Death "The Sound Of Perseverance [2011 Reissue, Remastered, 3CDS Limited Edition Digipak, USA, Relapse Records, RR 7155]"

The Sound of Perseverance is the seventh and final studio album by American death metal band Death, released on August 31, 1998, by Nuclear Blast. The album featured guitarist Shannon Hamm, drummer Richard Christy, and bassist Scott Clendenin for the first and only time. It was also Death's final studio album, as Chuck Schuldiner died due to brain cancer-related issues in 2001, and Death subsequently disbanded. It is considered to be one of the most accomplished releases in Death's discography, and has been called one of the greatest heavy metal albums of all time by AllMusic reviewer Jason Hundey.

Prior to the recording of the album, Chuck Schuldiner had broken up the band due to tension with their previous label, Roadrunner Records and focused on his band Control Denied. He signed to Nuclear Blast, who mandated that Death release another album before the label would issue a Control Denied album. Schuldiner stated in a 1998 interview that frequent Death bassist Steve Di Giorgio, who had played on some of the album's demos, was too busy to play on the album, so Scott Clendenin, with whom Schuldiner had been playing in Control Denied, replaced him. Shannon Hamm, who also played in Control Denied, and new addition Richard Christy joined as well. The album was recorded at Morrisound Recording over a three-week period and had already been demoed twice in Schuldiner's home studio.

The instrumental "Voice of the Soul" was written during the Symbolic sessions, while "The Moment of Clarity" was anticipated to be the title track on the first Control Denied album. Other tracks from the album would have included "What If" and "Cut Down to Size", which were all worked on in 1997. Though Schuldiner stated in an interview with Metal Maniacs the following year that none of his compositions for Control Denied had been used to fill space for a Death album, Tim Aymar confirmed in 2010 that several Control Denied songs were reimagined as Death songs and released on The Sound of Perseverance. Hamm stated during the Death by Metal documentary that record labels were initially unwilling to take a chance on Control Denied, as it was not a proven band. He also mentioned that the Control Denied songs that were reused as Death songs included Bite the Pain, Spirit Crusher, Story to Tell, Voice of the Soul and A Moment of Clarity.

The band's cover of the Judas Priest song "Painkiller" was intended as a bonus track for Japan, but Nuclear Blast recommended that it be included on all releases.

The Sound of Perseverance has been described as "[appearing] as an eerie specter that copiously reminds us of how our subconscious strangely discerns more than one can even imagine about oneself." The material on the album has been called "ambitious" and "mind-[bendingly]" complex. It is considered to be the most experimental and "expansive" Death release by critics and journalists, containing lengthier tracks and increasingly sophisticated songwriting. According to Metal Hammer, the album is "full of awkward time changes and weird keys." Music journalist T Coles referred to the album as "death metal in an advanced form." The album has been characterized as combining the "best aspects" of the band's three previous albums, and "[taking] them one step further." The tracks have been described as "more aggressive, more progressive, and certainly more melodic." The album has been characterized by "sheer ferocity" and "raw emotion". The music on The Sound of Perseverance has drawn comparisons to Atheist, Dream Theater, Meshuggah and Cynic. Critics have made note of elements of progressive music and jazz fusion present in the album's rhythm section. Christy's drumming on the album has been described as "octopus-like". Schuldiner's vocals on the album have been described as "falsetto death metal shrieks. AllMusic described his vocals on the album as his "eeriest performance ever." His scream in the intro of the "Painkiller" cover has been likened to power metal. The band recorded using B.C. Rich Stealth guitars, achieving a "razor-like" guitar tone. Jason Hundey of AllMusic said the album's third track, "Spirit Crusher," contains "one of the most terrifying, blood-curdling choruses ever."

The album was released on August 31, 1998. The band embarked on a tour which would later provide the material for several live albums, including Live in L.A. and Live in Eindhoven. Afterwards, Schuldiner put aside Death and continued work on Control Denied's first album The Fragile Art of Existence.

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. 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.

A vinyl reissue was scheduled to be released in November 2016 by Relapse Records.

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". 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". Schwarz also stated that while he was impressed with Death's cover of "Painkiller" by Judas Priest, he questioned its use as the closing track on the album.

Music journalist T Coles said The Sound of Perseverance is "the final divide between death metal's older style and the sounds yet to come."

