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Artist:

Death

Formed:
1983

Disbanded:
1998

  • Genre: Rock
  • Active: '80s, '90s, 2000s
  • Major Members: Chuck Schuldiner

Biography

Over the course of more than a decade and seven increasingly accomplished albums, Chuck Schuldiner, the architect behind the ubiquitous Death, became a bona fide heavy metal icon. Now widely recognized as the father of death metal (if a single candidate must be chosen, his resumé is about as good as it gets), Schuldiner's singular drive and ruthless creative vision guaranteed that Death retain a pole position at the forefront of the style's development. Indeed, while the savagely raw aggression contained in Death's first three albums proved crucial to spearheading the first generation of death, and subsequently grindcore bands, the astounding musicianship and increasingly sophisticated songwriting found on their later-day efforts may have influenced even more groups exploring the limits of extreme metal's progressive outposts. By all accounts a force to be reckoned with on-stage, Death also logged more frequent-flier miles than perhaps any other band of their extreme metal ilk, undertaking numerous far-reaching tours despite suffering from continuous and acrimonious turnover within their ranks. Throughout this long journey and drastic evolutionary curve, Chuck Schuldiner was the only constant, the effective mastermind behind Death's continually groundbreaking career, and his near-canonization at the time of his untimely passing only confirmed his unequaled stature at the top of rock's most uncompromising style. The story of Death begins in Florida, around 1983, when vocalist/guitarist Chuck Schuldiner formed a band named Mantas with guitarist Rick Rozz and drummer Kam Lee. Although they'd yet to finish High School, the eager teens quickly set about trying to replicate the most excessive heavy metal sounds imaginable, which they often heard on tapes obtained via the bustling underground tape-trading circuit existent at the time. Many of these hailed from the U.K., where bands like Iron Maiden, Angel Witch, and Venom were riding high on the New Wave of British Heavy Metal; others arrived from the West Coast, where young bands like Metallica, Slayer, and Exodus were redefining the genre by injecting it with unprecedented doses of speed and energy, thus giving birth to thrash metal. All of these developments converged to spark the young Floridian's excitement, and the newly rechristened Death spent the next few years refining their chops through endless, arduous rehearsals and sporadic live performances. Their hard work and perseverance finally paid off when a three-song demo tape called Mutilation began drawing rave reviews in the metal underground, soon convincing Bay Area-based thrash specialists Combat Records to sign the group. Leaving his bandmates behind (they would form a band called Massacre in his absence), Schuldiner relocated to San Francisco and teamed up with drummer Chris Reifert (later of Autopsy infamy) to record Death's now legendary Scream Bloody Gore LP. Released in 1987, the album is considered death metal's first archetypal document. Possessed's proto-death classic Seven Churches may have predated it by almost two years, but the fact of the matter is that both were concurrent works from a demo perspective, and while Seven Churches represented something of a unplanned transition between thrash and death metal, Scream Bloody Gore clearly defined the new offshoot's true essence for the first time. Boiled down to the most basic terms, this transition simply entailed propelling thrash metal's sheer speed and ferocious execution into further inaccessibility with the addition of gore-obsessed lyrics delivered via often indecipherably growled vocals. Needless to say, this unprecedented level of sonic hatred went down a storm with thousands upon thousands of angry teenagers across the world. Having set his metallic dreams (or nightmares, as it were) into motion, Schuldiner returned to Florida, where he reunited with his old chum Rick Rozz and drafted bassist Terry Butler and drummer Bill Andrews to integrate Death's first touring lineup. Between ever-increasing touring commitments, they were soon ensconced in Tampa's soon-to-be famed Morrisound Studios with soon-to-be premier death metal producer Scott Burns (a lot of "firsts" in this story) and working on 1988's Leprosy follow-up, which reprised much of the debut's successful tricks, but was somewhat marred by Rozz's subpar technical skills. He was soon unceremoniously ejected for his shortcomings (the first victim of a Spinal Tap-like game of musical chairs) and replaced by the far more gifted James Murphy, who would barely last a year himself before embarking on a journeyman existence that would take him to Obituary, Testament, and beyond, but nevertheless contributed stellar fretwork to 1990's transitional Spiritual Healing. This album found Death beginning to relinquish some of the unrelenting velocity, mindless ferocity, and often trite blood-and-gore lyrics which characterized death metal's infancy (grindcore's fast-rising legions, led by Napalm Death and