Death's 1991 album Human was a defining statement for the band. It was written after then-Death members Bill Andrews and Terry Butler embarked on a tour of Europe without frontman Chuck Schuldiner, which caused Schuldiner to sue to the band and carry on with guest musicians.
The result was a landmark record. Human is the only Death album to feature Cynic's Paul Masvidal on guitar and Sean Reinert on drums, and the first to include fretless bass virtuoso Steve Di Giorgio. More than three decades later, it remains one of the most influential technical death metal albums of all time.
But one question has lingered: why is it called Human? Speaking on The Garza Podcast (as captured by Metal Injection), Masvidal recalled the exact moment Schuldiner came up with the album's title.
“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.
With no cell phones at the time, Masvidal stayed at the scene with Schuldiner while the others drove to find a payphone and call the police: "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."
