•
Rating: I want to introduce you to this live album, recorded on the night of December 5th, 1998 at the historic Whiskey A Go-Go in Los Angeles, with the aim of guiding you towards death metal horizons.
Performed during the "The Sound of Perseverance Tour", the album was released on September 17th, 2001 to support the expenses of the surgery that Schuldiner, at the time in the throes of a deadly illness, was supposed to undergo once again, trying to combat the tumor.
The production is adequate, but it is immediately clear that it is undoubtedly a bootleg, marketed by Nuclear Blast with the intention of passing it off as a live album. An operation that didn't succeed, but which is justified by the good intentions in an attempt to save Chuck from an unjust and ignoble end.
The band's frontman, considered by many as the greatest songwriter of the genre ever, is not as impeccable as usual, but continues to unleash his infinite guitar skill and his majestic infernal voice, always accompanied by growls and harrowing screams. His guitar along with Shannon Hamm's, appears subdued in the overall sound, not due to his own fault, but because of suboptimal recordings. Accompanying him is Scott Clendenin's bass, perceived in a mediocre way.
On drums is Richard Christy, a name that is a guarantee. Indeed, the drummer doesn't miss a beat, giving the performed pieces violence and great precision. The comparison, much more than positive, between his live performance and the studio works, is not at all heresy.
It is needless to repeat that the album lacks a bit in raw sound, but the monstrous tracklist of the album will leave you pale! The concert begins with the intricate "The Philosopher", preceded by a ghostly intro. The tour line is followed with "Scaravenger of Human Sorrow", which I personally consider the most beautiful episode, "Spirit Crusher" and "Flesh And The Powers It Holds". Moving beyond, we encounter other historic albums of the group: the evolved "Symbolic" ("Zero Tolerance," the terrifying "Empty Words," "Crystal Mountains," and the title track), the initial "Human" ("Together As One" and the lethal "Suicide Machine") and the intricate "Individual Thought Patterns" (the opening track and "Trapped In A Corner").
In the catastrophic tracklist, we also find the old "Zombie Ritual" and "Pull The Plug". This last song marks the conclusion of a fantastic show, made memorable by the fact that it was one of the last of the myth Chuck Schuldiner.
I consider the grateful audience, present on that unforgettable night, very fortunate and full of emotions.
Those emotions experienced in seeing live the greatest representatives of the genre: the never too much regretted Death.
Tracklist and Lyrics
02 Spirit Crusher (06:26)
It comes from the depths
Of a place unknown to the
Keeper of dreams
If it could then it would steal
The sun and the moon from the sky
Beware
Human at sight, Monster at heart
Don't let it inside it could
Tear you right apart
No guilt, It feeds in plain sight
Spirit Crusher
Stay strong and hold on tight
Spirit Crusher
Speaking in killing words
The vicious kind that crush and kill
No mercy, Its pleasure to taste
The blood that it bled
When it's time to feed to fulfill
The need to consume a breath
Some will rise standing tall
Breathing out all the breath from
The voice of a soul
03 Trapped in a Corner (04:25)
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
04 Scavenger of Human Sorrow (02:48)
What pain will it take
To satisfy your sick appetite
Go in for the kill
Always in sight-prey
The time always right-feast
Feed on the pain-taste
Sorrow made flesh-sweet
Live how you want
Just don't feed on me
If you doubt what I say
I will make you believe
Shallow are words from those who starve
For a dream not their own to slash and scar
Big words, Small mind
Behind the pain you will find
A scavenger of human sorrow
Scavenger
Abstract theory the weapon of choice
Used by scavenger of human sorrow
Scavenger
So you have traveled far across the sea
To spread yor written brand of misery
06 Crystal Mountain (04:47)
Built from blind faith
Passed down from self-induced fantasy
Turn a page to justify
Conjuring power - It opens wide
On seventh day
Is that how it's done?
Twisting your eyes to perceive
All that you want
To assume from ignorance
Inflicting wounds with your
Cross-turned dagger
Inside crystal mountain
Evil takes its form
Inside crystal mountain
Commandments are reborn
All the traps are set to confine
All who get in the way of the divine
In sight and in mind of the hypocrite
A slave to the curse forever confined
Shatter the myth
Don't cut yourself
On your words against
Dreams made of steel
Stronger any faith
That inflicts pain and fear
Is that how it's done?
Twisting your eyes to perceive
All that you want
To assume from ignorance
Inflicting wounds with your
Cross-Turned dagger
08 Zero Tolerance (05:00)
In the dark of night...
