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It’s hard to believe that in one year–1993– Individual Thought Patterns, along with Heartwork, Odium, Focus, Sound of White Noise, Chaos A.D., Unquestionable Presence, and Covenant were all released, encapsulating what is arguably metal’s most prolific period. Many of those works were preceded by less progressive, although still defining, releases: Arise preceded Chaos AD, Necroticism – Descanting the Insalubrious preceded Heartwork, Blessed are the Sick before Covenant, and so on.
ITP was preceded by Human, a crushing album that shot Death to the forefront of the progressive death metal movement. Given the high caliber of albums after Human’s release, Death needed to follow up with something equally as provocative. ITP continues to stand as one of the genre’s most forward-thinking pieces. With ITP, Death shifted from the unbridled heaviness of Human to something more progressive and sophisticated. “The Philosopher”, which shockingly garnered MTV airplay, fades out with interchanging solos between leader Chuck Schuldiner and bassist Steve DiGiorgio that could pass for a heavy Weather Report. It’s the album that brought drummer Gene Hoglan and DiGiorgio larger metal fame and “most desired studio musician” status. Andy LaRocque, of King Diamond notoriety, contributes legendary solos, particularly on “In Human Form”, while Schuldiner is, as always, the ringleader.
Its original production suffered from over-compression, crunched to the center with little high- and low-end, a symptomatic issue found on many early metal recordings. Hoglan’s kick in particular punched through with an entirely synthetic sound.
Now, everything is less-compressed and more explosive but not always for the better. A beefed-up mid-range thickens the guitars, yet the music is less-crisp, burying solos and vocals at times. Hoglan’s snare explodes where it was once static, creating a more organic sound, yet the kick sounds even more triggered against this shift, cutting through occasionally with its obnoxious clicks.
On the positive side, many bass runs have become more audible, especially the solos at the end of “The Philosopher”, and several drums sections are more present. Perhaps the most-welcomed correction was the abrupt ending of “Individual Thought Patterns”, which originally sounded like an engineering mistake. Small details, granted, but on a huge album. The reissue comes with a second-disc, a live show from Germany two-months before ITP was released. While it’s great to hear some of the older songs played by a better line-up, its inclusion is not perfect. By the second-half of the set, Schuldiner and LaRocque are out-of-tune, ruining some clean sections, most notably during “Lack of Comprehension”, and the performances are a bit sloppy at times. One of the highlights is hearing Hoglan covering ex-Death/Cynic drummer Sean Reinert’s beats from Human, especially on “Flattening of Emotions”. Favorite moment? “This one is about cocaine abuse among pregnant women,” says a dead-pan Schuldiner before launching into “Living Monstrosity” from Spiritual Healing.
The verdict on the reissue ends up divided. Certain changes improve the work, while others detract. Despite ITP’s initially flawed production, it’s how the songs were imprinted; the production becomes a part of the music. Perhaps the perfect mix resides in the delicate territory between the original and the reissue. Regardless, it’s an amazing album that deserves to be revisited in any presentation.
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HEAR INDIVIDUAL THOUGHT PATTERNS
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BUY INDIVIDUAL THOUGHT PATTERNS (REISSUE)
iTunes (Digital download)
Relapse Records (2CD or 3CD Deluxe Reissue)
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Well written.
I lost track of Death for some time in the 90s. I was a big fan up until and around the time Spiritual Healing came out but for some reason they just abruptly fell off if my radar. It took me years to rediscover them and in a way I still am.
I was the same, except “Leprosy” was the last album I was into until I heard “Bite The Pain” on a roadrunner(?) compilation in 2000 ish.
I quickly checked out what they had done since then, and was astonished by the progression over the years and albums.
And we all know anything with Andy LaRocque on it is going to be good! Right!
This album always suffered from middle child syndrome for me — I generally gave Human and Symbolic much more attention. It’s still killer, along with every Death album, but I’m less familiar with it for whatever reason.
I hear what you’re saying about the production… it’s a little weird. With the bass so upfront it starts to feel less death metal, more modern prog metal. Just for my personal taste I probably prefer it more death metal. As a bassist myself, I don’t mind a little flash in the playing, but here it sticks out more than I’d like. Individual instruments sticking out doesn’t necessarily help the songs as a whole.
btw. i know he didn’t play on this Death album, but he was (briefly) in the band, so… James Murphy’s brain tumor has resurfaced and he’s trying to raise money for treatment. decibel has the info, if anyone’s feeling generous, or just wants to post some support on his facebook wall. here’s hoping we don’t lose another one the way we lost Chuck…
http://www.decibelmagazine.com/featured/donate-to-james-murphy/
“…encapsulating what is arguably metal’s most prolific period.”
“…a symptomatic issue found on many early metal recordings.”
So I’m guessing 1990 is when heavy metal became a genre?!?!?
I would think he meant “early” in regards to a band’s individual discography (because it seems to be true in every strain/subgenre of metal), but that’s a good catch and should be clarified.
