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Death | |
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 Death in 1989. From left to right:Terry Butler,Paul Masvidal, managerEric Greif,Bill Andrews, andChuck Schuldiner. | |
| Background information | |
| Also known as | Mantas (1983–1984) |
| Origin | Altamonte Springs, Florida, U.S. |
| Genres | |
| Discography | Death discography |
| Years active |
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| Labels | |
| Spinoffs | |
| Past members | |
| Website | emptywords |
Death was an Americandeath metal band formed inAltamonte Springs, Florida, in 1983 by guitaristChuck Schuldiner (who later became the band's sole vocalist), drummer/vocalistKam Lee and guitaristRick Rozz. Formed out of what would become theFlorida death metal scene, Death is considered to be a pioneering band in death metal. The band's 1987 debut album,Scream Bloody Gore, has been widely regarded as one of the first death metal records, alongside the first records fromPossessed andNecrophagia.
Death had a revolving lineup, with Schuldiner, aside from a European tour, being the sole consistent member.[1] The group's style also progressed, from the raw sound on its first two albums to a more complex one in its later stage.[2] The band disbanded after Schuldiner died ofglioma andpneumonia in December 2001, but remains an enduring influence on heavy metal.[3]
Founded in either 1983[4] or 1984 by Chuck Schuldiner under the original name of Mantas inAltamonte Springs, Florida,[5] Death was among the more widely known early pioneers of the death metal sound, along withCalifornia'sPossessed. Inspired byNasty Savage, Death was among the first bands in theFlorida death metal scene.[6]
Together withKam Lee, andRick Rozz, Schuldiner started to compose songs that were released on several rehearsal tapes in 1984.[5][4] These tapes, along with theDeath by Metal demo, circulated through the tape-trader world, quickly establishing the band's name. In 1984, Schuldiner dissolved Mantas and started a band under the name Death with the same members. Tim Aymar, in an article written in December 2010, states that Chuck Schuldiner renamed the band Death in order to turn his experience of the death of his brother Frank years earlier into "something positive".[7] Its members again included Rick Rozz and Kam Lee. Another demo was released, calledReign of Terror.[4]
In 1985, theInfernal Death tape was recorded and released. Rick Rozz was out of the band by early 1985. Schuldiner and Lee played withScott Carlson and Matt Olivo, bassist and guitarist respectively, of the band Genocide (later to be renamedRepulsion) for a short time. However, Kam had some "personal problems" that caused him to be ejected from the band.Combat Records had offered the band a deal if they recorded another demo, though the band was unsuccessful in convincing Kam to rejoin. Olivo and Carlson left soon afterward.[4] Schuldiner moved to theSan Francisco Bay Area and recruited formerDirty Rotten Imbeciles drummer Eric Brecht,[8] then recorded theBack from the Dead demo. However, Chuck was not happy with this incarnation of Death and moved back to Florida without a band. In 1986, Schuldiner got an invitation from early Canadianthrash metal bandSlaughter to play on their album, which he accepted, moving toCanada. However, this only lasted two weeks, and he returned to the States. He returned to Florida, then moved back to the San Francisco Bay Area again, where he joined with 17-year-old drummerChris Reifert.
Scream Bloody Gore had been sent to me as promo. I looked at the cover and giggled a little, and thought “wow, that’s brutal” but never actually listened to it. And at that time, of course, all of the reviews for Death were horrible -- across the board. Anyone who claimed that they liked Death two years later [and tried saying] they liked Death when Scream Bloody Gore came out, was a liar [...] All off these established writers wrote off Death at the beginning. [...] It was a joke. Even the guy that signed Death to Combat, Steve Sinclair considered it a joke. He really only signed him at Don Kaye’s insistence.
