''Individual Thought Patterns'' is the fifth studio album by American

death metal Death metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. It typically employs heavily distorted and low-tuned guitars, played with techniques such as palm muting and tremolo picking; deep growling vocals; aggressive, powerful drumming, feat ...

band

Death Death is the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain an organism. For organisms with a brain, death can also be defined as the irreversible cessation of functioning of the whole brain, including brainstem, and brain ...

, released on June 22, 1993, by

Relativity Records Relativity Records was an American record label founded by Barry Kobrin at the site of his company, Important Record Distributors (IRD) in metro New York. Relativity released music that covers a wide variety of musical genres. When it entered in ...

. It is the only album by the band to feature guitarist

Andy LaRocque Andy LaRocque (born Anders Allhage, 29 November 1962) is a Swedish guitarist, songwriter, and producer, best known as a member of the Heavy metal music, heavy metal band King Diamond (band), King Diamond since 1985. Biography LaRocque started in ...

, the first to feature drummer

Gene Hoglan Eugene Victor Hoglan II (born August 31, 1967) is an American drummer, acclaimed for his creativity in drum arrangements, including use of abstract devices for percussion effects and his trademark lengthy double-kick drum rhythms. Though his pla ...

and the second and last to feature bassist

Steve DiGiorgio Steve Di Giorgio (born November 7, 1967) is an American bass guitarist. He is known for working with numerous heavy metal bands such as Sadus (of whom he was one of the co-founders), Death, Testament, Megadeth, Sebastian Bach, Iced Earth, Autop ...

. Manager

Eric Greif Eric Greif (1962 – 2021) was an American lawyer and entertainment personality known for a management and record production career within the heavy metal musical genre in the 1980s and early 1990s, and later within the legal profession. He was ...

described the album as "an angry record, angry lyrically", attributing it to his conflict with

Chuck Schuldiner Charles Schuldiner (born May 13, 1967 – December 13, 2001) was an American musician. He founded the death metal band Death in 1983, in which he was the lead vocalist, guitarist, primary songwriter and only consistent member until his death in ...

at the time. DiGiorgio recalled working with LaRocque as a notable experience: Schuldiner only wanted LaRocque to play solo sections, so he only sent LaRocque the few bars of the songs where the solo would be. LaRocque would then arrive at the studio without much preparation, and largely improvised the solos, impressing everyone. In a 2021 interview, LaRocque would downplay this account, saying that he did prepare multiple ideas and alternate melody lines for each solo. The album contains the track "The Philosopher", for which a

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

was made that received significant airplay on

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

and was even featured on, and comically panned by, ''

Beavis and Butt-Head ''Beavis and Butt-Head'' is an American adult animated series created by Mike Judge. The series follows Beavis and Butt-Head, both voiced by Judge, a pair of teenage slackers characterized by their apathy, lack of intelligence, lowbrow humor, ...

'' where the duo mistake the boy in the video for " Jeremy" from the

Pearl Jam Pearl Jam is an American rock band formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1990. The band's lineup consists of founding members Jeff Ament (bass guitar), Stone Gossard (rhythm guitar), Mike McCready (lead guitar), and Eddie Vedder (lead vocals, guita ...

video and mock Schuldiner's vocals. The album is included in ''

Guitar Player Magazine ''Guitar Player'' is an American popular magazine for guitarists, founded in 1967 in San Jose, California. It contains articles, interviews, reviews and lessons of an eclectic collection of artists, genres and products. It has been in print si ...

''s Metal Guitar albums top 20. The album was reissued and remixed by

Relapse Records Relapse Records is an American independent record label based in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania. It was founded by Matthew F. Jacobson in 1990. The label features many grindcore, death metal, metalcore and sludge metal artists. History The label was ...

in October 2011.

Critical reception

Jason Arnopp of ''

Kerrang! ''Kerrang!'' is a British weekly magazine devoted to rock, punk and heavy metal music, currently published by Wasted Talent (the same company that owns electronic music publication ''Mixmag''). It was first published on 6 June 1981 as a one- ...

'' in his positive review considered ''Individual Thought Patterns'' the band's best album since ''

Leprosy Leprosy, also known as Hansen's disease (HD), is a long-term infection by the bacteria ''Mycobacterium leprae'' or ''Mycobacterium lepromatosis''. Infection can lead to damage of the nerves, respiratory tract, skin, and eyes. This nerve damag ...

'' from 1988, attributing it in parts to band leader

's choice of personnel. Arnopp noted especially

's drumming and the guitar work of Schuldiner and

, concluding that together with bassist

Steve Di Giorgio Steve Di Giorgio (born November 7, 1967) is an American bass guitarist. He is known for working with numerous heavy metal bands such as Sadus (of whom he was one of the co-founders), Death (metal band), Death, Testament (band), Testament, Megade ...

"they create an altogether heavier din than was the case with last year's 'Human' album, while still adding Trad Metal/Progressive touches in an almost surreal fashion."

Track listing

All songs written by

Personnel

All information is taken from the CD liner notes of the original 1993 release and the 2011 reissue. ;Death *

– vocals, lead and rhythm guitar *

– lead guitar *

Steve Di Giorgio Steve Di Giorgio (born November 7, 1967) is an American bass guitarist. He is known for working with numerous heavy metal bands such as Sadus (of whom he was one of the co-founders), Death (metal band), Death, Testament (band), Testament, Megade ...

–

fretless bass A fretless bass is a bass guitar whose neck does not have any frets. While the instrument is played in all styles of music, it is most common in pop, rock, and jazz. It first saw widespread use during the 1970s, although some players used them befo ...

– drums, guitars on "The Exorcist" ;Additional musicians *

Ralph Santolla Ralph Santolla (December 8, 1966 – June 7, 2018) was an Italian-American heavy metal guitarist. He played in many bands, most recently Deicide, but also including Eyewitness, Death (he never recorded any of their albums, but toured with them in ...

– guitars (on ''Live in Germany'' performances) ;Production * Scott Burns – production, engineering * Chuck Schuldiner – production * René Miville – artwork * David Bett – art direction * Kathy Milone – design * Jacob Speis – layout * Alan Douches – mastering, remixing (2011 reissue) * Jamal Ruhe – remixing (2011 reissue)

Charts

References

External links

Lyrics @ Death official site
{{Authority control 1993 albums Death (metal band) albums Relativity Records albums Relapse Records albums Albums produced by Scott Burns (record producer) Albums recorded at Morrisound Recording