| Human | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | October 22, 1991 | |||
| Recorded | 1991 | |||
| Studio | Morrisound Recording, Tampa, Florida | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 34:21 | |||
| Label | Relativity | |||
| Producer | Scott Burns, Chuck Schuldiner | |||
| Death chronology | ||||
| ||||
Human is the fourth studio album by American death metal band Death, released on October 22, 1991, by Relativity Records. The album marked the beginning of a major stylistic change for Death, being more technically complex and progressive than the band's previous efforts. The lyrics are more introspective when compared to the gore-based lyrics of Scream Bloody Gore and Leprosy or the social commentary on Spiritual Healing. This new style would continue to evolve on all following Death albums. This is the only album to feature Cynic members Paul Masvidal on guitars and Sean Reinert on drums, both 20 at the time, and the first to feature bassist Steve DiGiorgio.
Bassist Steve DiGiorgio 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 DiGiorgio.
In 2011, Relapse Records and Perseverance Holdings Ltd. re-issued the album to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the original release. This edition was remixed by Jim Morris of Morrisound Recording Studios, includes bonus tracks,[3] and was authorized by Schuldiner intellectual property lawyer Eric Greif.[4] The reissue of Human was remixed, as Sony had lost the master tapes of Scott Burns' original mixes.[5]
Reception and legacy
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| About.com |   [6] |
| AllMusic |  [7] |
| Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal | 7/10[8] |
| Exclaim! | favourable[1] |
Human was released to critical acclaim from music publications[9] and is seen as a pivotal release in the development of the technical death metal subgenre and on extreme metal in general. In 2017, Rolling Stone magazine placed the album as the 70th greatest metal album of all time.[10]
Human is a highly influential extreme metal album, according to Jeff Wagner in his 2010 text on progressive metal, Mean Deviation. It is Death's best-selling album, having sold 100,000 copies in the United States by 1995.[11] It was ranked number 82 on the October 2006 issue of Guitar World magazine's list of the greatest 100 guitar albums of all time. The track "Lack of Comprehension" has an accompanying music video, which received airplay on MTV and helped boost the sales of the album.[12] As of March 2023, the music video has over 7 million views of YouTube.[13]
As of 2008, Human had sold 95,000 copies with the U.S., according to Soundscan.[3]
Track listing
All songs written by Chuck Schuldiner except where noted.
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Flattening of Emotions" | 4:28 |
| 2. | "Suicide Machine" | 4:23 |
| 3. | "Together as One" | 4:10 |
| 4. | "Secret Face" | 4:39 |
| 5. | "Lack of Comprehension" | 3:43 |
| 6. | "See Through Dreams" | 4:39 |
| 7. | "Cosmic Sea" (instrumental) | 4:27 |
| 8. | "Vacant Planets" | 3:52 |
| Total length: | 34:21 | |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 9. | "God of Thunder" (Paul Stanley) (Kiss cover) | 4:00 |
| Total length: | 38:21 | |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Flattening of Emotions" (basic instrumental studio tracks) | 4:54 |
| 2. | "Suicide Machine" (basic instrumental studio tracks) | 4:30 |
| 3. | "Together as One" (basic instrumental studio tracks) | 4:15 |
| 4. | "Secret Face" (basic instrumental studio tracks) | 2:02 |
| 5. | "Secret Face - Part 2" (basic instrumental studio tracks) | 2:44 |
| 6. | "Lack of Comprehension" (basic instrumental studio tracks) | 3:46 |
| 7. | "Felt Good" (studio snippet) | 0:14 |
| 8. | "See Through Dreams" (basic instrumental studio tracks) | 1:37 |
| 9. | "See Through Dreams - Part 2" (basic instrumental studio tracks) | 3:03 |
| 10. | "Vacant Planets" (basic instrumental studio tracks) | 3:59 |
| 11. | "Cosmic Sea" (basic instrumental studio tracks) | 2:13 |
| 12. | "Cosmic Sea - Part 2" (basic instrumental studio tracks) | 2:03 |
| 13. | "God of Thunder" (basic instrumental studio tracks) | 4:05 |
| 14. | "Flattening of Emotions" ("Human" demos) | 4:26 |
| 15. | "Lack of Comprehension" ("Human" demos) | 3:48 |
| 16. | "Suicide Machine" ("Human" demos) | 4:31 |
| 17. | "Together as One" ("Human" demos) | 4:10 |
| 18. | "See Through Dreams" ("Human" demos) | 4:08 |
| 19. | "Secret Face" ("Human" demos) | 4:48 |
| 20. | "Vacant Planets" ("Human" demos) | 3:59 |
| Total length: | 71:15[14] | |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "See Through Dreams" (w/ Paul and Sean, Rehearsal January, 1991) | 4:32 |