Schuldiner and Reifert recorded theMutilation demo in April 1986, which led to a deal withCombat Records. That summer, they began recording their first album, which was abandoned and written off as a mistake after Combat was not satisfied with the recording, which Reifert blamed on the studio engineers. In November 1986, the band was sent toLos Angeles to re-record the album at The Music Grinder with Randy Burns, which the band felt optimistic about due to his work onPossessed'sSeven Churches. The basic tracks were recorded in a couple of days, while the bass, lead guitars and vocals were recorded by Schuldiner at Rock Steady Studios, which was also in L.A.[10]
Scream Bloody Gore was released in 1987, widely considered a genre template for death metal. The band briefly had a second guitar player, John Hand, but he did not appear on the album (though his photo did). Schuldiner and Reifert recruitedSteve Di Giorgio ofSadus and rehearsed inConcord[4] for live shows, which never took place as Schuldiner decided to move back to Florida.[11] Reifert had chosen to remain in California, where he went on to formAutopsy. Once back in Florida, Schuldiner teamed up with former bandmate Rick Rozz and two members of Rozz's bandMassacre,Terry Butler andBill Andrews.
In 1988, that line-up recordedLeprosy. After much touring 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 guitaristPaul Masvidal (later to re-emerge in the Death lineup), a replacement was found inJames Murphy, with whom the third albumSpiritual Healing was recorded in Tampa in the summer of 1989. Murphy left the band relatively quickly.[12] By this time Schuldiner abandoned the "gore" lyrical theme for more social critique and melody was added to the band's sound.[13]
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) as well as having some personal problems. Andrews and Butler continued with the tour of Europe as 'Death' to fulfill the band's contractual obligations, and recruited roadies Walter Trachsler and Louie Carrisalez to replace Schuldiner on guitar and vocals, respectively. Schuldiner reacted with shock and disgust, and pursuedlegal action against Butler and Andrews.[14]
Schuldiner abandoned the idea of a band set-up altogether and began working with session musicians only. Schuldiner recruitedPaul Masvidal andSean Reinert from underground Florida bandCynic and hiredSteve Di Giorgio from California bandSadus. In 1991, Death releasedHuman, which is considered a more technical and progressive album than their previous works, incorporating complex rhythms, riffs and song structures.[14]Human was Death's best-selling album yet, receiving many accolades and someMTV play for the group's first video, directed by David Bellino, for the track "Lack of Comprehension". Due to obligations with his primary bandSadus, Di Giorgio departed after the recording ofHuman and new bassist Scott Carino[15] did Death's extensive world tour, from October 1991 until March 1992, in addition to appearing in themusic video for "Lack of Comprehension".
In 1993, Reinert and Masvidal left the group to continue with the bandCynic, as they were working on Cynic's debut full-length album at the time,Focus. Schuldiner then enlisteddrummerGene Hoglan of the recently dissolvedthrash metal bandDark Angel,[16] andAndy LaRocque fromKing Diamond guesting on guitar forIndividual Thought Patterns in addition to Steve Di Giorgio returning to the band. Since LaRocque was obligated to his band, Schuldiner hired a then-unknownRalph 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" even made it on to an episode ofBeavis & Butt-head 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 its eight-year relationship withRelativity and signed withRoadrunner Records, their European distributor. For 1995'sSymbolic, Santolla and Di Giorgio were exchanged for underground Florida musiciansKelly Conlon andBobby Koelble. For the Symbolic tour Brian Benson was brought in on bass[15](Conlon was let go from the band prior to the tour).[17]
AfterSymbolic, Schuldiner broke up Death after tension with Roadrunner Records[18] and focused onControl Denied.[19] The seventh Death release, titledThe Sound of Perseverance, included Florida musiciansRichard Christy,Shannon Hamm andScott Clendenin, and the album was completed atMorrisound Recording in Tampa and released on Nuclear Blast in 1998.
After the album and two supporting tours, Schuldiner put Death aside to pursueControl Denied with Christy and Hamm. Clendenin was dropped in favor of Steve Di Giorgio, who was once again available, and an undergroundpower metal singer named Tim Aymar. Although the line-up and writing style was largely the same, Schuldiner created Control Denied in large part because he was displeased with the harsher vocals for Death. He opted to create a new band in order to avoid betraying what Death meant and sounded like to fans, remarking: "For me, it is just a matter of evolving, doing it the right way. I didn't put out a Death record with this stuff on it. I made the right choice and changed the name of the band. I tried to do everything the right way."[20] As Schuldiner finished Control Denied's debut album, he was diagnosed withbrain cancer, forcing the band to scrap plans for a U.S. 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 contractedpneumonia and was placed in a hospital. On December 13, 2001, Schuldiner was released and returned home. An hour after arriving home, he died.
