Just before Death would reach its ultimate heights with ‘Symbolic’ they released this ‘Individual Thought Patterns’. An album which was an instant hit for me, as well as most others. Again he made a huge progression in all different aspects like songwriting, lyrical concept and his technical skills. A review on this album is rather difficult, best would be to put on a song like ‘The Philosopher’. This song closes the album and displays the true power of Death. It isn’t really such a surprise if you take a look at what musicians he had gathered around him at this point, with Gene Hoglan on drums, Steve DiGiorgio on (fretless) bass and Andy LaRogue on second guitar. A sublime line-up that is unique in all its forms and therefore it was to be expected that they would pull off one of the greatest death metal records ever. Their sheer brilliance when it comes to technical skills, however, never gets the best of them as they still threw out some of the greatest death metal songs ever. The song is still one of the most important things in Chuck’s songwriting. ‘Individual Thought Patterns’ is a masterpiece that set new extremes to the genre.