Metal Hammer named The Sound of Perseverance as one of the greatest metal releases of the 1990s, saying it "inspired a generation of slightly off-kilter metal musicians who didn't quite fit in to go forth and create with scarce regard for the boundaries of genre or the limitations of a prescribed sound."

Track listing

All tracks are written by Chuck Schuldiner, except "Painkiller" written by Rob Halford, K. K. Downing and Glenn Tipton.

Disc 1:

1. "Scavenger of Human Sorrow" 6:56
2. "Bite the Pain" 4:29
3. "Spirit Crusher" 6:47
4. "Story to Tell" 6:34
5. "Flesh and the Power It Holds" 8:26
6. "Voice of the Soul" (instrumental) 3:43
7. "To Forgive Is to Suffer" 5:55
8. "A Moment of Clarity" 7:25
9. "Painkiller" (Judas Priest cover) 6:02

Total length: 56:17

Disc 2:

1. "Spirit Crusher" (from 1998 demos, no bass (instrumental)) 6:55
2. "Flesh and the Power It Holds" (from 1998 demos, no bass (instrumental)) 8:22
3. "Voice of the Soul" (from 1998 demos, no bass (instrumental)) 3:30
4. "Bite the Pain" (from 1998 demos) 4:28
5. "A Moment of Clarity" (from 1998 demos) 6:38
6. "Story to Tell" (from 1998 demos) 6:40
7. "Scavenger of Human Sorrow" (from 1998 demos) 6:49
8. "Bite the Pain" (from 1997 demos) 4:31
9. "Story to Tell" (from 1997 demos) 6:37
10. "A Moment of Clarity" (from 1997 demos) 6:34

Total length: 61:02

Disc 3:

1. "Bite the Pain" (from 1996 demos, Chuck Schuldiner on vocals) 4:19
2. "Story to Tell" (from 1996 demos, Chuck Schuldiner on vocals) 6:19
3. "A Moment of Clarity" (from 1996 demos, Chuck Schuldiner on vocals, clean backing vocals) 6:17
4. "Bite the Pain" (from 1996 demos, Paul Payne on vocals) 4:20
5. "A Moment of Clarity" (from 1996 demos, Paul Payne on vocals) 6:17
6. "A Moment of Clarity" (from 1996 demos, Chuck Schuldiner on vocals, clean vocals) 6:17
7. "Story to Tell" (from 1996 demos, Chuck Schuldiner on vocals, clean vocals) 6:24
8. "Bite the Pain" (from 1996 demos, Shannon Hamm on vocals) 4:14
9. "A Moment of Clarity" (from 1996 demos, instrumental) 5:32
10. "Bite the Pain" (from 1996 demos, instrumental) 4:14
11. "Story to Tell" (from 1996 demos, instrumental) 6:13
12. "Voice of the Soul" (from 1996 demos, instrumental) 3:29
13. "A Moment of Clarity" (from 1996 demos, instrumental) 6:12

Total length: 70:07

Issued in a deluxe embossed 4 panel digipak with a 24 page booklet featuring unseen pictures as well as brand new liner notes.

Mailorder exclusive.

Deluxe edition.

Numbered edition.

Recording information:

Disc 1:

Engineered and mixed at Morrisound Studios, Tampa, Florida.

Remastered at West West Side Music.

Jim Morris - production, engineering, mixing, mastering

Travis Smith - artwork

Jay Speis - art direction, graphic design

Eric Greif - legal & IP management

Alex McKnight - photography

Death "Human (USA, Relativity Records, 88561-2036-2)"

Human is the fourth studio album by American death metal band Death, released on October 22, 1991, by Relativity Records. This is the only album to feature Cynic members Paul Masvidal on guitar and Sean Reinert on drums, and the first to feature bassist Steve Di Giorgio. The album continued the band's evolution on Spiritual Healing, featuring high technicality and introspective lyrics. It is today regarded as one of Death's greatest albums and one of the most influential technical death metal albums of all time.

After the release of Spiritual Healing, band members Bill Andrews and Terry Butler embarked on a tour of Europe without frontman Chuck Schuldiner, who refused to go on tour due to what he perceived as poor organization. Their decision to tour without him would result in legal action brought by Schuldiner, and Schuldiner's decision to switch to using guest musicians on future releases.

