Symbolic (Death album)

Symbolic was recorded over a six-week period at Morrisound Recording in Tampa, and was produced by Jim Morris.{{Cite book |last=Popoff |first=Martin |title=The Top 500 Heavy Metal Albums of All Time |publisher=ECW Press |year=2003 |pages=343-343}}

Symbolic showed a continued shift in sound from Death's previous albums, and was seen as a "massive shift towards melody", deviating from tropes of traditional death metal.{{Cite web |last=DiVita |first=Joe |date=July 18, 2013|title=10 Best Songs by the Band Death |url=https://loudwire.com/best-songs-by-band-death/ |access-date=December 27, 2024 |website=Loudwire |language=en}} Matt Mills of WhatCulture called the album "perfect union of melody, brutality and intricacy that [Death] had been building towards ever since Scream Bloody Gore."{{Cite web |last=Mills |first=Matt |date=July 14, 2018 |title=Death: Ranking All 7 Studio Albums |url=https://whatculture.com/music/death-ranking-all-7-studio-albums?page=7 |access-date=January 1, 2025 |website=WhatCulture.com |language=en}} The album has been described as "not as mathematically progressive" as Death's two previous albums. The closing track, “Perennial Quest,” has been described as "[quaking] in its own melody like a pop song stripped for parts, doused in gallons of acid and marinated in arsenic."{{Cite web |title=The 300 Greatest Albums of All Time |url=https://www.pastemagazine.com/music/greatest-albums/the-300-greatest-albums-of-all-time-2 |access-date=March 26, 2025 |website=Paste Magazine |language=en-US}}

Sam Sodomsky of Pitchfork said Symbolic is "the most melodic and refined" release of Death's career.{{Cite web |last=Sodomsky |first=Sam |title=Death: Symbolic |url=https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/death-symbolic/ |access-date=December 24, 2024 |website=Pitchfork |language=en-US}} The album's sound has been categorized as technical death metal{{cite web |url=https://www.seaoftranquility.org/reviews.php?op=showcontent&id=4553 |title=Review: "Death: Symbolic" |work=Sea of Tranquility |date=December 4, 2008 |accessdate=September 2, 2021}}{{cite web |url=https://kxsc.org/articles/2009/9/24/death-symbolic.html |title=Death - Symbolic |publisher=KXSC Radio |date=September 24, 2009 |accessdate=September 2, 2021}}{{Cite web|title=Death - Symbolic - Metal Storm|url=http://www.metalstorm.net/bands/album.php?album_id=553|access-date=February 2, 2021|website=www.metalstorm.net}} and melodic death metal. Shaun Lindsley of Metal Hammer called the album a "labyrinth of technicality and cerebral lyrical meanderings displaying unsurpassable musicianship," while also describing its tracks as "catchy" and "incredibly accessible".{{Cite web |last=Lindsley |first=Shaun |date=April 3, 2020 |title=Every Death album ranked from worst to best |url=https://www.loudersound.com/features/death-every-album-ranked-worst-to-best |access-date=December 24, 2024 |website=Louder Sound |language=en}} Sam Sodomsky of Pitchfork said Symbolic is "neither as brutal as the early material nor as outwardly progressive [as Human or Individual Thought Patterns]." He also likened Schuldiner's vocals at certain parts on the album to those common in hardcore punk, describing them as "shouting through gritted teeth".

The album makes use of clean guitar tones, dissonance, arpeggios, and melodies described as sounding "Egyptian". Journalists have made note of the apparent influence of European heavy metal bands Sortilège and H-Bomb present on the track "Crystal Mountain." The song contains an acoustic guitar solo in its outro.{{Cite web |last=Horsley |first=Jonathan |date=June 18, 2021 |title=5 songs guitar players need to hear by… Death |url=https://www.musicradar.com/news/5-songs-guitar-players-Death |access-date=December 31, 2024 |website=MusicRadar |language=en}}

The album is noted for the higher tone of Schuldiner's vocals compared to the "deep death growls" on early and mid-career Death releases.

