Now revealed why Death’s 1991 album is titled “Human”

Death‘s 1991 album “Human” represented a pivotal milestone for the band. It was composed following a tour of Europe undertaken by former members Bill Andrews and Terry Butler without the presence of lead vocalist Chuck Schuldiner, which led Schuldiner to initiate legal action against the band and continue performing with guest musicians.

This album is regarded as a seminal work within the genre. “Human” is distinguished as the sole Death recording featuring guitarist Paul Masvidal and drummer Sean Reinert from Cynic, as well as being the inaugural release to include fretless bass virtuoso Steve Di Giorgio.

Over thirty years later, “Human” remains one of the most influential albums in technical death metal. However, the significance of its title has persisted as an open question.

In an interview on The Garza Podcast, Masvidal recounted the precise moment when Schuldiner conceived the album’s title, as reported by MetalInjection.

I remember the moment when he thought of the name Human, the title. We were rehearsing in Miami. Chuck was staying at my house, and we were driving – we had just left rehearsal — and we were heading to an area near where my mom lived called Coconut Grove. There are restaurants and bars around there, and we were going to get some food after rehearsal.

As we were cutting through this road, we saw lights in an empty lot. They were these weird blinking lights, and I said, ‘What are those fuck lights? Those aren’t there. There shouldn’t be lights there.’ We pulled the car over and walked up to the scene, and it was a motorcycle accident. And it was a dude who… there a young girl and a guy. The guy was half alive. The girl was gone. It was gnarly — the gnarliest — straight out of a weird dream. It was a nightmare scene.

In the absence of mobile phones, Masvidal remained at the scene with Schuldiner. Meanwhile, the others proceeded to locate a payphone to contact law enforcement.

I was like ‘I’ll stay here.’ There were no cell phones, so it was like, ‘Go to a pay phone.’ They drove into the Grove, about a mile from the main area, and went and called the cops and I stayed and just hung out with these bodies with Chuck.

And I remember, I think it was that moment when Chuck had this whole like, now he knows what the album’s about. It was like this kind of human… it was just rooted in this clarity about the concept of the album. It was a really kind of a raw moment, because it was just a very pivotal I think symbolic moment to have right when we’re rehearsing the album.

I feel like all the lyrics kind of in his mind, you know, it was like this is going to be very human. He was already going that way with those other albums, but I think it really he got that clarity because it was a very intense moment, you know, for the band. There was the four of us. It was me, Steve, Sean, and Chuck. We like walked into this scene, you know, as a band.