Carcass, would take it from here) and diving headlong into its understandably experimental pubescent phase. In practice, this meant introducing slower rhythms, complex dynamic tempo changes, insidious melodies, and more enlightened, if no less dark and cynical subject matter that commented on society's ills and injustices. All of these exciting developments would come to greater fruition on 1991's pivotal Human LP, but given the various organizational problems and unsatisfactory performances that had plagued the Spiritual Healing tour, it's a wonder Death survived long enough to record it. In his obsessive quest for perfection and constant evolution, Schuldiner had once again pushed his bandmembers as far as their musical abilities could take them, mandating that an entirely new group of players be cast to enact the next chapter in his grand scheme. Sure enough, the sessions for Human convened a supra-technical ensemble for the ages, namely guitarist Paul Masvidal and drummer Sean Reinert of unsigned death/fusion sensations Cynic, and fretless bass wonder Steve DiGiorgio, who was borrowed from Sadus for recording purposes only. This release, along with the even more commercially successful Arise by Brazilians Sepultura, helped ensure that 1991 should go down as the absolute apex of death metal's world domination. At least in its original form, as hordes of gifted new upstarts such as the aforementioned Cynic and the death/jazz experimentalists Atheist, to name but a few, were even then undertaking to rewrite the rule book and challenge elder statesmen like Death for genre supremacy. Not to be outdone, Schuldiner simply upped the ante, repeatedly reinventing his band time and time again, even as he refused to compromise its brutal core values one iota. As proof, both 1993's Individual Thought Patterns and 1995's Symbolic introduced staggering advancements into the group's sound. The first exploded with the brilliant fretwork of ex-King Diamond guitarist Andy LaRocque, whose six-string duels with Schuldiner rank among the most exciting of Death's long career; while the second benefited from the dense harmonies contributed by the less flashy, but equally effective Bobby Koelble, resulting in Death's most consistently melodic album ever. And perhaps best of all for extreme metal fans, former Dark Angel behemoth Gene Hoglan lent his inimitable percussive talents to both LPs, forging an unlikely pairing with Chuck that remains the stuff of death metal dreams to this day. Not surprisingly, this trio of albums continue to vie for fans and critics' hearts as Death's greatest achievements -- how ironic then that Schuldiner himself was beginning to grow tired of his life's work. But come 1996, Death's chief architect was hungry for a creative outlet with which to express his more mainstream heavy metal songwriting, and citing his own voice as too limited for what he had in mind, Schuldiner shocked the heavy metal community by disbanding Death and announcing his plans for an entirely new band, to be named Control Denied. But the new project took longer than expected to get off the ground, so Schuldiner decided to backtrack and record one final album under the Death franchise, resulting in 1998's quite stellar The Sound of Perseverance. As was to be expected, he was once again backed up by an entirely new band, this time consisting of relative unknowns like guitarist Shannon Hamm, bassist Scott Clendenin, and drummer Richard Christy. Following this release, Schuldiner finally felt ready to move forward with the Control Denied concept in earnest, and the new quintet (featuring many of Chuck's old accomplices and a full-time lead vocalist in Tim Aymar) unleashed their The Fragile Art of Existence debut in the fall of 1999. Everything seemed to be going according to plan, but then tragic fate intervened. Schuldiner was diagnosed with a malignant brain-stem tumor and immediately underwent emergency surgery in early 2000 to remove it. All musical plans were brought to a standstill as Chuck fought for his life amid ever-mounting medical bills (like most professional musicians, he had no health insurance), only a small portion of which were alleviated by the heavy metal community's outpouring of support by way of numerous benefit concerts. Over the ensuing two years, the true state of his health was often mired in mystery, and even though he was occasionally rumored to be on the path to recovery, all hopes were ultimately and cruelly dashed on December 13, 2001, when Chuck finally succumbed to cancer at the age of 33. Like any headstrong leader, Schuldiner's tyrannical monopoly over Death's brilliant career is forever guaranteed to evoke adverse opinions about his character, ranging from the resentful accusations of disgruntled former employees, to the words of loving praise of willing collaborators. It hardly matters, since whichever reputation people eventually choose to believe in, Schuldiner's recorded legacy will forever remain inextricably linked, synonymous even, with the death metal genre. ~ Ed Rivadavia, All Music Guide

Representative Songs:

"Suicide Machine," "Pull the Plug," "Zombie Ritual"

Representative Albums:

