Click the title to read the full article, which is actually a moving tribute. John Dyer Baizley is among many other artists who celebrate the life and ingenuity of Death front man Chuck Schuldiner by choosing their favorite Death tracks. Baizley’s section of the article reads:
Individual Thought Patterns is the masterpiece Death record for me. It’s the record where songwriting, production, lyrics, musicianship and hooks all converge to form a classic album. I remember being stuck in a tour van on some rural Eastern European road, and someone put the CD in the stereo. You can deny neither the skills nor the cohesion of the players on this record. Each musician is an institution unto himself, and this album goes right where so many sum-of-parts records go wrong. [Guitarist] Andy LaRoque’s surprising inclusion is a true stroke of genius. The real treat is that after an initial listen to such a progressive and technical record, I actually remembered most of the songs, most notably “The Philospher.” This was a death metal song that was instantly stuck in my head.
From the iconic opening guitar arpeggios, to the audible (!) groove of the bass line and one of the heaviest and most memorable choruses in the Death canon, this song hits every nail on the head. The guitar soloing is effortlessly fluid and melodic; and nothing negative ever needs to be said about Gene Hoglan’s acumen behind the kit.
Too often, the best you can hope for in metal lyricism is base comedy and adolescent sloganeering. Chuck stands apart as a lyricist in that he brazenly and unapologetically writes personal and insightful lyrics. While they may adhere to the tried-and-true vocal cadence of his peers, there is an openness and candor to them that is hard to deny. In “The Philosopher” he tackles subjects that fly in the face of the knuckle-dragging-Metal-orthodoxy, as he discusses and condemns narrow-minded bigotry and undue sexual judgementalism. His message, unlike so many of his contemporaries, is a universal and human message of tolerance, unadorned with the ignoble trappings generally associated with the genre.