Abusing a portion of light
While others are sleeping
And some are escaping
A serpent spews out fantasy
Unjustified blasphemy
That cannot be condoned
It must be strange to not have lived
So far into existence
This is not a test of power
This is not a game to be lost or won
Let justice be done
There will be zero tolerance
For the creator of hallowed intentions
There will be zero tolerance
Fate is your deciding God
Karma comes crashing down
Leaving a very deep scar
Exposing a door to the
Source of a verbal whore
Machines supply the altar
Where virtuous lives are sacrificed
It must be strange to not have lived
So far into existence
This is not a test of power
This is not a game to be lost or won
Let justice be done
09 Zombie Ritual (04:41)
Revengeful corpse out to kill
Smell the stench, Your guts will spill
Vomit for a mind, Maggots for a cock
With his axe the corpse will chop
Stare into his eyes
Now in his spell
Kiss the rotting flesh
Now you're in hell
Drink from the goblet, The goblet of gore
Taste the zombie's drug, Now you want more
Drifting from the living, Joining with the dead
Zombie dwelling maggots, Now infest your head
Zombie ritual
Zombie ritual
Ceremony now complete
Chosen one is now deceased
Fucking, Raping zombie whores
Killing, Feasting no remorse
Stare into his eyes
Now in his spell
Kiss the rotting flesh
Now you're in hell
Drink from the goblet, The goblet of gore
Taste the zombie's drug, Now you want more
Drifting from the living, Joining with the dead
Zombie dwelling maggots, Now infest your head
Zombie ritual
Zombie ritual
Zombie ritual
Zombie ritual
10 Suicide Machine (04:14)
Controlling their lives
Deciding when and how they will die
A victim of someone else's choice
The ones who suffer have no voice
Manipulating destiny
When it comes to living, No one seems to care
But when it comes to wanting out
Those with power, Will be there
Prolong the pain
How long will it last?
Suicide machine
A request to die with dignity
Is that too much to ask?
Suicide machine
How easy it is to deny the pain
Of someone else's suffering
Robbed of natural abilities
In death they now seek tranquility
In a confused state of mind
Extending agony, They must be blind
Manipulating destiny
When it comes to living, No one seems to care
But when it comes to wanting out
Those with power, Will be there
Prolong the pain
How long will it last?
Suicide machine
A request to die with dignity
Is that too much to ask?
Suicide machine
11 Together as One (04:11)
Labelled a creation of evil
Ridiculed for their shocking appearance
Sharing both please and pain
Two minds, Two hearts, One soul
Separating mentally
An illusion of privacy
Together - They absorb each other's lives
As One - They will live and they will die
A living hell has begun
Displayed as a nightmare
Criticized through words and eyes
As they stare
To the normal it seems grotesque
Connected by a bond of flesh
Two minds, Two hearts, One soul
Separating mentally
An illusion of privacy
Together - They absorb each other's lives
As One - They will live and they will die
A living hell has begun
13 Symbolic (06:16)
I don't mean to dwell
But I can't help myself
When I feel the vibe
And taste a memory
Of a time in life
When years seemed to stand still
I close my eyes
And sink within myself
Relive the gift of precious memories
In need of a fix called innocence
When did it begin?
The change to come was undetectable
The open wounds expose the importance of
Our innocence
A high that can never be bought or sold
Symbolic acts - So vivid
Yet at the same time
Were invisible
Savor what you feel and what you see
Things that may not seem important now
But may be tomorrow
Do you remember when
Things seemed so eternal?
Heroes were so real...
Their magic frozen in time
The only way to learn
Is be aware and hold on tight
I close my eyes
And sink within myself
Relive the gift of precious memories
In need of a fix called innocence
When did it begin?
The change to come was undetectable
The open wounds expose the importance of
Our innocence
A high that can never be bought or sold
14 Pull the Plug (06:22)
Memory's all that's left behind
As I lay and wait to die
Little do they know
That I hear their choice of life
End it now, it is the only way
Too cruel, that is what they say
Release me from this lonely world
There is no hope - Why don't you
Pull the plug
Let me pass away
Pull the plug
Don't want to live this way
Once I had full control of my life
I now behold a machine decides my fate
End it now it's all to late
What has now been days, It seems like years
To stay like this is what I fear
Life ends so fast, So take your chance
And make it last
End it now, It is the only way
Too cruel, That is what they say
Release me from this lonely world
There is no hope - Why don't you
Pull the plug
Let me pass away
Pull the plug
Don't want to live this way
Loading comments slowly
