Review by Jeger on August 11, 2024.

When breaking down any Death record, it’s important to understand the idea behind its creation. Following “Scream Bloody Gore” and “Leprosy”, it became apparent that the art of death metal was one to Chuck Schuldiner that perhaps stood deserving of more dynamics, of more passion, and of more importance! And so a journey through the segue between what divided the depraved from the brilliant and into the realm of the human condition did Chuck and we venture. Only the world’s finest death metal to track the experience into sound. Following “Leprosy”, Chuck took us by the arm and into where spirit, body, and mind take their inevitable courses… 

The gore shit wouldn’t last. Chuck was too smart for it, not like some Neanderthal-like Barnes or some good ole boy like the Tardy brothers. Chuck was a searcher and his lyrical ventures detailed themes like the loss of intimacy, spirituality, misanthropy, and the psychological. “Spiritual Healing” = spirit, “Human” = body, and “Individual Thought Patterns” = mind. See what he did there? Still think this dude was just a DM caveman like Benton? A warm and sensitive soul; a man not so fit for the world of death metal was Chuck, but nonetheless, the man just brought out the very best in every artist he worked with, whether he was Hoglan or Rozz. A band? Not the vision for Death. Only the most complex and talented session musicians were worthy enough to contribute to the cause, as Death was the product of Chuck’s vision and his alone. 

Chuck was a master guitarist but also a master engineer. We’re talking mad scientist stuff that pushed the very limits of what was even considered proper for death metal back then. His work was studio perfection from his modest early works, all the way through to the boundary-raping “The Sound of Perseverance”. As the project evolved, so too did recording, and in 1993, Death released their classically inspired specimen of engineering known as “Individual Thought Patterns” via Relativity Records. 

The very best of the era in the zone and just making every other death metal band sick to their stomachs. Solos like something out of the future and still unrivaled to this day - all those brilliant classically inspired parts in complex but martially grounded in what’s musically proper album cuts: “Overactive Imagination” and “Jealousy” - quasi-melodic and uber-technical - just casually ass-ploughing the competition and making it seem so fucking easy was Schuldiner and crew. “Individual Thought Patterns” was the first album to feature Gene Hoglan as percussionist and it was the only Death album to be recorded as a power-trio with Chuck, Hoglan, and bassist Steve DiGiorgio. The dynamics and the cohesion shared between these musicians is Jedi-level. “Greatest death metal album of all time we shall make…”. A coveted balance between all phases where each depends on the next and reciprocal is the energy as elaborate yet calculated exchanges between the rhythm section set the stage for Chuck to just fucking blow our minds with his “hold my beer” guitar antics. 

Tackling lyrical subject matter pertaining to duality, finality, and polarity along with various states of visceral being, outcomes related to decisions made based on emotion - the mind - a convoluted shit-hole that’s been made to seem like something worthy of exploration by Chuck. Wisdom beyond his years and an astute observer of human nature who so passionately translated his inquisitive nature into song; resulting in groundbreaking music that simply could not even have been emulated, as none possessed the same level of musical insight as Chuck. He was just better than everyone and that was probably due to him as a child in a would-be state of separation anxiety had someone tried to pull him away from his guitar to do kid stuff like shoot squirrels with a pellet gun. Yeah, kids used to do stuff like that… 

“Individual Thought Patterns” was also Death’s final true tech-death record before Chuck began to incorporate various other influences like melo-death into their sound in albums like 1995’s “Symbolic” and the aforementioned “The Sound of Perseverance” that crossed more boldly over genres and into the spheres of the melodic and of the radical. A true tech-death record; one that would serve as inspiration for other great tech albums of the era, namely Monstrosity’s celebrated “Millenium” LP. 

There was this weird obsession in the 90s with putting creepy kids and old people in metal music videos. There’s plenty of that action during the duration of the otherwise stunning visualizer to “The Philosopher” - only the band in all of their pro-DM-executing glory: snaking bass lines, exotic leads, and Gene’s signature touch behind the kit to close out the greatest tech-death album ever created… 

Chuck Schuldiner’s legacy is one of tragedy but mainly greatness. His every album held influential sway over the entirety of the extreme metal scene and his music has been vastly studied and valiantly emulated the world over. The Godfather of Death Metal? Not quite, that honor belongs to one Jeff Becerra (Possessed), but to say that death metal as we know it today would not exist at all if it had not been for Chuck and Death’s groundbreaking contributions would be an understatement. 

When class, character, and kittens converge, you get a guy like Chuck Schuldiner - taken from us way too soon and one can only imagine what the world of extreme metal would be like today if he were still with us. To explore life through a project called Death was the paradox, and it was one that inspired some of the most intelligent music ever made by some of the greatest extreme metal musicians to have ever penned a note. Bands have gotten all silly with tech over the years in their attempts at trying to show off what great musicians they are, but for Chuck, creaming everyone’s jeans with dynamics was secondary. The mission was to first explore and then to express - Art 101 philosophy, and all the bells and whistles? Just the band having a good time. Ha! Yeah, just calmly dominating the world of death metal like dudes playing a hand of poker. The greatest guitarist and the greatest dude. Here’s to the futility of being a good human being and to the memory of one whose passing only solidifies the notion that there is no God… Here’s to Death and here’s to Chuck. Rest in power, old friend… 

Rating: 9.5/10

Review by Death8699 on July 2, 2019.