The second Control Denied release was not completed. Mired in legal problems involving its Dutch label, the musicians and Schuldiner's sister Beth, the former of whom have publicly stated their desire to complete the album, and former manager Eric Greif representing the Estate. In 2004,Hammerheart Records released a two-part bootleg made up of old, pre-Scream Bloody Gore demos, along with partial demos of the unfinished album and live Death recordings from 1990. This was issued under the name Chuck Schuldiner, not Death or Control Denied, but its markedly unfinished state and lack of vocals led to the release not being successful, aided by Schuldiner's mother Jane's pleas for fans to stay away from it. In October 2009, Greif litigated against Hammerheart, representing Schuldiner's estate, and all matters were settled by December, theoretically allowing for the Control Denied album to be completed by the other musicians.
Members of Death have since stayed active as musicians.Gene Hoglan fromDark Angel andAndy LaRocque fromKing Diamond had already made a name for themselves, with LaRocque continuing to work with King Diamond while Hoglan has done stints with a wide variety of bands includingStrapping Young Lad,Old Man's Child,Opeth,Zimmers Hole,Unearth,Pitch Black Forecast,Dethklok,Fear Factory, and most recently,Testament.Paul Masvidal found success withCynic alongside fellow Death memberSean Reinert, who continue to release albums and tour in the present.Richard Christy went on to gigs withAcheron andIced Earth before joiningThe Howard Stern Show, though he has recently resurfaced on the metal scene withCharred Walls of the Damned and guesting on a Crotchduster album.Ralph Santolla has also played with Iced Earth, as well asSebastian Bach; both are bands which Steve DiGiorgio played in as well. Santolla was inObituary and he was previously inDeicide. Di Giorgio also played forTestament and is still active with his original band Sadus. Bobby Koelble founded the Orlando rock-funk-Latin fusion group JunkieRush in 2000. He joined the Jazz faculty of the University of Central Florida (UCF) in 2007, and performs and records withThe Jazz Professors.James Murphy was also inTestament, formed projects such asDisincarnate, as well as having stints with death metal bandsObituary andCancer. Murphy was also stricken with a noncancerous brain tumor, for which he received treatment, and, along withDeron Miller ofCKY, attempted to organize a Deathtribute album.Kam Lee became well known as the frontman and face of the bandMassacre, and formed the band Denial Fiend withTerry Butler, who has also found success inSix Feet Under and is currently in Obituary. Lee also continues to perform and record today with numerous underground projects, including Bone Gnawer and The Grotesquery. Scott Clendenin died on March 24, 2015, at the age of 48.[21]
On May 12, 2010, it was announced that Perseverance Holdings Ltd. had partnered with Relapse Records to re-master and re-issue the Death andControl Denied releases, as well as his earlier work in Mantas.[22] On December 13 of the same year, it was announced thatThe Sound of Perseverance would be the first Death album to receive this treatment, and was released February 2011 in a 2-CD and 3-CD format.[23] TheHuman album has been remixed, with Schuldiner's intellectual property lawyer Eric Greif stating that Sony had lost the tapes of the original mixes,[24] and was reissued in 2-CD and 3-CD formats as well as a digital release. Shortly after, theIndividual Thought Patterns album was reissued. In February 2012, Relapse Records released a 2 CD live album entitledVivus! that included the previously released 1998 concertsLive in L.A. andLive in Eindhoven, including liner notes by drummer Christy and manager/lawyer Greif. The Relapse deal does not include Death's acclaimed 1995 albumSymbolic, whose rights are still retained byRoadrunner Records as of 2008[update].