The album's lyrics have been described as "mystical," and explore topics such as political corruption, surveillance and class consciousness.

Symbolic was released by Roadrunner Records on March 21, 1995. Relativity Records made a deal with Roadrunner to release it, though Schuldiner felt that the album was not promoted well.{{cite journal|date=Spring 1997|title=Death No More! Control Denied is Here!! |journal=Sentinel Steel|url=http://www.emptywords.org/SentinelSteel-spring1997.htm|accessdate=May 17, 2024|author=Dennis Gulbey}} The contract for Symbolic was a one album contract.{{cite journal |date=July 1998|title=The Sound Of Perseverance...|journal=Metallian|url=http://www.emptywords.org/Metallian_Issue12_1998.htm|accessdate=January 5, 2023|author=Frédéric Pichot}} The band did not receive the support to release a video, whereas two songs from their previous albums, titled The Philosopher (from Individual Thought Patterns) and Lack of Comprehension (from Human) did feature videos. Schuldiner originally intended for Symbolic to be the last Death album, remarking in The Metal Crusade, the Death newsletter, that he "thought SYMBOLIC was a great record to leave people with to prepare them for the next journey, "Control Denied"!{{cite journal |date=1995|volume=2|number=6|title=In Control and there's no denying it!|journal=The Metal Crusade|url=http://www.emptywords.org/MetalCrusadevol2no6.htm|accessdate=August 24, 2024}}

{{Music ratings

| rev1 = AllMusic

| rev1score = {{rating|3|5}}{{cite web |last=Erlewine |first=Stephen Thomas |author-link=Stephen Thomas Erlewine |title=Symbolic |website=AllMusic |url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/symbolic-mw0000174284 |access-date=April 28, 2017}}

| rev2 = Blabbermouth.net

| rev2score = 10/10{{cite news |last=Bergman |first=Keith |title=Review: Symbolic |work=Blabbermouth.net |url=https://blabbermouth.net/reviews/symbolic |access-date=May 19, 2024}}

| rev3 = Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal

| rev3score = 8/10{{cite book | last = Popoff | first = Martin | author-link1 = Martin Popoff | title = The Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal: Volume 3: The Nineties | publisher = Collector's Guide Publishing | date = August 1, 2007 | location = Burlington, Ontario, Canada | page=105|isbn = 978-1-894959-62-9}}

| rev4 = Metal.de

| rev4score = 10/10{{cite web |last=Weeber |first=Thomas |title=Death -Symbolic |publisher=Metal.de |url=http://www.metal.de/death-metal/review/death/48630-symbolic/ |access-date=December 17, 2011|language=German}}

| rev5 = Pitchfork

| rev5score = 9.1/10

| rev6 = Record Collector

| rev6score = {{rating|5|5}}{{cite web |last=McIver |first=Joel |title=Death – Symbolic |work=Record Collector |url=http://recordcollectormag.com/reviews/symbolic |access-date=March 30, 2015}}

| rev7 = Rock Hard

| rev7score = 10/10{{cite web|title=Rock Hard review|url=https://www.rockhard.de/reviews/death-symbolic_257259.html|work=issue 95|language=German}}

| rev8 = Select

| rev8score = {{rating|3|5}}{{cite magazine |author=PM |date=April 1995 |title=newalbums |magazine=Select |page=93}}

}}

{{quotebox

| quote = "Many fans at the time simply couldn't get their heads around this new, progressive way of doing death metal — it could be argued that the resurgence of "gore-grind" and the revival of bands walking in the footprints of early Death, Autopsy and the like, was a reaction to Chuck's more technical and melodic experiments. Looking back on it in hindsight, while the songs on "Symbolic" hold up as if no time has passed, it's almost laughable to think of the hue and cry Death's perpetual shifts in direction caused."

| author = - Blabbermouth

| width = 30%

| border = 2px

| align = left

}}

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]".

