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Rating:
The best compositions, the best lyrics, the best musicians, the best mediation between classic and experimental... the best work of Death.
This CD, together with the previous Human, indeed represents the midpoint between the initial brutal, violent, and musically "raw" period of Death and the second more melodic, abstract, and "symbolic" era.
Musically speaking, the riffs are fast and sharp, sometimes interrupted by sudden and surprisingly abrupt pauses (listen to Mentally Blind and you'll understand). Nothing too experimental in terms of compositions, but certainly unique and absolutely stunning in the use of contrast between sounds, the guitars scream choked while StevieD's original Frog supports everything with an incredibly rich sound that resembles that of a double bass; Gene Hoglan's contribution is absolutely fundamental (FOR ME the best drummer on the scene... and why don't you offer it? ...ue ue, ca nisciun'è ffesso) that bursts into continuous, precise, instantaneous frenzies of lightning-fast double bass, which exactly accentuates what needs to be accentuated.
The lyrics and the concept are wonderful, I've never heard such a realistic and raw take on the crap that is human hypocrisy, I understand why Evil Chuck argued with everyone, he knew how to see how mean they were!
A must-listen, if you've never listened to Death (mad people), start with ITP and if it really bothers you, skip the first nine tracks and listen to The Philosopher till the end, the greatest masterpiece of Death Metal!!
Tracklist Lyrics Samples and Videos
01 Overactive Imagination (03:30)
Your existence is a script
Life for you is a perfomance
Play out the leading role
Directing and premeditating every move
That creates the act of manipulation
Mastering the art of deception
That increases your sick addiction
It's an overactive imagination
That enslaves your empty shell
Existing in dimensions of addictive obsession
Your script will run short of ideas
The story will soon end itself
People to trust come short in number
Like a plague your lies spread
Fast across the world
Mastering the art of deception
That increases your sick addition
It's an overactive imagination
That enslaves your empty shell
04 Trapped in a Corner (04:13)
I want to watch you drown in your lies
The end of your masquerade, A matter of time
Interwining lies, Domination, control
Feed his twisted nature
It is sickening to see dreams die
A word of advice, Fate's patience is growning short
Fake down to your mind and appearance
You will fall short of the dreams to destroy
In time you will find yourself trapped in a corner
These four words my friend, I promise you will not forget
I am one of many that see through your lies
Hiding will do you no good, many seek revenge
Soon to become a victim of what you live to create, And cannot have
It is sickening to see dreams die
A word of advice, Fate's patience is growning short
Fake down to your mind and appearance
You will fall short of the dreams to destroy
05 Nothing Is Everything (03:18)
Living like us and sharing our day
In another world very far away
A different existence, Yet virtually the same
Aggression is sadness and laughter is pain
Look deep into their eyes for what they have to say
Emotions take control of life everyday
Unpredictable variations of behavior
Hold the key to the mental door
Where nothing is everything, And everything is nothing
Staring beyond the wall a thousand times over
Seeing a part of them that is real
Just imagine how it might feel
To be denied of what life has to give
Behind mental shadows they must live
Look deep into their eyes for what they have to say
Emotions take control of life everyday
07 Individual Thought Patterns (04:00)
So quick to judge, so easily we forget,
What it's like to be dissected
Where feelings are tossed aside
Like a drug it feeds the imagination of minds that go Unparalyzed
Followers to the leaders of mass hypnotic corruption
That live their lives only to criticize
Where is the invisible line that we must draw to create Individual thought
Patterns
Prisoners of mental deception be free within singular Judgement
Twisting words to control the masses
To cover up one's self insecurities
Like a drug it feeds the imagination of minds that go Unparalyzed
Followers to the leaders of mass hypnotic corruption
That live their lives only to criticize
Where is the invisible line that we must draw to create Individual thought
10 The Philosopher (04:10)
Do you feel what I feel, see what I see, hear what I hear
There is a line you must draw between your dream world and Reality
Do you live my life or share the breath I breathe
Lies feed your judgement of others
Behold how the blind lead each other
The philosopher
You know so much about nothing at all
Ideas that fall under shadows of theories that stand tall
Thoughts that grow narrow upon being verbally released
Your mind is not your own
What sounds more mentally stimulating is how you make your Choice
So you preach about how I'm supposed to be, Yet you don't You know your own
Sexuality
Lies feed your judgement of others
Behold how the blind lead each other
The philosopher
You know so much about nothing at all
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Other reviews
By Tompa
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By jazzman
The bass and drums rhythm section is literally terrifying!!!
A completely must-have album for all fans of technical death metal... amazing!!!
By De...Marga...
"It is Chuck Schuldiner’s fifth album, accompanied by a stellar lineup, the best the Florida group has ever had."
"A perfect, disarming, annihilating album."
