Death (band)
Encyclopedia
Death was an American metal
Death metal
Death metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal. It typically employs heavily distorted guitars, tremolo picking, deep growling vocals, blast beat drumming, minor keys or atonality, and complex song structures with multiple tempo changes....

 band founded in 1983. The band's founder, Chuck Schuldiner
Chuck Schuldiner
Charles Michael "Chuck" Schuldiner was an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist.Schuldiner was the singer, songwriter, and guitarist of the band Death, which he founded in 1983, initially under the name Mantas. He also recorded as guitarist and songwriter with his other band, Control Denied...

, is considered "a pioneering force in death metal and grindcore". The band ceased to exist after Schuldiner died of brain cancer in 2001, though remains an enduring heavy metal
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...

 brand.

Death is considered one of the most influential bands in metal. The band's debut, Scream Bloody Gore
Scream Bloody Gore
Scream Bloody Gore is the debut album by American band Death, released in 1987 and considered "the first true death metal record". Chuck Schuldiner plays bass, wrote all the songs on the album and provides vocals in addition to guitar for the album...

, has been described as "death metal's first archetypal document" and "the first true death metal record". One music biographer has referred to Schuldiner as the "Father of Death Metal" while another has claimed that Schuldiner is "readily acknowledged as the true founder of the U.S. death metal scene".

As of 2008, Death had sold over 2 million albums worldwide, with over 500,000 copies sold by December 2009 in the U.S. alone (excluding the numerous sales before the SoundScan
Nielsen SoundScan
Nielsen SoundScan is an information and sales tracking system created by Mike Fine and Mike Shalett. Soundscan is the official method of tracking sales of music and music video products throughout the United States and Canada...

 era) making them the top-selling death metal band worldwide, and only topped in the U.S. by Cannibal Corpse
Cannibal Corpse
Cannibal Corpse is an American death metal band from Buffalo, New York. Formed in 1988, the band has released eleven studio albums, one box set, and one live album...

.

Early history (1983–1987)

Founded in 1983 by Chuck Schuldiner under the original name of Mantas in Orlando
Orlando, Florida
Orlando is a city in the central region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat of Orange County, and the center of the Greater Orlando metropolitan area. According to the 2010 US Census, the city had a population of 238,300, making Orlando the 79th largest city in the United States...

, Death was among the more widely known, early pioneers of the death metal sound along with California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

's Possessed
Possessed (band)
Possessed is an American death metal band, originally formed in 1983. Noted for their fast style of playing and Jeff Becerra's guttural vocals, they are routinely called the first band in the death metal genre...

. 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
Kam Lee
Kam Lee is an American singer. He is best known for his vocal contributions to an early incarnation of Death in 1983–84, and later joined Massacre in 1985, founded and formed by Bill Andrews....

 (Barney Kamalani Lee), and Rick Rozz
Rick Rozz
Rick Rozz is an American guitarist. Spent his formative years in Apopka, Florida, attending Lake Brantley High School. He is best known for his work with the death metal bands Death and Massacre...

 (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. Tim Aymar, in an article written in December 2010, states that Chuck Schuldiner renamed the band Death in order to turn the death of his brother Frank into "something positive". Its members included the same Rick Rozz and Kam Lee. Another demo was released, called Reign of Terror.

In 1985, after the Infernal Death tape was recorded and released, Schuldiner fired Lee and Rozz in favor of Repulsion
Repulsion (band)
Repulsion is an early grindcore / death metal band from Flint, Michigan. They have been called the "most influential grindcore band of all time".-History:...

'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 the San Francisco Bay Area
San Francisco Bay Area
The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a populated region that surrounds the San Francisco and San Pablo estuaries in Northern California. The region encompasses metropolitan areas of San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose, along with smaller urban and rural areas...

 and recruited DRI
Dirty Rotten Imbeciles
Dirty Rotten Imbeciles is a thrash metal/crossover thrash band from the United States that formed in Houston, in 1982. The band currently comprises founding members, vocalist Kurt Brecht and guitarist Spike Cassidy, as well as drummer Rob Rampy and bassist Harald Oimoen.D.R.I...

 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
Slaughter (Canadian band)
Slaughter was a Canadian death/thrash band. They formed in Toronto, Ontario, Canada in 1984 playing thrash metal and briefly featured Chuck Schuldiner on guitar in 1986. Originally, they released two demos and two full albums...

 to play on their album, which he accepted, moving to Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

. This only lasted two weeks, however, as he found the situation not to his liking. He returned to Florida, then moved quickly to the San Francisco Bay Area again, where he joined with Chris Reifert
Chris Reifert
Chris Reifert is an American musician, and one of the pioneers of the death/doom genre. Although his music is more death metal than doom metal, he is one of the first musicians that blended the two styles. He played drums on the Death debut album, Scream Bloody Gore...

. They recorded the Mutilation demo, which led to a deal with Combat Records
Combat Records
Combat Records was an independent record label from New York City. The label was home to predominantly metal and punk rock acts including Megadeth, Circle Jerks, Nuclear Assault, Death, Dead Brain Cells, Possessed, Crumbsuckers, Agnostic Front, Agent Steel, Dark Angel, Heathen, Zoetrope and...

, owned by Important Distribution (later becoming Relativity), that enabled them to record the first LP.