Death was founded by "Evil Chuck" Shuldiner (RIP) back in 1983. The musicianship was consistently evolving from solely death metal releases that turned into a more progressive songwriting approach. "Evil Chuck" chose one of Death's best lineups for this album. His previous songwriting reflected a more brutally oriented form of death metal. This became aloof because on here the songwriting reigned totally from a musical aspect. The lineup featured Chuck Schuldiner on vocals/guitars, Andy LaRoche on guitars, Steve Digiorgio on bass and Gene Hoglan on drums.

It seemed as though this release fell more under the melodic death metal genre. Even though Chuck's vocals were still hoarse, they were still incredibly easy to understand. With this in effect, the throat quality meshed well with the heavy D-tuned guitar riffs. The music was amazingly well concocted. Each track showed such an intelligent portrayal of guitar, leads and drumming. Rhythms were much more musical which really stuck with the listener.

This album contained a much more mature songwriting style than the 3 previous releases. Each guitar riff was entirely unique and innovative. Chuck came up with a whole litany of imaginative songs that were totally captivating. The heavy tremolo picked guitar worked well together alongside the throat outputs. Pretty much all of the songs contain a heavy and distorted guitar though there was an introduction acoustic piece. It was merely more of a segue into a heavier song entitled "Destiny."

It seemed that Chuck was focused on sounding more musical because the majority of guitar parts here show a broader more introspective litany of songwriting. It featured Death's more creative side. The tempos for each song were not explosively fast because the melodic guitar dominated throughout this entire release. Another interesting aspect here is that the bass guitar was wholly audible. This was something that was lacking in prior Death releases. A pretty unique aspect to make note of was that DiGiorgio played a fretless bass guitar.

All of the tracks are noteworthy. Some more so than others. I'd have to say that "Trapped In A Corner", "Nothing Is Everything" and "Destiny" were the most appealing songs out of this entire album. The reason was because they seemed to be more technical than the others. It's easy though to grow a liking to this whole album since it was part of Death's most unique outputs. Way more so than their first 3 releases. Many listeners may've held a similar conclusion.

Andy LaRoche's leads were more advanced than Chuck's. His playing was more technical in this department. The sound quality could've been better though Scott Burns did a good job with the mixing. The bass guitar was loud enough so that you could hear it alongside the guitars. Just the audio for the guitars could've been louder. They didn't drown the rest of the instruments out. The drums by Hoglan were right on cue with the riffs. Plus, they were easier to hear than on previous releases.

Lyrically speaking, Chuck's focus was more on a spiritual aspect for Death. They were entirely original and well thought out. The track "Destiny" gives the listener an idea as to what direction this album portrayed as far as the words go. Death's first 3 releases especially their first focused more on gore. This was a more immature aspect of Death's lyric writing. But this release reflected an incredibly more intelligent approach. No covers here. All of the tracks are originals.

This album was anger fortified though the songs showed a brilliant skill of song/lyric writing by "Evil Chuck." The rhythms reflected an intriguing approach which wasn't as prevalent on the 3 previous releases. The sound quality could've been better but all 40 plus minutes of this album was wholly intriguing, original and imaginative. It remains to be one of my personal favorite releases from Death. Such an inspiration that carried with it a legacy regarding the influence Death's impression had on the metal community.

Rating: 9.5 out of 10

Review by Allan on March 5, 2002.

Five albums after their beginning, Death put out one of the nicest gems of the scene and their career. With the dismissal of guitarist Paul Masvidal and drummer Sean Reinert, and the addition of drummer Gene Hoglan and guitarist Andy LaRocque, Death was much better off. Hoglan is an amazing drummer. Even better, how about adding one of the greatest metal bassists of all time to help him with the rhythm section? Thank god that Steve Digiorgio stayed with the band for another album, but sadly he left after this. "Individual Thought Patterns" shows Death at a period that is many fans favorite.

With "Individual Thought Patterns", the riffs are better written, they’re more memorable, the vocals have improved once again, the drums are awesome, the bass is unbelievable, and the completed product is outstanding. The band moves through each and every track never hitting a single weak spot or anything that seems out of place. Every track has a life of its own, and doesn’t sound confuse the listener into thinking they already heard the track. While not exactly creating a new sound for the band, what Death has done is refine their sound and continue to progress into a more progressive style of death metal. They do a damn fine job of it too!

Bottom Line: If you like Death, this album is a necessity. If you like death metal at all, you need this album. This is one of the best albums that Chuck and Co. ever put out, and it deserves a hearty welcome into ones collection.

Originality: 10
Musicianship: 10
Atmosphere: 10
Production: 10
Overall: 10

Rating: 10 out of 10