Some people act like it, unfortunately.
I would argue the opposite, that by this period, most of these bands were starting on a spiral into mediocrity, not a huge fan of most of the albums posted in the article, but their predecessors were great in most instances.
I understand that you are looking at them in terms of progression, but in most instances that progression = crap.
Agreed…’93 was a reliable vintage; however, like a lot of these posts, hindsight does wonders. No single year will ever beat ‘86, but then again no span will ever top ‘82-’86 in metal. It’s like dog years. Although I do sometimes wonder if these eras in metal are more defined by their excellence or by the fact that they’re bookended by periods of absolute suck. I’ll take absolute suck cuz thats generally when band plagiarism is at its highest.
I think Relapse has done a pretty sweet deal of good with these Death reissues. A lot of bonus content and I think the remixing/remastering is for the better. It is a bummer when you discover sounds on a record that change your memory of the way it was, but I usually come to accept that it, hopefully, is closer to the way it was supposed to sound in the first place.
I wish these Death reissues were on vinyl! I already have the Century Media reissues. Relapse still did a great job though.
Hate to say it but this album bored the crap out of me 20 years ago and it still does today.
$25 for a digital album? Are those bits hand-polished or something?
Pertinent information: I really liked this album at the time of its release. “Covenant” and “The Ethereal Mirror” were my other two favorite metal releases that summer, Anacrusis’s – “Screams and Whispers” just a step behind. At 25 years of age, I already felt like an old, grizzled veteran trying to keep up with the music, “of them younger kids.”
I did think the mix was rather mucky and muddy at the time. I also hated that the mastering seemed to lack high end and was markedly more quiet than those other titles. I loved that it featured Hoglan and Larocque.
I haven’t revisited it with any intensity in a number of years. Although “Human” still marks a major turning point for me with metal, I still might like this one better.
1993 one of metal’s most profilic periods?? When were you born?? Formerly great bands like Entombed, Paradise Lost and Carcass started to release “entertaining” middle-of-the-road albums geared towards large audiences. Chaos AD and Sound Of White Noise are abominations and predate the total collapse of metal that occured less than 2 years later. Death metal started to turn sour by 1993, thrash and heavy had died a good 2-3 years earlier. Only black metal managed to kick ass for another year before guys in shorts with non-riffs and turntables killed the whole thing off for good. What’s in your list of ‘94? Far Beyond Driven and Burn My Eyes??
That being said and back on topic, ITP is a great album and certainly one of ’93’s best. I think Andy LaRocque lifted Death just an extra notch from their already lofty standards. The last truly great Death album imo and their best line-up. I do enjoy their final 2 albums as well, but they feel more like a very good rehash.
I like to tell people that Death are the best metal band ever because they’re the only band whose albums actually got heavier and more melodic as they went on. There are way too many crappy metal bands that claim with each album that it ups the ante from the last one. Death actually did that. That is why they rule.
Also, they just cover so many bases in terms of stylistic taste. Do you like raw, dirty-sounding and gory metal? Pop on the first two albums. Do you like metal that grapples with social issues and also has sweet solos? Throw on Spiritual Healing. Do you want an album that will rip you a new asshole? Human’s got you covered, Do you want the metal equivalent of Steely Dan’s Asia? ITP is where it’s at. Do you want to learn how to write unfuckwithable metal tracks? Listen to Symbolic. Do you like prog and banshees? Sound of Perseverance is your friend. That last one is also special because Chuck just found all these unknown but super talented dudes and made what many consider his best album. What a boss./fanboy
Bought the 3CD pack. Can’t stand the mixing.
Simple test is to listen to the original “The Philosopher” with this remixed version. With the original, the introduction hits you hard, in particular, the bass combination of Hoglan and Digiorgio. With the remix, you don’t feel that same bass impact. Instead, Schuldiner’s guitar motif comes to the fore, and sounds incredibly isolated.
And how did they end up burying the guitar solos? The very point of a guitar solo is to stand out against the backing music! Instead, the ultra crispy/crunchy rhythm guitar tracks are all you hear. Terrible.
I’ll be looking to sell this set shortly.
The German live gig has Craig Locicero (Forbidden) on second guitar, not Andy LaRocque. Andy played on the album, but never did any gigs with Death.
-Perry Grayson (author of the liner notes to Individual Thought Patterns
Damn, my own factual flub there. That’s Ralph Santolla on second guitar for the brief Euro tour before ITP was released. It’s correct in my liner notes, but wrong in Relapse’s credits on the back of the CD booklet. Ouch!
Just so everyone knows how the flub got printed on the reissue: the Relapse production manager went off the data found at emptywords.org, which of course is the official DEATH memorial site. He figured everything on there would be correct…whereas reality is such that we’re all human and mistakes happen. It was Laurent from Snakepit in France who first let me know the error, because frankly I never thought about it. Thanks guys for the metal flowage. ERIC GREIF (lawyer for Chuck’s Estate & former manager of DEATH)