996

Metal Archives Entry

Youtube Stream

This album seems to address death very strongly. Are there other albums by other bands/musicians you know that over a whole album have this theme?

I'm feeling it especially in Chapter 3.

EDIT: Thanks for your replies. Just googled "Albums about Death". A couple of other obvious ones are - Arcade Fire: Funeral, Nick Cave: Ghosteen,& Skeleton Tree, David Bowie: Black Star, Joy Division: Closer

👀

1. Human

2. Individual thought patterns

3. Leprosy

4. Symbolic

5. Scream Bloody Gore

6. Spiritual Healing

7. The Sound Of Perseverance

This was the hardest ranking of death beside best song/riff/solo.