On March 16, 2012, it was announced by Sick Drummer Magazine and the Schuldiner's corporation, Perseverance Holdings Ltd, that musicians who previously played in Death would take part in a benefit tour titled "Death to All" for theSweet Relief Musicians Fund.[25] The former Death members slated to participate were drummersGene Hoglan andSean Reinert, bassists Steve Di Giorgio and Scott Clendenin, guitaristsPaul Masvidal,Shannon Hamm andBobby Koelble. It was later announced thatObscura vocalistSteffen Kummerer andAbysmal Dawn/Bereft frontman Charles Elliott would assume vocal and guitar duties for the tour,[26] butvisa issues made Kummerer's participation impossible and he was replaced byExhumed vocalist/guitarist Matt Harvey.[27] After the tour, Eric Greif, acting as President of Perseverance Holdings Ltd. (PHL), alleged that the owners of Sick Drummer Magazine had not paid the charity, the musicians, PHL, the crew or the booking agency despite the five shows of the tour being successful.[28] However, dates for a second edition of the tour were announced in February 2013, with no involvement from Sick Drummer Magazine,[29] and a successful tour of North America in April 2013 was followed by a sold out three-week European tour in November 2013, featuring Masvidal, Reinert, Di Giorgio and vocalist/guitarist Max Phelps. The Death To All moniker was altered to Death (DTA).[30]
On November 3, 2021, it was announced that former Death members would play two Florida shows in December 2021 to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the passing of Schuldiner. The lineup will feature James Murphy and Terry Butler, as well as Gus Rios and Matt Harvey of Gruesome playing under the name Living Monstrosity, who will playSpiritual Healing in its entirety. Steve DiGiorgio, Bobby Koelble, Kelly Conlon, Dirk Verbeuren, Max Phelps, and Leo Lozano will play under the name Symbolic, playing songs fromHuman,Individual Thought Patterns,Symbolic, andThe Sound of Perseverance.[31]
Phelps, Di Giorgio, Koelble and Hoglan will take part in a North American tour in the spring of 2023 under the name Death To All (DTA) to commemorate the 30th anniversary ofIndividual Thought Patterns.[32]
Rozz, Butler, Harvey, and Rios are actively performing at live events in 2024 under the name Left to Die.[33] The band formed not long after Harvey and Rios played the Death tribute show in 2021.[34]
Death were considered pioneers of thedeath metal subgenre ofheavy metal. According to Malcolm Dome ofMetal Hammer, Death "took thethrash template and intensified it, addingguttural vocals, a style that few outside thetape trading network would have been familiar with."[14] Music biographer Garry Sharpe-Young considered Death "agenre-breaking band centered upon frontmanChuck Schuldiner" and that the band "would become one of the prime instigators of the death metal movement".[35] However, Schuldiner dismissed such attributions by stating, in an interview with Metal-Rules.com, "I don't think I should take the credits for this death metal stuff. I'm just a guy from a band, and I think Death is a metal band".[36] In Death's later output, their music became more technical and melodic, showcasing atechnical death metal,progressive metal, andmelodic death metal style.[37][38][39][40][41] According to Loudwire, "With 1990’sSpiritual Healing, Death started to transform into a progressive, technical death metal band, adding abrupt 90-degree rhythm shifts and multiple tempo changes without sacrificing their heavy groove."[42] Joe DiVita ofLoudwire said "along withCarcass andAt the Gates, Death helped pave the way for infectious melodies and hooks to enter the genre."[43] Complextime signatures also became a hallmark of the band's style later in their career.[44]
Regarding percussion styles, Gene Hoglan is recognised as a percussionist usingdouble kick drum equipment and one of a crop who "set new standards in speed and endurance".[45] During an interview he described Sean Reinert's drumming onHuman as "godly", and praised it as "the fastest double bassing around at the time" and "a template which we tried to match onIndividual Thought Patterns".[46]
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The band's early releases were described as having taken a "gratuitous gorehound lyrical approach", exploring topics such as zombies and slasher-film style violence. Later releases dealt with topics such asreligion,serial killers andsubstance abuse. Schuldiner said, "I got fed up with writing about crap monsters. [...] What’s horrific about that sort of thing? The real evil in this world goes on in society. I’d just reached a time in my life as a person and as a musician when I felt angry enough to write about it.”[14]
