Symbolic (Death album)


Symbolic is the sixth studio album by American death metal band Death, released on March 21, 1995, by Roadrunner Records. The album was remastered and reissued on April 1, 2008, with five bonus tracks. It is 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.

Release

Symbolic was released by Roadrunner Records on March 21, 1995.

Reception

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".
Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic gave the album a three star out of five rating. 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". 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". Metal-Rules.com ranked the album as the 7th greatest extreme metal album and the 58th greatest heavy metal album of all time.

Track listing

Personnel

Personnel adapted from the CD liner notes of the original 1995 release and the 2008 reissue.
;Death
;Additional musicians
;Technical personnel