7. "Spiritual Healing" (1990)

Starting off the list is Death's third album, Spiritual Healing. Now, let me preface the rest of the list by saying that there definitely is no album by the band that should be considered bad or even mediocre. But if there is one record in the band's discography that can be labeled a “transitional album”, it must be their 1990 release. Spiritual Healing was – and without a doubt – an important step in the band's evolution towards a more technical style and socially conscious, philosophical lyrics. Knowing the full story though, it has to be the least engaging and most straightforward album in the Death discography. Spiritual Healing doesn't compare to the rest of their albums in any way. It's less brutal, not as fast paced and less technical than what would come after it. The production doesn't hit as hard either and Spiritual Healing also sees Chuck Schuldiner at his worst vocally, in my opinion at least, as he is in the midst of changing up his vocal style adapting to the musical and lyrical changes his band undergoes. Despite all that, some of the songs are still definitely worth a listen, but generally, nothing here comes quite close to the rest of their catalogue.

Best Tracks: “Altering the Future”, “Within the Mind”, “Killing Spree”

6. “Scream Bloody Gore” (1987)

Death's debut album arguably marked the birth of Death Metal as a genre. While there were bands that dabbled in the genre just a little earlier, none released an album that dove head-first into the mostly unexplored territory of Extreme Metal over the span of an entire LP before. Of course, Death's influences like Slayer and Metallica are still very obvious at this point, and the playing isn't nearly as proficient, nor are the arrangements as technical as what they would go on to do from Leprosy onwards, but in return, Scream Bloody Gore delivers with its relentless energy and a punky Lo-fi flair. Because it shows Extreme Metal in its very un-innocent infancy and at its rawest, both lyrically and musically, the album remains special in the band's discography and in Death Metal as a whole to this day.

Best Tracks: “Zombie Ritual”, “Baptized by Blood”, “Evil Dead”, “Scream Bloody Gore”

5. “Leprosy” (1988)

As might be obvious by now, I'm more of an enjoyer of the more progressive side of Metal, and as such, I was pleasantly surprised by how much there is to like about Death's sophomore album Leprosy in that regard already. Leprosy was the first earlier Death album I've heard and by this point, the more technical aspects of their style are already being implemented alongside the earlier Thrash Metal influences. While the production and mixing are very of its time, Leprosy still hits like a truck today. It feels much more visceral than Scream Bloody Gore, which is also due to the updated production and mixing as well as more memorable songwriting and vocal performances. Songs like the title track and Pull the Plug are stone-cold classics in Extreme Metal, with the latter being especially gut-wrenching. While I can see this being someones favorite Death album in case of them liking their Metal more straightforward and lyrically unsettlingly fantastical, I find it to be lacking in variety just a little, even compared to Scream Bloody Gore, and a bit inconsistent too. Overall though, this album must be emphasized as a great sophomore record from Death and one of the classics in their discography.

Best Tracks: “Leprosy”, “Pull the Plug”, “Open Casket”

4. “Individual Thought Patterns” (1993)

Now we're getting into the Death albums I absolutely adore and listen to regularly at the moment. Individual Thought Patterns, the band's fifth studio album, is somewhat of an outsider within their discography together with Spiritual Healing. This is the more eclectic and novel Death fan's pick for their favorite album and honestly, I can't fault anyone who likes Individual Thought Patterns the most, as it has a lot going for it. It might be the first Death album with production and mixing that sound kind of timeless and, most notably, just incredibly satisfying. 

One thing about Death you must know is that they regularly changed up their line-up with the only real constant being singer and guitarist Chuck Schuldiner. In this context, Individual Thought Patterns probably has the most unbelievable line-up. The album brings together two of the most iconic players from Death's history: Steve Di Giorgio on (fretless) bass and Gene Hoglan on drums. Di Giorgio was already featured on the preceeding album Human, where he was mostly absent in the final mixes. He would depart after Individual Thought Patterns. Hoglan joined for this album and stayed for one more, the band's penultimate record Symbolic. So, they are crossing over for the only time on Individual Thought Patterns and the resulting performances are electrical and extremely intricate, with Di Giorgio getting the spotlight he deserves in the mix, carving out large pockets for his melodic playing style. 

