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Human (Death album)

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Human
Studio album by
Death
ReleasedOctober 22, 1991
Recorded1991
StudioMorrisound Recording, Tampa, Florida
Genre
Length34:21
LabelRelativity
ProducerScott Burns, Chuck Schuldiner
Death chronology
Spiritual Healing
(1990) 		Human
(1991) 		Fate: The Best of Death
(1992)

Human is the fourth studio album by Florida 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, both 20 at the time, and the first to feature bassist Steve DiGiorgio.

Background and release

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Bassist Steve DiGiorgio 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 DiGiorgio.[citation needed]

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,[3] and was authorized by Schuldiner intellectual property lawyer Eric Greif.[4] The reissue of Human was remixed, as Sony had lost the master tapes of Scott Burns' original mixes.[5]

Style

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The album marked the beginning of a major stylistic change for Death, being more technically complex and progressive than the band's previous efforts. Shaun Lindsley of Metal Hammer said Human was an "exponential leap forward in innovation" for the band.[6] 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."[7] The album makes use of odd time signatures. Session musicians Sean Reinert and Paul Masvidal, who had performed in Cynic, were influenced by progressive rock and jazz. Some of the textures on the album have been described as "spacy". Schuldiner's lyrics on the album explore themes such as existentialism, abuse of power, and betrayal.[8] Joe DiVita of Loudwire said the album contains "complex melodies" accompanied by "hook-bound grooves".[9]

Reception and legacy

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Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
About.com[10]
AllMusic[11]
Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal7/10[12]
Exclaim!favourable[1]

Human was released to critical acclaim from music publications[13] and is seen as a pivotal release in the development of the technical death metal subgenre and on extreme metal in general. In 2017, Rolling Stone magazine placed the album as the 70th greatest metal album of all time.[14]

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 100,000 copies in the United States by 1995.[15] 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.[16] As of April 2024, the music video has over 8.3 million views of YouTube.[17]

As of 2008, Human had sold 95,000 copies with the U.S., according to Soundscan.[3]

Track listing

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All songs written by Chuck Schuldiner except where noted.

No.TitleLength
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
Japanese bonus track
No.TitleLength
9."God of Thunder" (Paul Stanley) (Kiss cover)4:00
Total length:38:21
2011 reissued Relapse Records version (bonus disc 1)
No.TitleLength
1."Flattening of Emotions" (basic instrumental studio tracks)4:54
2."Suicide Machine" (basic instrumental studio tracks)4:30
3."Together as One" (basic instrumental studio tracks)4:15
4."Secret Face" (basic instrumental studio tracks)2:02
5."Secret Face - Part 2" (basic instrumental studio tracks)2:44
6."Lack of Comprehension" (basic instrumental studio tracks)3:46
7."Felt Good" (studio snippet)0:14
8."See Through Dreams" (basic instrumental studio tracks)1:37
9."See Through Dreams - Part 2" (basic instrumental studio tracks)3:03
10."Vacant Planets" (basic instrumental studio tracks)3:59
11."Cosmic Sea" (basic instrumental studio tracks)2:13
12."Cosmic Sea - Part 2" (basic instrumental studio tracks)2:03
13."God of Thunder" (basic instrumental studio tracks)4:05
14."Flattening of Emotions" ("Human" demos)4:26
15."Lack of Comprehension" ("Human" demos)3:48
16."Suicide Machine" ("Human" demos)4:31
17."Together as One" ("Human" demos)4:10
18."See Through Dreams" ("Human" demos)4:08
19."Secret Face" ("Human" demos)4:48
20."Vacant Planets" ("Human" demos)3:59
Total length:71:15[18]
2011 reissued Relapse Records version (bonus disc 2)
No.TitleLength
1."See Through Dreams" (w/ Paul and Sean, Rehearsal January 1991)4:32
2."See Through Dreams" (take 2, w/ Paul and Sean, Rehearsal January 1991)4:34
3."Secret Face" (w/o Paul - 1/2 song, rehearsal January 1991)2:52
4."Secret Face" (take 2, w/o Paul, rehearsal January 1991)6:32
5."Secret Face" (riffs rehearsal January 1991)3:47
6."Flattening of Emotions" (riffs rehearsal January 1991)3:15
7."Lack of Comprehension" (riffs rehearsal January 1991)2:43
8."Lack of Comprehension" (take 2, riffs rehearsal January 1991)2:42
9."Cosmic Sea" (riffs w/ drum machine, rehearsal January 1991)2:52
10."See Through Dreams" (rehearsal August 1990)4:25
11."Suicide Machine" (rehearsal August 1990)4:42
12."Together as One" (rehearsal August 1990)4:27
13."Suicide Machine" (drum & bass tracks)4:25
14."Together as One" (drum & bass tracks)4:05
15."Secret Face" (drum & bass tracks)4:37
16."Lack of Comprehension" (drum & bass tracks)3:38
17."Vacant Planets" (drum & bass tracks)3:53
Total length:68:09

