Symbolic (Death album)

Symbolic
Studio album by Death
Released	March 21, 1995
Studio	Morrisound Recording, Tampa, Florida[1]
Length	50:37
Label	Roadrunner
Producer	Jim Morris, Chuck Schuldiner
Death chronology
Individual Thought Patterns (1993) Symbolic (1995) The Sound of Perseverance (1998)

Symbolic is the sixth studio album by American death metal band Death, released on March 21, 1995 by Roadrunner Records.^[2] The album was remastered and reissued on April 1, 2008 with five bonus tracks.^[3] It's the only album to feature Bobby Koelble and Kelly Conlon on guitar and bass, respectively, and the second and last album to feature drummer Gene Hoglan.

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[4]
Blabbermouth	10/10[5]
Metal.de	[6]
Record Collector	[7]

Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic gave the album a three star out of five rating.^[4] The review 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, but the sheer visceral force of their sound should please their dedicated fans."^[4] A review of the 2008 re-issue in Record Collector gave the album a five out of five star rating, stating that the album was as "close to flawless as metal gets, and a testament to the drive and talent of the much-missed Schuldiner"^[7] Metal-Rules.com ranked the album as the 7th greatest extreme metal album^[8] and the 58th greatest heavy metal album^[9] of all time.

Track Listing

All songs written and composed by Chuck Schuldiner. 

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Symbolic"	6:32
2.	"Zero Tolerance"	4:48
3.	"Empty Words"	6:22
4.	"Sacred Serenity"	4:26
5.	"1,000 Eyes"	4:28
6.	"Without Judgement"	5:28
7.	"Crystal Mountain"	5:07
8.	"Misanthrope"	5:04
9.	"Perennial Quest"	8:22
Total length:		50:37[10]

2008 remastered version
No.	Title	Length
10.	"Symbolic Acts" (Demo of "Symbolic" without vocals)	5:55
11.	"Zero Tolerance" (Instrumental demo)	4:10
12.	"Crystal Mountain" (Instrumental demo)	4:24
13.	"Misanthrope" (Instrumental demo)	5:40
14.	"Symbolic Acts" (4-track demo of "Symbolic" with vocals)	5:55
Total length:		26:09

Personnel

Personnel adapted from the CD liner notes of the original 1995 release and the 2008 reissue.^[1][11]

Death

• Chuck Schuldiner – vocals, guitar
• Bobby Koelble – guitar
• Gene Hoglan – drums
• Kelly Conlon – bass

Additional musicians

• Steve DiGiorgio – 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

References

1. Symbolic (booklet). Death. Roadrunner Records. 1995.
2. Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Symbolic". AllMusic. Retrieved March 30, 2015.
3. "BLABBERMOUTH.NET - DEATH: 'Symbolic' Reissue Track Listing Revealed". Roadrunnerrecords.com. Retrieved 13 October 2011.
4. Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Symbolic". AllMusic. Retrieved March 30, 2015.
5. Bergman, Keith. "Review: Symbolic". Blabbermouth.net. Retrieved 26 February 2010.
6. Thomas Weeber. "Death -Symbolic". Metal.de. Retrieved 17 December 2011.
7. McIver, Joel. "Death - Symbolic". Record Collector. Retrieved March 30, 2015.
8. Top 50 Extreme Metal Albums. Metal Rules. Retrieved 13 October 2011.
9. The Top 100 Heavy Metal Albums. Metal Rules. Retrieved 13 October 2011.
10. "Amazon.com: Symbolic:Death: MP3 Downloads". Amazon. Retrieved November 14, 2012.
11. Symbolic: The Expanded Edition (booklet). Death. Roadrunner Records. 2008.