Individual Thought Patterns furthermore sees Chuck Schuldiner nearing the height of his lyrical prowess. Themes had been getting more and more related to societal realities of the present and predictably dystopian future, communicating Schuldiner's philosophies in the process. Individual Thought Patterns is where he fully commits for the first time resulting in timeless masterpieces such as The Philosopher, where he cuts all the slack and all the metaphors for a blunt and savage takedown of so-called philosophers. Still, the song's core lyric – just for example – remains multi-layered, simultaneously delivering a play on Sokrates' most well-known quote: ‘The philosopher / You know so much about nothing at all’. After Pull the Plug, this might be the second endlessly iconic song in the band's catalogue and it closes out an amazing album.

But, as you know, Individual Thought Patters is only my fourth favorite Death album and it's because the band has three albums that have more momentum behind them. They are essentially and to varying degrees or for different reasons, better or more interestingly produced, more consistent, more memorable, more fast-paced, more relevant and more varied. So, without futher a do, let's jump into the holy trinity of Death records!

Best Tracks: “Trapped In a Corner”, “Mentally Blind”, “The Philosopher”

3. “Human” (1991)

On Human, Death open each of the album's halfs with a career highlight. The first track, Flattening of Emotions, a personal favorite of mine, fades in with a pounding drum rhythm on double bass and toms, quickly revealing two things about this new era of Death: Firstly, the band's slight departure towards a Doom- and Stoner Metal-adjacent sound and secondly, the comeback of their Speed Metal tempos, which were sorely missed on much of the album's predecessor, Spiritual Healing. Flattening of Emotions also is a hook monster with memorable vocals from Chuck Schuldiner and a hard-hitting breakdown section, where the band slows down in tempo to roll you over like a bulldozer.
The other career highlight is the album's fifth track, Lack of Comprehension, which starts with an atmospheric guitar-intro – another significant first for the band, as these kinds of intros (as well as interludes and outros) would become staples on some of their strongest material in the future. 

Another first time for Death that occurs on Human is an instrumental track. Cosmic Sea transitions in after the epic ending to See Through Dreams and plays out pretty softly compared to every Death song so far, even featuring some psychedelic synths. It is a mind-blowing penultimate track to Human – one that specifically shows how much Schuldiner is willing to push the band forward to new oceans, or rather cosmic seas. 
The only real downside to the album sadly follows right after. The closing track, Vacant Planets, is by no means bad or even mediocre, but it feels kind of rushed as a finale, especially after the journey the section from Lack of Comprehension over See Through Dreams to Cosmic Sea takes the listener on. However, Vacant Planets still easily keeps up with or beats out large chunks of Death's discography up to this point. 

So, it's safe to say that Human was the first mountainous peak in Death's discography. The album sees the band strive for a perfect balance between their own, now entirely original Death Metal style and Progressive Metal's technicalities. While the production has a well-aged vintage flair to it, the band dabble in more and more experimentation, bringing some Psychedelia, atmospheric elements and fretless bass into the fold – and they succeed, making a timeless classic of Metal music as a result.

Best Tracks: “Flattening of Emotions”, “Together As One”, “Lack of Comprehension”

2. “The Sound of Perseverance” (1998)

The final album by Death is a more than worthy send-off for the band, almost besting every other project they put out. It also feels like a major departure from Symbolic. In fact, if it wasn't so sad, one might say that this is Death moving into a new era and a new century. It is audible in the way Chuck Schuldiner's vocals change from his preceding work to this and it cannot go unnoticed in the way this collection of songs plays out. 

In reality, Schuldiner was about to leave Death as a musical project behind indefinitely as a majority of the songs were written for his new band Control Denied, who also make up the line-up of The Sound of Perseverance. This might be the reason for how melodic the album is in every aspect. The story goes as follows: Schuldiner was having trouble getting Control Denied signed to record label and when they finally found one, the label had one condition: Schuldiner was obligated to make another Death album. And so some of the material that was supposed to be on Control Denied's debut album was rearranged to be on another, final Death album. The result was The Sound of Perseverance.