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 of AllMusic 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 ranked the album as the 7th greatest extreme metal album{{cite web |title=Top 50 Extreme Metal Albums |website=Metal Rules |url=http://www.metal-rules.com/polls/index.php?id=7 |access-date=December 26, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180405003815/http://metal-rules.com:80/polls/index.php?id=7 |archive-date=April 5, 2018}} and the 58th greatest heavy metal album of all time.{{cite web |title=The Top 100 Heavy Metal Albums |website=Metal Rules |url=http://www.metal-rules.com/polls/index.php?id=6 |access-date=December 26, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171130163619/http://www.metal-rules.com:80/polls/index.php?id=6 |archive-date=November 30, 2017}}

Matt Mills of WhatCulture wrote, "Symbolic is one of those once-in-a-generation metal albums that just gets everything right."

Blabbermouth wrote, "If heavy metal was a college course, "Symbolic" would be on the reading list on day fucking one."{{Cite web |date=April 28, 2008 |title=Symbolic |url=https://blabbermouth.net/reviews/symbolic |access-date=January 1, 2025 |website=BLABBERMOUTH.NET |language=en}}

{{track listing

| all_writing = Chuck Schuldiner

| total_length = 50:37{{cite web |title=Amazon.com: Symbolic:Death: MP3 Downloads |publisher=Amazon |url=https://www.amazon.com/Symbolic/dp/B0011ZVVTW |access-date=November 14, 2012}}

| title1 = Symbolic

| length1 = 6:32

| title2 = Zero Tolerance

| length2 = 4:48

| title3 = Empty Words

| length3 = 6:22

| title4 = Sacred Serenity

| length4 = 4:27

| title5 = 1,000 Eyes

| length5 = 4:28

| title6 = Without Judgement

| length6 = 5:28

| title7 = Crystal Mountain

| length7 = 5:07

| title8 = Misanthrope

| length8 = 5:03

| title9 = Perennial Quest

| length9 = 8:21

}}

{{track listing

| headline = 2008 remastered bonus tracks{{cite web |title=BLABBERMOUTH.NET - DEATH: 'Symbolic' Reissue Track Listing Revealed |publisher=Blabbermouth.net |url=https://blabbermouth.net/news/death-symbolic-reissue-track-listing-revealed|date=January 16, 2008 |access-date=May 30, 2024}}

| title10 = Symbolic Acts

| note10 = March 1994 instrumental demo of "Symbolic"

| length10 = 5:55

| title11 = Zero Tolerance

| note11 = March 1994 instrumental demo

| length11 = 4:10

| title12 = Crystal Mountain

| note12 = March 1994 instrumental demo

| length12 = 4:24

| title13 = Misanthrope

| note13 = March 1994 instrumental demo

| length13 = 5:40

| title14 = Symbolic Acts

| note14 = January 1994 4-track demo of "Symbolic" with vocals

| length14 = 5:55

| total_length = 76:40

}}

Most of the information here is adapted from the CD liner notes of the original 1995 release and the 2008 reissue.{{cite AV media notes |type=booklet |others=Death |year=1995 |title=Symbolic |publisher=Roadrunner Records}}{{cite AV media notes |type=booklet |others=Death |year=2008 |title=Symbolic: The Expanded Edition |publisher=Roadrunner Records}}

;Death

• Chuck Schuldiner – guitars, vocals, bass and drum programming on January 1994 demo
• Bobby Koelble – guitars
• Kelly Conlon – bass
• Gene Hoglan – drums

;Additional musicians

• Steve Di Giorgio – bass (tracks 10–13, 2008 remaster)

;Technical personnel

• Chuck Schuldiner – production
• Jim Morris – production, engineering
• George Marino – mastering, remastering
• Patricia Mooney – design
• René Miville – artwork, photography

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{{Death (band)}}

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Category:1995 albums

Category:Albums recorded at Morrisound Recording

Category:Death (metal band) albums

Category:Roadrunner Records albums