Kam Lee designed Death's original logo before he was removed from the band.[47] Schuldiner subsequently designed the logo's various incarnations throughout the remainder of the band's existence. In 1991, before the release ofHuman, he cleaned up the logo; he took out more intricate details, and the "T" in the logo was swapped from aninverted cross to a more regular-looking "T", one reason being to quash any implication of being anti-religious.[48] The logo was changed again, betweenSymbolic andThe Sound of Perseverance, to "a more streamlined look"; also, a hooded reaper was removed above the "H".[49]
Schuldiner was quoted saying, "I love theNew Wave Of British Heavy Metal [...] but I wanted to combine their style with the harder end; with whatSlayer andVenom were doing. I didn’t set out to create something new – it just happened."[14] His main influences as a guitarist wereYngwie Malmsteen,Eddie Van Halen and bothDave Murray andAdrian Smith ofIron Maiden. He was also influenced by numerous bands such asBlack Sabbath,Kiss,Van Halen,Saxon, Iron Maiden,Rush,Raven,Mercyful Fate, Venom,Hellhammer,Celtic Frost,Savatage, Slayer,Metallica,Anthrax,Exciter,Manowar,Judas Priest,Nasty Savage,Possessed andSacrifice. As inspirations to the technical/progressive direction of Death's last four studio albums, the band also citedQueensrÿche,Dream Theater,Carcass,Coroner,Watchtower andPsychotic Waltz.[50][51][52][53][14]
Death is considered to be both a pioneering force indeath metal, and one of the most influential bands in the history ofheavy metal in general.[3] Dom Lawson ofMetal Hammer wrote, "few could dispute that Chuck Schuldiner and Death towered over the entire scene for the entirety of their all-too-brief existence."[54] Eli Enis atRevolver wrote, "With each album, from 1987 debutScream Bloody Gore to their 1998 swansongThe Sound of Perseverance,Schuldiner and Co. delivered songs that not onlydefined the genre, but helped push it into its mostprogressive and exciting realms."[55] Blabbermouth wrote "each of Death's seven studio albums can be seen as both a fully-realized milestone in metal history, and a transition point leading into a future few could envision at the time."[56] Dom Lawson ofMetal Hammer wrote, "[Death] were always a couple of steps ahead of the game and audibly, thrillingly devoted to pushingextreme metal into uncharted territory."[57]Scream Bloody Gore is widely regarded as the first death metal album.[58] Death is also now recognized as one of the most acclaimed music groups of all time, held in high praise by critics, metal musicians, and fans.[59][60]
Many bands cited Death as a influence such asObituary,[61]Hail of Bullets,Meshuggah,Baroness,[44]Cormorant,Fear Factory,Revocation,Exhumed,Obscura,Cynic,[62]Opeth,[63]the Dillinger Escape Plan,[64][65]Suicide Silence,[66]Mastodon,Gojira andSystem of a Down.[67] Kelly Schaefer ofAtheist stated that Schuldiner's spirit of competition inspired the band to pursue innovation in the death metal genre themselves.[citation needed]George "Corpsegrinder" Fisher ofCannibal Corpse said that Schuldiner "inspired [him] to become death metal singer."[68]
Death's influence extends beyond the death metal genre.Corey Taylor ofSlipknot has cited Death as an important influence.[69]Herman Li and all the members ofDragonForce have expressed their appreciation for Death, and covered "Evil Dead" on their album "Reaching Into Infinity", saying they consider the band "legendary".[70]
In January 2001,Mahyar Dean, an Iranian musician, wroteDeath, a book about Death and Schuldiner, and released it inIran. The book includes bilingual lyrics and many articles about the band. The book was sent from the site keepers of emptywords.org to Schuldiner, who in his words was "truly blown away and extremely honored by the obvious work and devotion he put into bringing the book to life".[71] A documentary entitledDeath by Metal was released in 2016.[72]
Final lineup
Their first three albums—Scream Bloody Gore, Leprosy, and Spiritual Healing—used the harsh and fast stylings of death metal bands during that era. But Death transformed their sound with the band's fourth album Human, evolving even more with their next releases, Individual Thought Patterns, Symbolic, and The Sound of Perseverance ... From the animosity of Death's earlier material to the intricate musicianship heard in their later work, Schuldiner needed the right musicians for Death's evolution.
Mainman Chuck Schuldiner died in 2001, aged 34, but he left behind a legacy that inspired an entire genre.
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