Human

by

Death

Edit

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.

I don't know about you, but screaming, gurgling vocals and lyrics about death and dying don't do much for me. It's a shame too, because this band is so obviously talented that I just couldn't bring myself to give it one star. In his defense, "lead screamer" Chuck Schuldiner also plays guitar. Sorry all you fans, but I just don't see how this singing "fits the music very well", "is EAR SHREDDING!!", or is "emotionally brutal". What happened to being a good singer, as opposed to being a good "RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"