Human, Sound of Perseverance, Individual Thought Patterns

Similar Artists:

Cynic, Emperor, Mayhem, Monstrosity, Hypocrisy, Vendetta, Sacred Denial, Autopsy, Hell Bastards, Exumer, The Free for All, Recipients of Death, Obituary, Necrosanct, Manowar, Malevolent Creation, Hexx, Delerium, Benediction, Sore Throat, Sabbat, Napalm Death, Mordred, Morbid Angel, Grindcrusher, Devastation, Destruction, Dead Horse, Dark Angel, Cryptic Slaughter, Carcass, Blood Feast, Bathory, Atheist

Influences:

Slayer, Metallica, Iron Maiden

Followers:

Pitbulls in the Nursery, The Acacia Strain, Arsis, Psychotogen, Age of Ruin, Opprobrium, Cynic, In Ruins, Marduk, Macabre, Emperor, Pungent Stench, Hypocrisy, Deceased, At the Gates, Terrorizer, Lock Up, Entombed, Sepultura, Morbid Angel, Atheist

Performed Songs By:

Rick Rozz, Chuck Schuldiner, James Murphy, Terry Butler
 
 
Wikipedia: Death (band)
Death
Death (1991 Human line-up) Sean Reinert, Scott Carino, Chuck Schuldiner, Paul Masvidal
Death (1991 Human line-up) Sean Reinert, Scott Carino, Chuck Schuldiner, Paul Masvidal
Background information
Origin Orlando, Florida, USA
Genre(s) Death metal
Progressive metal (later)
Years active 1983 – 1999
Label(s) Combat
Relativity
Roadrunner
Nuclear Blast
Website emptywords.org
Former members
Last known lineup:
Chuck Schuldiner
Shannon Hamm
Scott Clendenin
Richard Christy
(See: full listing)

Death was an influential American death metal band founded in 1983 by guitarist and vocalist Chuck Schuldiner, and dissolved in 1999. They are widely credited as the creators of the death metal genre. The band's debut Scream Bloody Gore is considered a template of the genre. Schuldiner was the only member to remain in the band from start to end.

Biography

Early history (1983-1987)

Founded in 1983 by Chuck Schuldiner under the original name of Mantas in Orlando, Death were among the more widely known, early pioneers of the death metal sound along with fellow Florida band Morbid Angel. In the late 80s, the band was both a part of and integral in defining the death metal scene which gained international recognition with the release of albums by a number of area acts.

Together with Kam Lee (Barney Lee), and Rick Rozz (Frederick DeLillo), Schuldiner started to compose songs that were released on several rehearsal tapes in 1984. These tapes, along with the Death by Metal demo, circulated through the tape trader world, quickly establishing the band's name. In 1984, Schuldiner dissolved Mantas and quickly started a new band under the name Death. Its members included the same Rick Rozz and Kam Lee. Another demo was released, called Reign of Terror.

The original Death logo was re-drawn and re-vamped by Chuck Schuldiner
Enlarge
The original Death logo was re-drawn and re-vamped by Chuck Schuldiner

In 1985, after the Infernal Death tape was recorded and released, Schuldiner fired Lee and Rozz in favour of Repulsion's bassist and guitarist, Scott Carlson and Matt Olivio, respectively. However, a drummer could not be found; consequently the band dissolved again. Schuldiner moved to San Francisco and recruited DRI drummer Eric Brecht, but he was not happy with this incarnation of Death and moved back to Florida without a band. There, in 1986, Schuldiner got an invitation from early Canadian thrash band Slaughter to play on their album, which he accepted, moving to Canada. This only lasted two weeks, however, as he found the situation not to his liking. He returned to Florida, then moved quickly to San Francisco again, where he joined with Chris Reifert. They recorded the Mutilation demo, which led to a deal with Combat Records, owned by Important Distribution (later becoming Relativity), that enabled them to record the first LP.

Scream Bloody Gore was released in 1987. Schuldiner briefly had a second guitar player, John Hand, but Hand did not appear on the album (though his photo did). By this time Schuldiner moved back to Florida, leaving Chris Reifert behind. There, Schuldiner teamed up with former bandmate Rick Rozz and two members of Rozz's band Massacre, Terry Butler and Bill Andrews.

