Original Artwork for Death’s ‘Symbolic’ Album Sells for $10,100

The original artwork for Symbolic, the sixth album by death metal pioneers Death, was recently put up for auction on eBay and has officially been sold for $10,100.

Signed by artist René Miville, who was also at the helm of Death's two previous album covers — 1991's Human and 1993's Individual Thought Patterns — the original piece received 63 bids before arriving at the five-figure price tag.

Seller "stastee_nque2" has recently sold off other Death-related items, including books, backstage passes, handwritten lyrics and even the original Human artwork, which went for nearly half the price of the Symbolic art at $5, 250 within the last six months. In the feedback section of the seller's profile, it does not state outright that the Human artwork was also signed by Miville.

Chuck Schuldiner, who was known to churn the band's lineup with each ensuing record, recruited bassist Kelly Conlon, guitarist Bobby Koelble and drummer Gene Hoglan (who was retained from the Individual Thought Patterns lineup) for the 1995 effort. The record found leader Schuldiner drift from his more complex song structures heard on the last two albums, reining in the songwriting while maintaining his progressive riffing style.

Fulfilling his recording contract, Schuldiner would go on to release one more album with Death — The Sound of Perseverance — in 1998, before changing direction with his prog-power band Control Denied. That group released The Fragile Art of Existence in 1999 and the album stood as Schuldiner's final full length release before his untimely death in 2001 after battling a brain tumor, which ultimately claimed the musician's life on Dec. 13 of that year.

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