Human is the fourth studio album by American death metal band Death, released on October 22, 1991, by Relativity Records. This is the only album to feature Cynic members Paul Masvidal on guitar and Sean Reinert on drums, and the first to feature bassist Steve Di Giorgio. The album continued the band's evolution on Spiritual Healing, featuring high technicality and introspective lyrics. It is today regarded as one of Death's greatest albums and one of the most influential technical death metal albums of all time.
Background and release
After the release of Spiritual Healing, band members Bill Andrews and Terry Butler embarked on a tour of Europe without frontman Chuck Schuldiner, who refused to go on tour due to what he perceived as poor organization. Their decision to tour without him would result in legal action brought by Schuldiner, and Schuldiner's decision to switch to using guest musicians on future releases.
According to Guitar World, "Chuck had never needed an excuse to fight for his music. Now handed one, he responded with devastating force. Human, his followup to Spiritual Healing, was a calculated retaliation to his former bandmates, who claimed he was washed up; to the media, which painted him as a narcissistic monster; and to anyone deluded enough to believe his detractors. 'This is much more than a record to me,' he told Metal Hammer’s Robert Heeg in the December 1991 issue. 'It is a statement. It’s revenge.'"
Bassist Steve Di Giorgio left after the recording of the album (though he would later return to record Individual Thought Patterns). He was replaced by Scott Carino, who toured with the band in 1991 and 1992. Carino also recorded additional bass overdub on "Cosmic Sea" after a couple of issues were discovered during the mixing stage. The rest of the song (including the bass solo) was recorded by Di Giorgio.
The album was recorded at Morrisound Recording in Tampa, Florida and was produced by Scott Burns.
Music and lyrics
Human marked the beginning of a major stylistic change for Death, being more technically complex and progressive than the band's previous efforts. The sound has been categorized as technical death metal and progressive metal. Shaun Lindsley of Metal Hammer said Human was an "exponential leap forward in innovation" for the band. Chris Krovatin of Kerrang! assessed, "On the one hand, the album sees Death, arguably the genre's birth mother, exploring progressive sonic ground and lyrical themes that were completely new for them, much less any other artist within this branch of music. On the other hand, naming your album Human – after the ultimate symbol of frailty in death metal, whose destruction, demise, and sheer repulsiveness are the subject of most great death metal songs – has a reductive brilliance to it."
Described as a "swirling, progressive shred-fest," Some of the textures on the album have been described as "spacy." Masvidal explained: "Although we all brought our backgrounds to the equation, none of us really knew what we were doing. We simply did what came naturally in the context of Chuck's songs and that's why it worked. Our detachment about the process eliminated preciousness and pretense. It wasn't that we didn't take the music seriously, because we did, but there was a playful psychology along the way." Additionally, the album contains melodic guitar riffs that are reminiscent of the New wave of British heavy metal, and have drawn comparisons to Iron Maiden. Marcus Jervis of About.com assessed, "Although firmly rooted in death metal, by this stage of its career, Death had little in common with the gore drenched grind of Cannibal Corpse or the satanic blast beats of Deicide, instead choosing to explore increasingly progressive avenues, expanding the boundaries of what was considered possible in death metal." The track "Cosmic Sea" is an instrumental that emphasizes Di Giorgio's heavy metal bass playing.
Schuldiner's lyrics on the album explore themes such as existentialism, abuse of power, and betrayal.