Death - Biography
Death may arguably be the greatest exponents of Death Metal music there is. Certainly they are one of the genre's unquestionable originators, sliding right in between Slayer and Sodom for pure bloody inventiveness, not to mention being at the game early enough to warrant their complete acceptance as icons to the head banging masses who like their music fast, aggressive, and brutally bludgeoning.
Death began life in Florida in 1983, at a time when such music was treated with absolute disdain, confusion or, better yet, repulsion. As teenagers, Death recorded a series of demo cassettes that were rabidly sought after during the hey day of the 1980's tape trading underground. The tapes, typically three to five songs in length, were unlike anything metal kids had heard up to that point. Even Slayer's satanic musical massacre could not compare to the shear evil on display within Death's sound. This was as guttural, grinding and grotesque as music could get in 1983, marking a new era in Heavy Metal that pushed the music far beyond the technically rigid confines of an Iron Maiden or Judas Priest. This was taking those bands, throwing out all sense of melody and musicianship, shoving a bit of hardcore music down it's throat, and regurgitating a sound so fresh and so punishing, it would take years for the world to catch up in it's understanding of such an art form.
From 1983 to 1985 (a year that saw Death's leader and sole constant member Chuck Schuldiner make a move to San Francisco to feed off of some of that locale's new found metal scene, which most prominently featured Metallica) Death continued polluting young death metal fans' minds with evil demo tape after pus-stained cassette, influencing numerous groups before they had yet released a proper LP. This was rectified when Death's debut Scream Bloody Gore (1987 Combat) was unleashed, giving the rest of the world a taste of the gore spewing madness the underground had been greasing it's wheels with. This debut featured all of Death's classics, many culled from their demos, including the now legendary "Baptized In Blood," "Infernal Death," and "Mutilation," but to name a few. Scream Bloody Gore established Death as the preeminent death metal outfit, and though there certainly are other bands that may fit nicely into this category a bit earlier (i.e. Possessed, Venom), it is Death who created the sound and feel and lyrical tone in which all future death metal bands would feed from.
It should be noted that at this point, Schuldiner had already been through several line-up changes, most notably dismissing (or abandoning-he lost the original lin- up when he moved to San Francisico in 85') drummer/vocalist Kam Lee, whose growling on the original demos was actually the voice that most excited and influenced the original kids of the death metal underground. Though Chuck's voice is a wonderful substitution, it was a far more high-pitched wail than Lee's, prompting more than one early fan to declare the band finished as a creative entity by the time of their debut. There may be some credence to this assessment if not for Death's follow up, Leprosy (1988 Combat), a fantastic reiteration of the debut's gut-spilled glow, albeit with a bit more meat on the production bone. New classics abound in "Born Dead," "Left To Die," "Open Casket," and the title track, a monumental opener solely credited to Schuldiner, signaling his dominance as band leader and artistic director. This record was also pivotal for Chuck's return to Florida, hooking up with Death's original guitarist Rick Rozz to help create this mind-melting platter. Yet, with Death's third release, Spiritual Healing (1990 Combat), Chuck would construct yet another line-up to help create a more technically sophisticated vision, marking a step forward in the band's sound, Schuldiner obviously anxious to give his fan's something different, better even, than what had previously been released. It is always up to debate what is the finest record by any given artist, but there are many a Death fan who consider Spiritual Healing a clear milestone in it's ability to connect Death's original sound with a slightly more progressive minded approach in both the arrangements and performances.
Human (1991 Combat) is noted as the recording that brought Death to a wider audience, Schuldiner yet again advancing the band's sound to places your average death metal act wouldn't bother to go. This time around there is mood, texture and real musical change, signaling a new era for Death, one in which the band could flex it's musical muscle any which way it chose, stretching from brutally fast to reserved doom. These new tricks were part of an overall plan--Schuldiner seemingly wanting to expand the ideas of what the genre of death metal could actually handle, sonically and lyrically. Human marks a true leap forward, not surprisingly bringing them a larger audience of headbanging mosh monsters looking for a frenetic fix both smart and evil.
Individual Thought Patterns (1993 Combat), brings on more advancements, this time in the form of ex-King Diamond guitarist Andy LaRocque, whose insane fretboard harmonics alongside Chuck's ever growing guitar vocabulary, help shape the overall sound into something very fresh and innovative, another step forward for a band that were almost considered anti-musical in their earliest incarnation. Schuldiner is in his element here, pushing his new vision on his audience without alienating them, adding sounds and ideas that would extend to Death's next recording, Symbolic (1995 Combat).
Symbolic, Death's sixth release, as with it's predecessor, features Gene Hoglan (ex-Dark Angel) on drums, whose powerhouse style not only adds a brilliant, inventive punch to both releases, but certainly stands as the ultimate wet dream for any fan of death and thrash metal, two genre titans creating art together in a way that makes both men sound limitless in their capacity to create new modes of metal for the listener to pour over. By 1996, however, Schuldiner was growing increasingly tired of his life as the king of death metal, as he began work on a new band, to be called Control Denied, which would display a more commercial, technical approach to his Heavy Metal love affair. This project took more time than expected to come to fruition, so in the mean time Chuck went back to the Death moniker and released one more album, The Sound Of Perseverance (1998 Combat).
Yet again a new line-up was assembled, allowing the sound to change, albeit without destroying the bare essence of what had made Death so appealing to death metal fans in the first place. Considering this to be the last official Death release, it is mind boggling that the band still sounds as forward-moving and fresh as they do here, with many musical advancements to boot. Schuldiner's voice now has taken on added depth, his screams carrying an odd soulfulness not easily becoming a growler of evil head-smashing brutality. The songs mine some pretty technical territory, as the arrangements and song construction have expanded to a point where the "death metal" tag just won't do any longer. This is a new type of Metal music, a hybrid of many styles of the genre, a sound looking to it's audience to understand and appreciate, critics and fans of orthodoxy be damned. Chuck Schuldiner was clearly on an upward trajectory artistically, and he planned to keep this way, for in 1998 he officially broke up the band, and Death were no more.
In its place arose his Control Denied project, recruiting vocalist Tim Aymar, to vocally do the things Chuck himself could not. Fragile Art Of Existence (1999 Nuclear Blast), Control Denied's debut, occasionally sounds like Death, a few evil riffs and speed blasts showing up, but with singer Aymar it takes on a truly original slant. It's apparent that Chuck wanted something more out of his musical legacy than Death, though Control Denied don't quite add up to his former band's genius and power in turning metal into something beyond the low brow opinion bitter rock journalists put on the genre from the get go. In it's defense, the Control Denied project was allowing Chuck to branch out into territories that, had there been a follow-up, might have produced future sounds of an interesting and unique flavor. Alas, it was not meant to be. The same year as Control Denied's debut release, Chuck was diagnosed with a malignant brain stem tumor, which he had removed in early 2000. After much speculation about Chuck's health, the world of death metal received a shock when Schuldiner passed away in 2001, signaling the end of one of the most inventive individuals to ever play death metal music, in heaven or in hell. Two live records, Live in L.A: Death & Raw (2001 Nuclear Blast) and Live At Eindhoven (2002 Nuclear Blast) were released posthumously.