Personnel

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All information is taken from the CD liner notes of the original 1991 release and the 2011 reissue.[19][20]

Death
Additional personnel
  • Scott Carino – additional bass (on "Cosmic Sea")
  • Bill Andrews – drums (August 1990 rehearsal)
  • Terry Butler – bass (August 1990 rehearsal)
Production
  • 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

Notes

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  • "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.[21]
  • 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 presents a change; compared to the logo on the three preceding albums, it loses the drops of blood that flow downwards and the spider web on the letter "D".
  • 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.[22]

Sales

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United States 100,000+
Worldwide sales 600,000+

Charts

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Album

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Billboard (North America)

Year Chart Position
1991 Top Heatseekers
34

References

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  1. ^ a b Pratt, Greg (June 20, 2011). "Death - Human". Exclaim!. Retrieved December 3, 2012.
  2. ^ McIver, Joel (December 30, 2012). "Spiritual Healing | Death". Record Collector. Retrieved November 15, 2022.
  3. ^ a b "DEATH's Classic 'Human' Album Gets Remix Treatment". Blabbermouth.net. February 3, 2011. Retrieved November 15, 2022.
  4. ^ "News". EmptyWords.org. Retrieved February 2, 2011.
  5. ^ Masvidal, Paul (2011). Human (CD liner notes). Relapse Records.
  6. ^ Lindsleypublished, Shaun (April 3, 2020). "Every Death album ranked from worst to best". louder. Retrieved December 24, 2024.
  7. ^ Human - Death | Album | AllMusic, retrieved December 24, 2024
  8. ^ Sodomsky, Sam. "Death: Symbolic". Pitchfork. Retrieved December 25, 2024.
  9. ^ DiVita, Joe (December 18, 2024). "Best Death Metal Album of Each Year Since 1985". Loudwire. Retrieved December 25, 2024.
  10. ^ Jervis, Marcus. "Death - Human Review". About.com. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved December 3, 2012.
  11. ^ Huey, Steve. "Human - Death". AllMusic. Retrieved October 13, 2011.
  12. ^ Popoff, Martin (August 1, 2007). The Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal: Volume 3: The Nineties. Burlington, Ontario, Canada: Collector's Guide Publishing. p. 105. ISBN 978-1-894959-62-9.
  13. ^ "Human (reissue)". Relapse Records. June 21, 2011. Retrieved March 29, 2018.
  14. ^ "The 100 Greatest Metal Albums of All Time". Rolling Stone. June 21, 2017. Retrieved March 29, 2018.
  15. ^ Larkin, C. The Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music, 1995, p. 1108
  16. ^ "Death - Human - Reviews - Encyclopaedia Metallum: The Metal Archives". www.metal-archives.com. Retrieved March 1, 2023.
  17. ^ DEATH - "Lack Of Comprehension" (Remixed), retrieved March 1, 2023
  18. ^ "Amazon.com: Human:Death: MP3 Downloads". Amazon. Retrieved November 14, 2012.
  19. ^ Human (booklet). Death. Relativity Records. 1991.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  20. ^ Human (Deluxe 20th Anniversary Edition) (booklet). Death. Relapse Records, Perseverance Holdings Ltd. 2011.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  21. ^ "Damage Incorporated: Richard Rouse Under the Hot Lamps". Paranoidproductions.com. Retrieved October 13, 2011.
  22. ^ Malcolm Dome (November 1991). "Being There". Metal Forces. Retrieved May 30, 2024.
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