Once again Chuck Schuldiner has come up with some truly amazing & thoroughly enjoyable songs. Lots of the same good memorable heaviness and "Misanthrope" & "1000 Eyes" have some great M16 blasts. Some have called this & bands like Atheist & Cynic thinking man's metal. Maybe it's because of the complex riffing & time changes. Or maybe it's words of "intelligence" spoken. Chuck usually tries to encourage people to think for themselves and not bind themselves to the "writings of others or the words of an untrained mind" as in "Empty Words". In "Perennial Quest", Chuck belts "Those that stood beside me / I'm glad you understand / Behind these written words / I share the simple plan / To hang on to the way that we feel". He goes on to say, "Filtering out the bad that holds us back ... take hold of what is true to your hunger". Isn't that moral relativism? In the title song Chuck, in retrospect, sees innocence as a priceless gift not to be taken for granted. This is definitive Death & definitive death metal. Chuck is truly a master!