The mid-era (1988-1992)

In 1988, that lineup recorded Leprosy. After much gigging in support of the album, including a quick and ill-planned tour of Europe, Rick Rozz was fired in 1989. After a tour of Mexico featuring guitarist Paul Masvidal (later to re-emerge in the Death camp), a replacement was found in James Murphy, with whom the third album Spiritual Healing was recorded in Tampa in the summer of 1989. Murphy was sacked relatively quickly. By this time Schuldiner abandoned the "gore" lyrical theme for more social critique as Death's musical style progressed from simple brutal death metal to complex, technical death metal. Additional melody was added to the band's sound as well as more varied timings and song structures.

In 1990, on the eve of a European tour, Schuldiner decided against traveling, claiming at the last minute that he felt the tour was not adequately organized (and citing the group's previous disorganized European tour in 1988). Andrews and Butler continued with the tour of Europe as 'Death' regardless and recruited roadies Walter Trachsler (guitar) and Louie Carrisalez (vocals) to replace Schuldiner, much to Schuldiner's shock and disgust. Schuldiner took legal action when the dust settled and Butler and Andrews were expelled from the band.

Schuldiner abandoned the idea of a band set-up altogether and began working with session musicians only. Schuldiner hired Steve DiGiorgio and recruited Sean Reinert and Paul Masvidal from underground Florida band Cynic. 1991's Human was Death's best-selling album yet, receiving many accolades and some MTV play for the group's first video, directed by David Bellino, for the track Lack of Comprehension. Due to obligations with his primary band Sadus, DiGiorgio was forced to depart after the recording of Human and new bassist Skott Carino did Death's extensive world tour, from October 1991 until March 1992, in addition to appearing in the music video for Lack of Comprehension.

During this period of 1988-92, Death was managed by Eric Greif, a rocky relationship that culminated in at least two lawsuits between Greif and Schuldiner. However, when interviewed by Thrash 'n Burn, Schuldiner was characteristically mellow about what the writer referred to as his "gruesome collaboration" with Greif: "We just came to the conclusion that it was stupid just fighting all the time, taking each other to court and all that stupid shit." After his final break from Greif, Schuldiner managed himself for the remainder of his career.

The final years (1993-2001)

In 1993, Reinert and Masvidal left the group to continue with Cynic, Schuldiner being unable to persuade them otherwise. Schuldiner replaced them with Gene Hoglan of the recently dissolved thrash metal band Dark Angel, and worked with guitarist Andy LaRocque from King Diamond for Individual Thought Patterns. LaRocque being obligated to his band, Schuldiner hired a then-unknown Ralph Santolla as touring guitarist. Death was arguably at the peak of their commercial and popular culture success, and the video for the track The Philosopher, a lyrical slam against former guitarist Masvidal,[1] even made it on to a Beavis & Butt-head episode in 1994 (Beavis also parodies Schuldiner's vocals in a mock 'drive-thru' order of 'tacos, to go!' in death-metal style). Also in 1994, Death abandoned their eight year relationship with Relativity and signed with Roadrunner Records, their European distributor. For 1995's Symbolic, Santolla and DiGiorgio were exchanged for underground Florida musicians Kelly Conlon and Bobby Koelble. For the Symbolic tour Brian Benson was bought in on bass (Conlon having left the band prior to the tour due to conflicts with Schuldiner).

After Symbolic, Schuldiner dissolved the band and all ties with Roadrunner and began writing songs for Control Denied. It was during this time that Schuldiner briefly worked with Florida studio guitarist James Hogan. Schuldiner was still contractually obligated to record an album under Nuclear Blast with Death, and so he used several songs that were intended to be used for Control Denied, as several song titles on The Sound of Perseverance were originally Control Denied song titles. He re-formed Death with Florida musicians Richard Christy, Shannon Hamm and Scott Clendenin to record 1998's The Sound of Perseverance with his new label Nuclear Blast.

After the album and two supporting tours, Schuldiner dissolved Death to pursue Control Denied with Christy and Hamm. Clendenin was dropped in favor of Steve DiGiorgio, who was once again available, and an underground power metal singer named Tim Aymar. As Schuldiner finished Control Denied's debut album, he was diagnosed with brain cancer, forcing the band to scrap plans for a US and Canadian tour. As he worked on the second release, Schuldiner's condition improved, but the tumor left him in a weakened, vulnerable state. He contracted pneumonia and was placed in the hospital. He was released and returned home where, one hour later, Schuldiner died on December 13, 2001.