| 2. | "See Through Dreams" (take 2, w/ Paul and Sean, Rehearsal January, 1991) | 4:34 |
| 3. | "Secret Face" (w/o Paul - 1/2 song, rehearsal January, 1991) | 2:52 |
| 4. | "Secret Face" (take 2, w/o Paul, rehearsal January, 1991) | 6:32 |
| 5. | "Secret Face" (riffs rehearsal January, 1991) | 3:47 |
| 6. | "Flattening of Emotions" (riffs rehearsal January, 1991) | 3:15 |
| 7. | "Lack of Comprehension" (riffs rehearsal January, 1991) | 2:43 |
| 8. | "Lack of Comprehension" (take 2, riffs rehearsal January, 1991) | 2:42 |
| 9. | "Cosmic Sea" (riffs w/ drum machine, rehearsal January, 1991) | 2:52 |
| 10. | "See Through Dreams" (rehearsal August, 1990) | 4:25 |
| 11. | "Suicide Machine" (rehearsal August, 1990) | 4:42 |
| 12. | "Together as One" (rehearsal August, 1990) | 4:27 |
| 13. | "Suicide Machine" (drum & bass tracks) | 4:25 |
| 14. | "Together as One" (drum & bass tracks) | 4:05 |
| 15. | "Secret Face" (drum & bass tracks) | 4:37 |
| 16. | "Lack of Comprehension" (drum & bass tracks) | 3:38 |
| 17. | "Vacant Planets" (drum & bass tracks) | 3:53 |
| Total length: | 68:09 | |
Personnel
All information is taken from the CD liner notes of the original 1991 release and the 2011 reissue.[15][16]
- Death
- Chuck Schuldiner – vocals, guitars
- Paul Masvidal – guitars
- Steve Di Giorgio – bass
- Sean Reinert – drums
- Additional personnel
- Scott Carino – additional bass (on "Cosmic Sea")
- Bill Andrews – drums (August 1990 rehearsal)
- Terry Butler – bass (August 1990 rehearsal)
- Production
- Chuck Schuldiner – production
- Scott Burns – producer, engineer, mixing
- Michael Fuller – mastering (original release)
- Jim Morris – remixing (2011 reissue)
- Alan Douches – mastering (2011 reissue)
- René Miville – artwork
- Tim Hubbard – photography
- David Bett – art direction
- Jacob Speis – layout
Notes
- "God of Thunder" was originally only on the Japanese version of the album but was later included on the 2011 Relapse reissue.
- The track "Cosmic Sea" is featured in the computer game Damage Incorporated.[17]
- The band paid homage in the liner notes to Atheist bassist Roger Patterson, who was killed in a car accident in February 1991.
- The band's logo presents a change; compared to the logo on the three preceding albums, it loses the drops of blood that flow downwards and the spider web on the letter "D".
- Schuldiner has stated that the song "Lack of Comprehension" is based on a 1990 civil action brought against metal band Judas Priest by the family of a teenager, James Vance, who entered into a suicide pact with his friend Ray Belknap after allegedly listening to "Better by You, Better than Me".
Sales
| United States | 100,000+ |
| Worldwide sales | 600,000+ |
Charts
Album
Billboard (North America)
| Year | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|
| 1991 | Top Heatseekers | 34 |
References
- 1 2 Pratt, Greg (June 20, 2011). "Death - Human". Exclaim!. Retrieved December 3, 2012.
- ↑ McIver, Joel (December 30, 2012). "Spiritual Healing | Death". Record Collector. Retrieved November 15, 2022.
- 1 2 "DEATH's Classic 'Human' Album Gets Remix Treatment". Blabbermouth.net. February 3, 2011. Retrieved November 15, 2022.
- ↑ "News". EmptyWords.org. Retrieved February 2, 2011.
- ↑ Masvidal, Paul (2011). Human (CD liner notes). Relapse Records.
- ↑ Jervis, Marcus. "Death - Human Review". About.com. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved December 3, 2012.
- ↑ Huey, Steve. "Human - Death". AllMusic. Retrieved October 13, 2011.
- ↑ Popoff, Martin (August 1, 2007). The Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal: Volume 3: The Nineties. Burlington, Ontario, Canada: Collector's Guide Publishing. p. 105. ISBN 978-1-894959-62-9.
- ↑ "Human (reissue)". Relapse Records. June 21, 2011. Retrieved March 29, 2018.
- ↑ "The 100 Greatest Metal Albums of All Time". Rolling Stone. June 21, 2017. Retrieved March 29, 2018.
- ↑ Larkin, C. The Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music, 1995, p. 1108
- ↑ "Death - Human - Reviews - Encyclopaedia Metallum: The Metal Archives". www.metal-archives.com. Retrieved 2023-03-01.
- ↑ DEATH - "Lack Of Comprehension" (Remixed), retrieved 2023-03-01
- ↑ "Amazon.com: Human:Death: MP3 Downloads". Amazon. Retrieved November 14, 2012.
- ↑ Human (booklet). Death. Relativity Records. 1991.
{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link) - ↑ Human (Deluxe 20th Anniversary Edition) (booklet). Death. Relapse Records, Perseverance Holdings Ltd. 2011.
{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link) - ↑ "Damage Incorporated: Richard Rouse Under the Hot Lamps". Paranoidproductions.com. Retrieved October 13, 2011.