The Sound of Perseverance

It was a breakthrough album for drummer and later radio star Richard Christy, in the tradition of previous drummers like Gene Hoglan and Sean Reinert. The album features "Voice of the Soul", an instrumental track that contrasts with almost every other work of the band in its inclusion of softer guitars and lack of percussion. In an interview done in March 1999, Chuck Schuldiner stated that the acoustic guitar-driven "Voice of the Soul" was actually written during the Symbolic sessions.[5] Death has produced only two instrumentals (the other being the more electric guitar driven "Cosmic Sea" from Human). The album also featured a cover of Judas Priest's "Painkiller", which shows Schuldiner attempting a different, high-pitched style of death growl more reminiscent of Rob Halford's original vocals and also singing for the first time with a clean voice through the end of the song. All the solos in the song are rewritten.

The Moment of Clarity was expected to appear on the first Control Denied album, which was worked on in 1997,[6] though it was retooled as a Death song and released on The Sound of Perseverance. Schuldiner denied this in an interview with Metal Maniacs the following year by saying that none of his compositions for Control Denied had been used to fill space for a Death album.[7] Schuldiner implied that some Control Denied songs were used for The Sound of Perseverance in an interview with Scream Magazine in October 1999, when he stated that The Fragile Art of Existence "contains a lot of music I didn't have in mind originally. Most of the material was completed in 1996-97."[8] The former singer of Control Denied, Tim Aymar, confirmed in December 2010 that a few of the Control Denied songs had been, in his words, "'Deathized' and recorded on TSOP."[9] When Death was signed on to Nuclear Blast, Schuldiner agreed to make one last Death album before moving forward with Control Denied.

"Spirit Crusher" is the only single from the album. It features a music video that was taken from the band's 2001 live album Live in Eindhoven.

Nuclear Blast released a deluxe edition in December 2005. It contains the original album as well as the DVD Live in Cottbus '98 and press pictures. It was also released as a DualDisc.[10]

Relapse Records released a second deluxe edition on February 15, 2011. The album was remastered and reissued in deluxe 2-CD and 3-CD formats, with the additional CDs containing unreleased demo material and a revised cover by original cover artist Travis Smith.[11]

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
About.com	[12]
AllMusic	[4]
Chronicles of Chaos	9/10[13]
Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal	9/10[14]
Metal Forces	10/10[15]
Sputnikmusic	[16]

The Sound of Perseverance has received critical acclaim and is considered by fans and critics alike as one of Death's greatest albums. Jason Hundey of AllMusic described it as "a truly glorious metal release, certainly Death's finest hour, and easily one of the top metal albums of all time".[4] Chronicles of Chaos reviewer Paul Schwarz said the album "excels in all the right places. Great thrashings, technical solos, memorable choruses and clear vocals are the order of the day".[13]