According to Guitar World, "Chuck had never needed an excuse to fight for his music. Now handed one, he responded with devastating force. Human, his followup to Spiritual Healing, was a calculated retaliation to his former bandmates, who claimed he was washed up; to the media, which painted him as a narcissistic monster; and to anyone deluded enough to believe his detractors. 'This is much more than a record to me,' he told Metal Hammer’s Robert Heeg in the December 1991 issue. 'It is a statement. It’s revenge.'"

Bassist Steve Di Giorgio left after the recording of the album (though he would later return to record Individual Thought Patterns). He was replaced by Scott Carino, who toured with the band in 1991 and 1992. Carino also recorded additional bass overdub on "Cosmic Sea" after a couple of issues were discovered during the mixing stage. The rest of the song (including the bass solo) was recorded by Di Giorgio.

Human marked the beginning of a major stylistic change for Death, being more technically complex and progressive than the band's previous efforts. The sound has been categorized as technical death metal and progressive metal. Shaun Lindsley of Metal Hammer said Human was an "exponential leap forward in innovation" for the band. Chris Krovatin of Kerrang! assessed, "On the one hand, the album sees Death, arguably the genre's birth mother, exploring progressive sonic ground and lyrical themes that were completely new for them, much less any other artist within this branch of music. On the other hand, naming your album Human – after the ultimate symbol of frailty in death metal, whose destruction, demise, and sheer repulsiveness are the subject of most great death metal songs – has a reductive brilliance to it."

Described as a "swirling, progressive shred-fest," the album makes use of odd time signatures and complex rhythms. Session musicians Sean Reinert and Paul Masvidal, who had performed in Cynic, were influenced by progressive rock, jazz and jazz fusion. Masvidal employed shred-style guitar solos that have been described as "paradigm-shifting." Some of the textures on the album have been described as "spacy." Masvidal explained: "Although we all brought our backgrounds to the equation, none of us really knew what we were doing. We simply did what came naturally in the context of Chuck's songs and that's why it worked. Our detachment about the process eliminated preciousness and pretense. It wasn't that we didn't take the music seriously, because we did, but there was a playful psychology along the way."

In some ways, the three of us around Chuck made for a fusion of East Coast meets West Coast sensibilities outside the metal box. We were steeped in seventies and eighties progressive rock, jazz and other eclectic sounds blending with Chuck's old-school metal leanings to become a groovy hybrid of progressive death metal was unheard of back then. His trademark use of the harmonic minor scale was still intact, along with the classic metal riffing, but in seeking out a new breed of musicians, Chuck was getting the best of both worlds by appealing to classic metal heads while maintaining a speed and heaviness for the more extreme metal ear, but also speaking to the more studied listener by introducing a new degree of musicality, aggressive chops and technical prowess.

Guitarist Paul Masvidal in 2011, as quoted from the liner notes of the deluxe reissue of Human

Joe DiVita of Loudwire said the album contains "complex melodies" accompanied by "hook-bound grooves." Additionally, the album contains melodic guitar riffs that are reminiscent of the New wave of British heavy metal, and have drawn comparisons to Iron Maiden. Steve Huey of AllMusic described Chuck Schuldiner's harmonized guitar riffs as "strange" and "dissonant", and argued the album's back side is "actually almost subdued by death metal standards." Marcus Jervis of About.com assessed, "Although firmly rooted in death metal, by this stage of its career, Death had little in common with the gore drenched grind of Cannibal Corpse or the satanic blast beats of Deicide, instead choosing to explore increasingly progressive avenues, expanding the boundaries of what was considered possible in death metal."

Schuldiner's lyrics on the album explore themes such as existentialism, abuse of power, and betrayal. Paul Masvidal assessed: "A large degree of Chuck's creative energy was driven by an unsettled conscience. As it is for many musicians, writing songs was a cathartic outlet and a way to touch earth, ground himself and process his pain. With Human, Chuck's lyrics began looking inward and somewhat prophetically to his own untimely departure."

