What Death frontman Chuck Schuldiner would have achieved had he not succumbed to a brain tumour in 2001 is impossible to say but, given that we’re now in an era when prog-metal bands such as Dream Theater and Mastodon can headline the world’s biggest stages without a hit single or significant airplay, it’s reasonable to assume that he would have found a certain degree of success.
His band’s trajectory was rapid and impressive, evolving from primitive (but ace) goredeath roots to clean, complex prog in barely more than a decade. Death’s 1993 album, Individual Thought Patterns, continues the expansion of the Florida quartet’s sound after its predecessor, Human – itself the most obvious starting point for Schuldiner’s departure from straight extreme metal.
This reissue has been remixed (not a major selling point, as there’s hardly any audible improvement because the original was pretty clear anyway) and two bonus discs have been appended, one of previously unreleased demos and riff tracks (unavailable at press time) and a splendid live album from a 1993 German show. The last of these reveals how relentless Death could be on stage, even in their most advanced, experimental stages: the grisly Zombie Ritual is particularly mesmerising, as is its polar opposite, the refined single The Philosopher.
