Death: Ranking All 7 Studio Albums
2. Individual Thought Patterns (1993)
Individual Thought Patterns is easily one of the greatest death metal records of all time (not to mention Chuck Schuldiner’s favourite Death album), with so much working in its favour that it feels blasphemous to bestow it with merely a silver medal.
The line-up that Chuck gathered up for his fifth album is simply the best in Death’s history: King Diamond’s Andy LaRocque finds himself shredding alongside the frontman, bolstered by the rhythmic dream team of Steve Di Giorgio and Gene Hoglan on bass and drums, respectively.
The calibre of the musicianship on Individual… is off the scale, and can be felt in the rattling guitar shreds of “Trapped in a Corner”, the pummelling blast beats of “Overactive Imagination” and the gorgeous bass solo of “The Philosopher”.
Speaking of which, closing track “The Philosopher” stands as Death’s biggest hit, its melodic chorus and instrumental trade-offs signalling the harmonic emphasis that they would give their next album, Symbolic.
Individual… was the perfect follow-up to the progressive provocateur that was Human, continuing that release’s formula of packing prog into tight and fast death metal tracks while also upping the ante with the talents of some of the strongest metal musicians on the planet.