Welcome to Retro-Reviews, a space where I indulge in my own nostalgic reveries, reminiscing about a time that never truly existed, but one that I’ve crafted through various random albums that hold significance for me. Whether good or bad, one thing is certain: remembering can be a bittersweet journey.
It’s 1991, and a lot of things are happening. The Soviet Union officially dissolves, the Gulf War begins, the WWW becomes a thing, and Dr. Seuss dies. Right, I got distracted again! The Metal. It was a year to remember, with astonishing releases from Entombed, Sepultura, and obviously Metallica (who didn’t know about The Black Album?). However, while all those people were making big money, Death was doing something else, more adventurous, you could say.
We’ve reached our first “controversial” pick. If you’ve been following our retro-review series, you’ll know that we usually cover timeless classics we all love to praise. Human is also a classic many love, but it’s also one that many forget. Since I wasn’t exactly there when it came out, I’ll try to understand why it is a polarizing album and how it holds up today. Let’s go!
I think it’s easier to answer the first question. Human is Death‘s transition album. It’s the one where the band starts showing that it wouldn’t settle with just being a Death Metal act and that it was ready to take risks. I’d even dare to say that not many extreme Metal bands in the US wanted or could take those gambles, but Death had earned its place with lots of sweat and blood.
On the second question. Well, it’s a mixed bag. The production is full and warm. The songwriting is audacious and so ahead of its time, but it still feels like a band that hasn’t pushed as far as it could yet; like it’s entering unknown waters where it’s still finding the right way to swim. You’ll need context to enjoy Human because Tech Death and Prog Death don’t sound like this anymore. Everything has become much more sophisticated. However, Human doesn’t need to be the most technical to be impressive.
In what could be one of the most ridiculously consistent catalogs in Death Metal, Human shines as the first peak in a career that would have several afterwards. Gone were the days of the fun gore to welcome a more mature musical approach. I’m not saying the older albums were lame or childish, but you must admit that the people who wrote Scream Bloody Gore had a remarkable evolution in just a couple of years. However, of all those, why is Human the one that seems the most forgotten?
I suspect that it’s because it’s the one that changed things. It wasn’t technical enough, but neither brutal enough. And we Metalheads struggle with albums that don’t seem to pick pure sub-genres. But come on! Death was inventing a genre along the way. You can’t expect everything to be that clear! I enjoyed returning to Human because it marks a time when the songwriting was challenging yet people with little to no musical experience could still jump into it right away.
Preparing this review, I of course listened to Human again and had all sorts of random thoughts invade me. However, I mostly thought about how little attention I had given to it. Now, it’s obvious I’ve committed a crime because the album not only sounds great, but it can also teach us how to change for the better as artists. Lots of bands get praised for doing the same thing for 30 years, but very few can transform and still keep us captivated, and even fewer will manage to keep innovating in the process. That was Death‘s truest talent; it could evolve without alienating us. I can’t think of any other band (maybe Katatonia?) that achieved that so successfully.
Shout out to Benedicte_Isable, the collector who recommended this retro-review, and to everyone else that voted in the Instagram poll!
Label: Relativity Records
Release date: 22 October, 1991
Website: https://death.bandcamp.com/album/human-reissue-2
Country: USA (where else? FLORIDA!!!)
Score: the score keeps evolving, but the more Death you listen, the better it gets
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