The aftermath

The second Control Denied release has yet to be completed and is mired in a variety of odd legal problems involving its label, the musicians (who have publicly stated their desire to complete the album) and Schuldiner's mother. In 2004, Hammerheart Records released a CD made up of old, pre-Scream Bloody Gore demos, along with partial demos of the unfinished album. This was issued under the name Chuck Schuldiner, not Death, but their markedly unfinished state and lack of vocals led few to pay attention, aided by Schuldiner's mother's pleas for fans to stay away from it.

Members of Death have dispersed all throughout the landscape of metal and popular music. Some, like Gene Hoglan from Dark Angel and Andy LaRocque from King Diamond, already had made a name for themselves. Others went on to do so, like Sean Reinert, who formed the legendary Cynic with fellow Death member Paul Masvidal. Ironically, both of these pioneering death metal musicians have ended up in a progressive, ethereal rock band named Æon Spoke laced with delicate guitars and Masvidal's soft croon. Richard Christy went on to gigs with Acheron and Iced Earth before joining The Howard Stern Show. Ralph Santolla has also played with Iced Earth, as well as Sebastian Bach, both of which were also stations for Steve DiGiorgio (he's still playing with Bach). While Santolla is now in Obituary and before this he was in Deicide. DiGiorgio also played for Testament and is still active with his original band Sadus. Bobby Koelble founded the Orlando rock-funk-Latin fusion group JunkieRush in 2000. James Murphy was also in Testament for awhile, formed numerous projects such as Disincarnate (as well as stints with death metal bands Obituary and Cancer) and has made a name for himself. Murphy also has been stricken with cancer and, along with Deron Miller of CKY, is organizing a Death tribute album to be released upon completion. Recently, Kam Lee formed the band Denial Fiend with Terry Butler.

Trivia

  • Schuldiner designed the Death logo and its various incarnations during the length of his career. In 1991, before the release of Human, he cleaned up the logo taking out more intricate details, including changing the 't' to a standard cross from the earlier inverted version.

Band members

Last known lineup

Previous members

Guitarists

  • Rick Rozz (Frederick DeLillo) - Guitars (1983-1985, 1987-1989)
  • Matt Olivo - Guitar (1985)
  • John Hand - Guitar (Never played anything live or on any album, but credited on Scream Bloody Gore[2]) (1987)
  • Paul Masvidal - Guitar (1989, 1991-1992)
  • Albert Gonzalez - Guitar (1990)
  • James Murphy - Guitar (1989)
  • Andy LaRocque (Anders Allhage) - Guitar (1993)
  • Ralph Santolla -Live Guitar (1993)
  • Craig Locicero - Guitar (1993)
  • Bobby Koelble - Guitar (1995)

Bassists

  • Scott Carlson - Bass (1985)
  • Eric (last name unknown) - Bass (1985)
  • Terry Butler - Bass (1987-1990)
  • Steve DiGiorgio - Bass (1986, 1991, 1993)
  • Skott Carino - Bass (1991-1992)
  • Kelly Conlon - Bass (1995)
  • Brian Benson - Bass (Symbolic Tour)

Drummers

Discography

Demos

Albums

Scream Bloody Gore (1987)

Leprosy (1988)

Spiritual Healing (1990)

Human (1991)

Fate: The Best of Death (1992)

Individual Thought Patterns (1993)

Symbolic (1995)

The Sound of Perseverance (1998)

Live in L.A. (Death & Raw) (2001)

Live in Eindhoven (2001)

Videography

  • Lack of Comprehension (videoclip, 1991)
  • The Philosopher (videoclip, 1993)
  • Live in Houston (Bootleg, VHS, 04.02.1989)
  • Live in Florence (VHS, 10.12.1993)
  • Live in Music Hall (1998, Virus Cable TV)
  • Live in L.A. (Death & Raw) (Official Live, DVD/VHS, 05.12.1998)
  • Live in Eindhoven (Official Live, DVD, 2001, Nuclear Blast)

See also

References

    External links


    Death
    Chuck Schuldiner
    Discography
    Official albums and EPs: Scream Bloody Gore (1987) | Leprosy (1988) | Spiritual Healing (1990) | Human (1991) | Individual Thought Patterns (1993) | Symbolic (1995) | The Sound of Perseverance (1998)
    Live albums and compilation: Fate: The Best of Death (1992) | Live in L.A. (Death & Raw) (2001) | Live in Eindhoven (2001)
    Related articles
    Control Denied | Voodoocult

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