Death Symbolic: the cover that was painted with darkroom chemicals
A huge eye staring out of the dark, two pale figures above a pair of open hands, black ribbons winding around them. It looks like a photo and a painting at once. That is because it is both.
At the top, the red Death logo with its scythe and skull. Below it, a giant eye stares out of a dark, cracked sky, with thin white lines spreading from it like lightning. Further down stand two small pale figures, right above a pair of open hands, while long black ribbons snake around them. It is grainy, blurred and strangely calm. It looks like a photograph of a dream.
A photographer with a paintbrush
The artwork is credited to René Miville, for both artwork and photography. His method was unusual even in 1995. As he explained in a later interview, he took his own photographs into the darkroom and painted the developing chemicals straight onto the photo paper, so the picture changed as it came to life. He worked this way in the late eighties and early nineties, just as other artists were moving to computers.
Miville saw it as adding his own reality on top of a real moment caught by the camera. That is why his covers never look quite like paintings and never quite like photos.
The end of a trilogy
Symbolic was the third Death sleeve in a row by Miville, after Human in 1991 and Individual Thought Patterns in 1993. The original artwork for it turned up on eBay in early 2020 and sold for a five-figure sum. Reportedly, Chuck Schuldiner had once tacked it to his own wall, which left a little damage at the top. So the most famous copy of this picture has already done time on a wall, just not a gallery one.
The album
Symbolic came out on Roadrunner on 21 March 1995. It was recorded at Morrisound Recording in Tampa, Florida, with producer Jim Morris, over about six weeks in late 1994. Chuck Schuldiner sang and played guitar, with Bobby Koelble on second guitar, Kelly Conlon on bass and Gene Hoglan on drums. Compared with the two albums before it, the songs are more direct, but every riff still sounds like Chuck. Schuldiner died in December 2001, and Miville has passed away too, so this eye is now looking back at both of them.
About the poster
This is the Symbolic sleeve printed as a 50 × 70 cm (20 × 28 in) portrait poster, from 2025. It is an original magazine insert, never hung, with no staple holes, folded three times as issued. The sheet is double-sided, with Blind Guardian "Imaginations" on the back.
Browse all original Death posters.
Quick answers
Who made the Death Symbolic cover?
René Miville, who is credited with the artwork and photography. He also made the covers of Human and Individual Thought Patterns.
How was the Symbolic cover made?
Miville worked on his own photographs in the darkroom, painting the developing chemicals onto the photo paper by hand.
When was Symbolic released?
On 21 March 1995, on Roadrunner Records. It was recorded at Morrisound Recording in Tampa with producer Jim Morris.
How big is the poster?
50 × 70 cm (about 20 × 28 inches), portrait. It is a separate insert, so it has no staple holes, and it is folded three times as issued.
What is on the other side?
Blind Guardian "Imaginations from the Other Side". The sheet is double-sided, so you choose which cover goes on the wall.