Death is June - Looking Back in Anger at Death's "Individual Thought Patterns"

So how does this album hold up over time ? If for no other reason I have to love this album because Andy Larocque , my favorite metal guitarist plays on it. You can hear some of Andy's influence in the riffing "In Human Form" comes to mind. Gene Hoglan joined the band for this album.  Sadus bassist Steve Di Giorgio played on "Human" so stuck around for this album making this the most impressive line up of this band. 'Jealousy" is a good song ,but lyrically , I think much like Carcass when this album came out in 1993 I was pissed because they were growling about getting their feelings hurt. As far as more technocal metal goes the opening riff to "Trapped in a Corner' is pretty cool. Like most of the songs on here the riffs wind around each other and are aided by the rubbery bass lines of Di Giorgio who plays around them like jazz. When they hit the grooves and lock in all together the results are fucking sick.

"Nothing is Everything" allows Gene to prove he might be the best metal drummer ever. "Mentally Blind" is best when is slows into the more melodic section, when it is off to the races I begin to check out. They pulls out some classic metal moments that work pretty well after the solo. There are some cool accented section in the title track , but here is when the math becomes dense and I once again begin to check out slightly, I think back when I was smoking pot this kind of death metal was easier to pay attention to. I check back in for 'Out of Touch" . There is alos kind of a John Tardy emoting to Chuck's voice that is evolved since "Leprosy" .  The bass freak out is pretty awesome leading into the solo. But as a song well, it's metal.

The album does have a solid ending I will give it a 9.5 , some of that is my threshold hold for high wanking metal tapered in the second act. If that is your sort of thing then round it up I think for sure for what this is it deserves to be some where among the great death metal albums. Andy's playing is stellar and I think this album serves as a testament to what this kind of tech/. prog metal can , be and no that was not meant as a pun since half of this band is now Testament.





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