The Sound of Perseverance was Death's first double LP release mostly because the songs are longer and more intricate than ever with pristinely clean production. The epitomes of this are lead-single Spirit Crusher, which is easily amongst the five best Death songs with its many unforgettable riffs and paradoxically euphoric switch-ups, and the over eight minutes long Prog Metal epic Flesh and the Power It Holds. On the other hand, Death deliver an unbelievably gorgeous instrumental pieces in Voice of the Soul as a breather. Ironically, while we have to thank Nuclear Records – the label who signed Control Denied – for the existence The Sound of Perseverance in this form, it was the label who have to be made responsible for the album not being practically flawless. The final track, Painkiller, was a spontaneously put together cover of the Judas Priest song of the same name. Schuldiner didn't want the song on the album, but the label insisted and so, Death officially close out their career with a cover of Judas Priest that is good, but nothing more than that or, differently said, nowhere near as excellent as all the original material included.

Speaking in genre terms, The Sound of Perseverance is the band's most progressive and technical record and therefore probably the best place to start for everyone, who is not into Extreme Metal.

Best Tracks: “Scavenger of Human Sorrow”, “Spirit Crusher”, “Flesh and the Power It Holds”

1. “Symbolic” (1995)

Symbolic is the culmination of everything Death have been up to over their first five albums. Here, their music finally becomes truly ageless, defining the sub-genre of Technical Death Metal for eternity – and Metal at large. Symbolic has their strongest riffs, their strongest performances and their best songwriting period. The poetry on this record is incredibly impressive: sharp, well written and with themes that are timeless, still resonating today or even seeming predictive. The title track is about nostalgia, but it also has generally quotable lines, like it's constituting chorus lyric: ‘Symbolic acts, so vivid, yet at the same time were invisible.’ It is delivered when the band crushingly breaks into half time from the high-tempo pre-chorus. Symbolic is the song that opens up the album and it immediately, as a perfect opener and eponymous track, sets the stage for the album – not to mention that it's arguably the best Death song ever. The second track, Zero Tolerance, is even more brutal with Chuck Schuldiner criticising organised religion and the tendencies of its representatives to abuse their power to control people, inflicting their own views on them, even though they might not align with those of the religion itself. The way he belts out the eponymous two words in the chorus is one of the most savage moments of the album. And so it continues with songs touching on themes like animal welfare (Sacred Serenity), surveillance (1,000 Eyes) or justice in the court of public opinion (Without Judgement), to name a few. The lyrical side alone makes Symbolic a standout in Death's discography, as every song leaves a profound impact. That is true for the musical side as well though as Chuck Schuldiner and company find a way to channel the direct brutality of the early Death albums, balancing it out with the more technical and experimental aspects from Individual Thought Patterns (and Human by extension) and adding the progressive and complex structures that would grow even more expansive on The Sound of Perseverance. It feels like the final evolution of Death, where The Sound of Perseverance feels almost like an entirely new beginning. But honestly, at this point I am at a loss for words. I have already used up my vocabulary on the past entries of the list and I think I can't give you an analysis that would do justice to what Symbolic is because in my opinion, this is the best Metal album of all time – and at the very least, it is my favorite.

Best Tracks: “Symbolic”, “Zero Tolerance”, “Empty Words”

Honorable Mention

“Live in L.A. (Death & Raw)” (2001)

This late live-album by the band was, among other live recordings, released as a way to collect money for a dying Chuck Schuldiner, who could not afford the cancer treatment he needed and received due to the fucked up healthcare system of the US. He passed away not long after.

Live in L.A. is several things at once: a concise collection of most of the bands best and/or essential songs, a recording of one of the last shows the band gave and a nearly flawless performance of four proficient, perfectly synched, virtuose players capturing some of the best and most intricate Metal tracks of all time in a live setting. The short speeches given by Schuldiner in between some of the songs reveal a sympathetic character; a nice guy, who doesn’t take himself to seriously, but approached the problems of the world and the music he makes in all seriousness. They are but the cherry on top of a great live-album. Watch the full concert video below!