''Symbolic'' is the sixth and penultimate 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 March 21, 1995, by

Roadrunner Records Roadrunner Records is an American record label focused on heavy metal and hard rock bands. Founded in the Netherlands in 1980, it is now a division of Warner Music Group and is based in New York City. History The label was launched in 1980 in t ...

. The album was remastered and reissued on April 1, 2008, with five bonus tracks. It is the only album to feature

Bobby Koelble Bobby Koelble (born September 15, 1968) is an American guitarist who performs in the death metal, blues, funk and jazz genres, and as a freelance studio musician. He is probably best known for his performances with the death metal band Death. Th ...

and

Kelly Conlon Kelly Conlon (born 20 March 1969) is an American bass guitarist. He has been a hired musician with Death and Monstrosity. Conlon currently performs with Pessimist. Career Conlon was part of the Florida underground metal scene until 1994 when Orla ...

on guitar and bass, respectively, and the second and last album 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 ...

. The album has received unanimous critical acclaim.

Musical style

''Symbolic'' shows a continued shift in sound from Death's previous albums; the music became less focused on the traditional

template and more focused on increasing melodic aspects. ''Symbolic'' has been described as

technical death metal Technical death metal (also referred to as tech-death) is a musical subgenre of death metal that began and developed in the early- to mid-1990s, with particular focus on challenging, demanding instrumental skill and complex songwriting. Techni ...

and

melodic death metal Melodic death metal (also referred to as melodeath) is a subgenre of death metal that employs highly melodic guitar riffs, often borrowing from traditional heavy metal (including New Wave of British Heavy Metal). The genre features the heavine ...

Release

''Symbolic'' was released by

on March 21, 1995.

Reception

''Symbolic'' has received widespread critical acclaim and is regarded by many as being Death’s greatest album, and as being one of the greatest death metal albums of all time. In a contemporary review, '' Select'' stated that "there're still lashings of gristly, growling vocals and head-in-the-groin thrashing to be had" as a listener can "snuggle up to witness what dark depths Death's 12-year career has taken them too 'sic''.html"_;"title="sic.html"_;"title="'sic">'sic''">sic.html"_;"title="'sic">'sic''._ A_review_of_the_2008_re-issue_in_''Record_Collector.html" ;"title="sic">'sic''.html" ;"title="sic.html" ;"title="'sic">'sic''">sic.html" ;"title="'sic">'sic''. A review of the 2008 re-issue in ''Record Collector">sic">'sic''.html" ;"title="sic.html" ;"title="'sic">'sic''">sic.html" ;"title="'sic">'sic''. A review of the 2008 re-issue in ''Record Collector'' stated that the album was as "close to flawless as metal gets, and a testament to the drive and talent of the much-missed Schuldiner". Canadian journalist Martin Popoff considered the album "the band's most impressive and crossover-ish to date", combining conventional metal, "traces of doomy, Germanic melody and heaps of progressive might." Some reviews were less favorable;

Stephen Thomas Erlewine Stephen Thomas Erlewine (; born June 18, 1973) is an American music critic and senior editor for the online music database AllMusic. He is the author of many artist biographies and record reviews for AllMusic, as well as a freelance writer, occ ...

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

noted that "some of the riffs are beginning to sound a little tired and there is no great leap forward in terms of their musical ideas", though he noted that "the sheer visceral force of their sound should please their dedicated fans". The webzine

Metal Rules ''Metal Rules'', also known as Metal-Rules, is a heavy metal webzine created by EvilG established in 1995. Based in the province of Newfoundland, Canada, the site was founded with the goal to promote "Real Metal". It is one of the world's larg ...

ranked the album as the 7th greatest

extreme metal Extreme metal is a loosely defined umbrella term for a number of related heavy metal music subgenres that have developed since the early 1980s. It has been defined as a "cluster of metal subgenres characterized by sonic, verbal, and visual tran ...

album and the 58th greatest heavy metal album of all time.

Track listing

Personnel

Personnel adapted from the CD liner notes of the original 1995 release and the 2008 reissue. ;Death *

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 ...

– vocals, guitar *

– guitar *

– bass *

– drums ;Additional musicians * Steve Di Giorgio – bass (tracks 10–13, 2008 remaster) ;Technical personnel * Chuck Schuldiner – production * Jim Morris – production, engineering *

George Marino George Marino (April 15, 1947 – June 4, 2012) was an American mastering engineer known for working on albums by rock bands starting in the late 1960s. Biography Marino was born on April 15, 1947, in the New York City borough The Bronx. He at ...

– mastering, remastering * Patricia Mooney – design * René Miville – artwork, photography

References

{{Authority control 1995 albums Death (metal band) albums Roadrunner Records albums Albums recorded at Morrisound Recording