Human was released to critical acclaim, and has since been commended as a "masterpiece" in death metal. Additionally, it is considered to be a highly influential release in the development of the technical death metal subgenre, and on extreme metal in general. In 2017, Rolling Stone named the album the 70th greatest metal album of all time. According to Matt Mills of WhatCulture, Human "singlehandedly gave credence to the “technical death metal” niche, while also signalling that Death had fully spread their wings beyond what was first thought possible." Gregg Pratt of Exclaim! said "the one-two opening punch of "Flattening of Emotions" and "Suicide Machine" is easily one of the best double-hitter openings of a death metal album [in 1991], and the competition was stiff." According to Marcus Jervis at About.com, Human "was undeniable proof that extreme metal was capable of being about something more than angry kids pretending to worship the devil. It was crushing but cerebral and the precursor to an era where technicality is seen as a given in extreme metal." Steve Huey of AllMusic gave the album four and a half stars out of five.

Human is a highly influential extreme metal album, according to Jeff Wagner in his 2010 text on progressive metal, Mean Deviation. It is Death's best-selling album, having sold 94,000 copies with the U.S., according to Soundscan. It was ranked number 82 on the October 2006 issue of Guitar World magazine's list of the greatest 100 guitar albums of all time. The track "Lack of Comprehension" has an accompanying music video, which received airplay on MTV and helped boost the sales of the album.

In 2011, Relapse Records and Perseverance Holdings Ltd. re-issued the album to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the original release. This edition was remixed by Jim Morris of Morrisound Recording Studios, includes bonus tracks, and was authorized by Schuldiner intellectual property lawyer Eric Greif. The reissue of Human was remixed, as Sony had lost the master tapes of Scott Burns' original mixes.

In 2025, Joe DiVita of Loudwire named Human as the best death metal release of 1991, calling it "a rare glimpse at death metal perfection."

Track listing

All songs written by Chuck Schuldiner

1. "Flattening of Emotions" 4:28
2. "Suicide Machine" 4:23
3. "Together as One" 4:10
4. "Secret Face" 4:39
5. "Lack of Comprehension" 3:43
6. "See Through Dreams" 4:39
7. "Cosmic Sea" (instrumental) 4:27
8. "Vacant Planets" 3:52

Total length: 34:21

• The track "Cosmic Sea" is featured in the computer game Damage Incorporated.
• The band paid homage in the liner notes to Atheist bassist Roger Patterson, who was killed in a car accident in February 1991.
• The band's logo changes slightly; compared to the logo on the three preceding albums, it loses the "intricate details" that it had previously.
• Schuldiner has stated that the song "Lack of Comprehension" is based on the scandal regarding metal band Judas Priest, where it was accused of causing a fan to commit suicide

Recording information:

Recorded and mixed at Morrisound Studios, Tampa, Florida.

Mastered at Fullersound, Miami, Florida.

Chuck Schuldiner – production

Scott Burns – producer, engineer, mixing

Michael Fuller – mastering (original release)

Jim Morris – remixing (2011 reissue)

Alan Douches – mastering (2011 reissue)

René Miville – artwork

Tim Hubbard – photography

David Bett – art direction

Jacob Speis – layout

Death "Human (2011 Reissue, Remastered, 3CDS 20th Anniversary Edition, USA, Relapse Records, RR7166)"

Human is the fourth studio album by American death metal band Death, released on October 22, 1991, by Relativity Records. This is the only album to feature Cynic members Paul Masvidal on guitar and Sean Reinert on drums, and the first to feature bassist Steve Di Giorgio. The album continued the band's evolution on Spiritual Healing, featuring high technicality and introspective lyrics. It is today regarded as one of Death's greatest albums and one of the most influential technical death metal albums of all time.

After the release of Spiritual Healing, band members Bill Andrews and Terry Butler embarked on a tour of Europe without frontman Chuck Schuldiner, who refused to go on tour due to what he perceived as poor organization. Their decision to tour without him would result in legal action brought by Schuldiner, and Schuldiner's decision to switch to using guest musicians on future releases.

According to Guitar World, "Chuck had never needed an excuse to fight for his music. Now handed one, he responded with devastating force. Human, his followup to Spiritual Healing, was a calculated retaliation to his former bandmates, who claimed he was washed up; to the media, which painted him as a narcissistic monster; and to anyone deluded enough to believe his detractors. 'This is much more than a record to me,' he told Metal Hammer’s Robert Heeg in the December 1991 issue. 'It is a statement. It’s revenge.'"

