The members of Death and their manager Eric Greif stayed in a single motel room at the Safari Inn, near Busch Gardens, for the entire six weeks the album was recorded and mixed, although bassist Terry Butler and drummer Bill Andrews frequently went home as they lived in the Tampa area.

[citation needed] The "joke & jam" tracks on the Spiritual Healing re-issue were a result of heat exhaustion, as the band was practicing in a mini warehouse in summer with no air conditioning.

[3] Spiritual Healing has been described as "bizarre," "enigmatic" and "more avant-garde" than Death's previous releases up to that point, utilizing complex time signatures and more technical musicianship.

[2] Instead, he chose to focus on social issues and "real life horror", including serial killers, drug addiction, abortion, genetic reconstruction (influenced by a story on That's Incredible!

[2] Butler and Murphy, along with Gus Rios and Matt Harvey, featured at The Brass Mug in Tampa, Florida on December 11, 2021, playing all of Spiritual Healing and "commemorating" 20 years since Schuldiner's death.