Individual Thought Patterns

After touring America and Europe behind Human, Chuck Schuldiner called in Gene Hoglan of Dark Angel and Andy LaRocque of King Diamond. Steve Di Giorgio, who had played on Human, came back on bass; this is the second and last Death album he appears on. LaRocque was there only for the solos. Schuldiner sent him not the songs but the few bars in each where a solo would go, and LaRocque arrived at the studio with those. Producer Scott Burns, responding to complaints that the bass had been buried on Human, made a point of keeping it in front this time. The fretless Di Giorgio played had only just been built; Schuldiner named it "The Frog" after the sound it made, and the nickname went into the album's thanks list. The writing is more involved again and the structures more complex. Schuldiner said the record showed that weight and melody could coexist without tuning the guitars extremely low. "The Philosopher" was given a video that was played repeatedly on MTV. The running order here is the original's as printed.