Bassist Steve Di Giorgio left after the recording of the album (though he would later return to record Individual Thought Patterns). He was replaced by Scott Carino, who toured with the band in 1991 and 1992. Carino also recorded additional bass overdub on "Cosmic Sea" after a couple of issues were discovered during the mixing stage. The rest of the song (including the bass solo) was recorded by Di Giorgio.

Human marked the beginning of a major stylistic change for Death, being more technically complex and progressive than the band's previous efforts. The sound has been categorized as technical death metal and progressive metal. Shaun Lindsley of Metal Hammer said Human was an "exponential leap forward in innovation" for the band. Chris Krovatin of Kerrang! assessed, "On the one hand, the album sees Death, arguably the genre's birth mother, exploring progressive sonic ground and lyrical themes that were completely new for them, much less any other artist within this branch of music. On the other hand, naming your album Human – after the ultimate symbol of frailty in death metal, whose destruction, demise, and sheer repulsiveness are the subject of most great death metal songs – has a reductive brilliance to it."

Described as a "swirling, progressive shred-fest," the album makes use of odd time signatures and complex rhythms. Session musicians Sean Reinert and Paul Masvidal, who had performed in Cynic, were influenced by progressive rock, jazz and jazz fusion. Masvidal employed shred-style guitar solos that have been described as "paradigm-shifting." Some of the textures on the album have been described as "spacy." Masvidal explained: "Although we all brought our backgrounds to the equation, none of us really knew what we were doing. We simply did what came naturally in the context of Chuck's songs and that's why it worked. Our detachment about the process eliminated preciousness and pretense. It wasn't that we didn't take the music seriously, because we did, but there was a playful psychology along the way."

In some ways, the three of us around Chuck made for a fusion of East Coast meets West Coast sensibilities outside the metal box. We were steeped in seventies and eighties progressive rock, jazz and other eclectic sounds blending with Chuck's old-school metal leanings to become a groovy hybrid of progressive death metal was unheard of back then. His trademark use of the harmonic minor scale was still intact, along with the classic metal riffing, but in seeking out a new breed of musicians, Chuck was getting the best of both worlds by appealing to classic metal heads while maintaining a speed and heaviness for the more extreme metal ear, but also speaking to the more studied listener by introducing a new degree of musicality, aggressive chops and technical prowess.

Guitarist Paul Masvidal in 2011, as quoted from the liner notes of the deluxe reissue of Human

Joe DiVita of Loudwire said the album contains "complex melodies" accompanied by "hook-bound grooves." Additionally, the album contains melodic guitar riffs that are reminiscent of the New wave of British heavy metal, and have drawn comparisons to Iron Maiden. Steve Huey of AllMusic described Chuck Schuldiner's harmonized guitar riffs as "strange" and "dissonant", and argued the album's back side is "actually almost subdued by death metal standards." Marcus Jervis of About.com assessed, "Although firmly rooted in death metal, by this stage of its career, Death had little in common with the gore drenched grind of Cannibal Corpse or the satanic blast beats of Deicide, instead choosing to explore increasingly progressive avenues, expanding the boundaries of what was considered possible in death metal."

Schuldiner's lyrics on the album explore themes such as existentialism, abuse of power, and betrayal. Paul Masvidal assessed: "A large degree of Chuck's creative energy was driven by an unsettled conscience. As it is for many musicians, writing songs was a cathartic outlet and a way to touch earth, ground himself and process his pain. With Human, Chuck's lyrics began looking inward and somewhat prophetically to his own untimely departure."

Human was released to critical acclaim, and has since been commended as a "masterpiece" in death metal. Additionally, it is considered to be a highly influential release in the development of the technical death metal subgenre, and on extreme metal in general. In 2017, Rolling Stone named the album the 70th greatest metal album of all time. According to Matt Mills of WhatCulture, Human "singlehandedly gave credence to the “technical death metal” niche, while also signalling that Death had fully spread their wings beyond what was first thought possible." Gregg Pratt of Exclaim! said "the one-two opening punch of "Flattening of Emotions" and "Suicide Machine" is easily one of the best double-hitter openings of a death metal album [in 1991], and the competition was stiff." According to Marcus Jervis at About.com, Human "was undeniable proof that extreme metal was capable of being about something more than angry kids pretending to worship the devil. It was crushing but cerebral and the precursor to an era where technicality is seen as a given in extreme metal." Steve Huey of AllMusic gave the album four and a half stars out of five.

Human is a highly influential extreme metal album, according to Jeff Wagner in his 2010 text on progressive metal, Mean Deviation. It is Death's best-selling album, having sold 94,000 copies with the U.S., according to Soundscan. It was ranked number 82 on the October 2006 issue of Guitar World magazine's list of the greatest 100 guitar albums of all time. The track "Lack of Comprehension" has an accompanying music video, which received airplay on MTV and helped boost the sales of the album.

In 2011, Relapse Records and Perseverance Holdings Ltd. re-issued the album to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the original release. This edition was remixed by Jim Morris of Morrisound Recording Studios, includes bonus tracks, and was authorized by Schuldiner intellectual property lawyer Eric Greif. The reissue of Human was remixed, as Sony had lost the master tapes of Scott Burns' original mixes.

In 2025, Joe DiVita of Loudwire named Human as the best death metal release of 1991, calling it "a rare glimpse at death metal perfection."

Track listing:

Disc 1

1. Flattening of Emotions 04:29  
2. Suicide Machine 04:22  
3. Together as One 04:09   
4. Secret Face 04:36   
5. Lack of Comprehension 03:43  
6. See Through Dreams 04:25   
7. Cosmic Sea 04:28
8. Vacant Planets 03:49
9. God of Thunder (Kiss cover) 03:55

Time:  37:56  

Disc 2 - Human - Basic Instrumental Studio Tracks

1. Flattening of Emotions 04:54   
2. Suicide Machine 04:30   
3. Together as One 04:15  
4. Secret Face 02:02
5. Secret Face - Part 2 02:44   
6. Lack of Comprehension 03:46  
7. "Felt Good" - Studio Snippet 00:14
8. See Through Dreams 01:37  
9. See Through Dreams - Part 2 03:03
10. Vacant Planets 03:59  
11. Cosmic Sea 02:13
12. Cosmic Sea - Part 2 02:03  
13. God of Thunder (Kiss cover) 04:05   
14. Flattening of Emotions 04:26  
15. Lack of Comprehension 03:48  
16. Suicide Machine 04:31  
17. Together as One 04:10  
18. See Through Dreams 04:08  
19. Secret Face 04:48
20. Vacant Planets 03:59  

Time:  01:09:15  

Disc 3 - Human Rehearsal - January 1991

1. See Through Dreams w/ Paul and Sean 04:32  
2. See Through Dreams (Take 2) w/ Paul and Sean 04:34  
3. Secret Face - w/o Paul - 1/2 song 02:52  
4. Secret Face (Take 2) - w/o Paul 06:32  
5. Secret Face - Riffs 03:47  
6. Flattening of Emotions - Riffs 03:15  
7. Lack of Comprehension - Riffs 02:43
8. Lack of Comprehension (Take 2) - Riffs 02:42
9. Cosmic Sea - Riffs w/ Drum Machine 02:51  
10. See Through Dreams 04:25  
11. Suicide Machine 04:42  
12. Together as One 04:27  
13. Suicide Machine 04:25   
14. Together as One 04:05
15. Secret Face 04:37  
16. Lack of Comprehension 03:38  
17. Vacant Planets 03:53  

Time:  01:08:00

• "God of Thunder" was originally only on the Japanese version of the album but was later included on the 2011 Relapse reissue.
• The track "Cosmic Sea" is featured in the computer game Damage Incorporated.
• The band paid homage in the liner notes to Atheist bassist Roger Patterson, who was killed in a car accident in February 1991.
• The band's logo changes slightly; compared to the logo on the three preceding albums, it loses the "intricate details" that it had previously.
• Schuldiner has stated that the song "Lack of Comprehension" is based on the scandal regarding metal band Judas Priest, where it was accused of causing a fan to commit suicide

Recording information:

Recorded and mixed at Morrisound Studios, Tampa, Florida.

Mastered at Fullersound, Miami, Florida.

Chuck Schuldiner – production

Scott Burns – producer, engineer, mixing

Michael Fuller – mastering (original release)

Jim Morris – remixing (2011 reissue)

Alan Douches – mastering (2011 reissue)

René Miville – artwork

Tim Hubbard – photography

David Bett – art direction

Jacob Speis – layout