Scream Bloody Gore
Scream Bloody Gore
Scream Bloody Gore is the debut album by American band Death, released in 1987 and considered "the first true death metal record". Chuck Schuldiner plays bass, wrote all the songs on the album and provides vocals in addition to guitar for the album...

was released in 1987, widely considered a genre template for death metal. 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 had 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
Terry Butler
Terry Butler of Tampa, Florida, U.S., is the current bassist in the death metal band Obituary. He was also a member of Six Feet Under, Massacre and Death...

 and Bill Andrews.

Mid-era (1988–1992)

In 1988, that line-up recorded Leprosy
Leprosy (album)
Leprosy is the second album by death metal band Death, released in 1988. Notably different in tone and quality from the 1987 debut, it is the first example of Scott Burns' work heard on many of the death metal and grindcore albums of that era...

. 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 guitarist Paul Masvidal
Paul Masvidal
Paul Albert Masvidal is the guitarist, singer and a founding member of the progressive band Cynic and previously led the alternative rock band Æon Spoke. Born in Puerto Rico, Masvidal grew up in Miami, Florida and currently resides in Los Angeles...

 (later to re-emerge in the Death camp), a replacement was found in James Murphy, with whom the third album Spiritual Healing
Spiritual Healing (album)
Spiritual Healing is the third album by death metal band Death, released in February 1990. This album is currently out of print but will be reissued by Relapse Records in 2011....

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 a more brutal style of death metal to a more complex, technical death metal
Technical death metal
Technical death metal is a musical subgenre of death metal that focuses on complex rhythms, riffs and song structures. Technical experimentation in death metal began in the late '80s and early '90s by bands such as Death, Atheist and Cynic...

. 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 and Butler and Andrews were fired from the band.

Schuldiner abandoned the idea of a band set-up altogether and began working with session musicians only. Schuldiner hired Steve DiGiorgio
Steve DiGiorgio
Steve DiGiorgio is an American bassist and musician.DiGiorgio has played bass guitar in heavy metal bands such as Death, Autopsy, Control Denied, Testament, Vintersorg, Iced Earth, Sebastian Bach, Charred Walls of the Damned, Obituary, and is a founding member of Sadus. He is widely renowned for...

 and recruited Sean Reinert
Sean Reinert
Sean Reinert is the drummer of Cynic and Æon Spoke. He is known for his technical, original and creative drumming technique....

 and Paul Masvidal
Paul Masvidal
Paul Albert Masvidal is the guitarist, singer and a founding member of the progressive band Cynic and previously led the alternative rock band Æon Spoke. Born in Puerto Rico, Masvidal grew up in Miami, Florida and currently resides in Los Angeles...

 from underground Florida band Cynic
Cynic (band)
Cynic is an American progressive rock band, incorporating experimental music, alternative, metal and jazz fusion elements, founded in Miami, Florida and currently based in Los Angeles, California. Their first album, Focus, released on September 14, 1993, is widely regarded as a landmark release of...

. In 1991, Death released Human, which is considered a more technical and progressive album than their previous works. Human was Death's best-selling album yet, receiving many accolades and some MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....

 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
Sadus
Sadus is an American thrash metal trio from Antioch, California.-History:Sadus was formed in 1984 in Antioch, California. While their very first efforts were influenced by early thrash metal bands, such as Slayer or Death, the band would later develop its own musical style by adding complicated...

, 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
Music video
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...

 for "Lack of Comprehension".

Schuldiner fired his manager Eric Greif
Eric Greif
Eric Greif is a lawyer and entertainment personality known first for a management career within the heavy metal musical genre in the 1980s and later within the legal profession...

 after Spiritual Healing but settled and re-hired him before the recording of Human. Although there were at least two lawsuits between Greif and Schuldiner, Schuldiner was characteristically mellow in an interview with Thrash 'n Burn 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." "Fate has an interesting way of working these things out...Yes, we had a falling out, but we're working together again and it takes a lot of worries off my mind knowing Eric is the man for us", Schuldiner told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

The final years (1993–2001)

In 1993, Reinert and Masvidal left the group to continue with Cynic
Cynic (band)
Cynic is an American progressive rock band, incorporating experimental music, alternative, metal and jazz fusion elements, founded in Miami, Florida and currently based in Los Angeles, California. Their first album, Focus, released on September 14, 1993, is widely regarded as a landmark release of...

, Schuldiner being unable to persuade them otherwise. Schuldiner replaced them with drummer
Drummer
A drummer is a musician who is capable of playing drums, which includes but is not limited to a drum kit and accessory based hardware which includes an assortment of pedals and standing support mechanisms, marching percussion and/or any musical instrument that is struck within the context of a...

 Gene Hoglan
Gene Hoglan
Eugene "Gene" Victor Hoglan II is an American drummer. He is acclaimed for his creativity in drum arrangements, including usage of odd devices for percussion effects and his trademark lengthy double-kick drum rhythms...

 of the recently dissolved thrash metal
Thrash metal
Thrash metal is a subgenre of heavy metal that is characterized usually by its fast tempo and aggression. Songs of the genre typically use fast percussive and low-register guitar riffs, overlaid with shredding-style lead work...

 band Dark Angel
Dark Angel (band)
Dark Angel was an American thrash metal band from Los Angeles, California. Their over-the-top style earned them the nickname "the L.A...

, and worked with guitarist Andy LaRocque
Andy LaRocque
Andy LaRocque is best known as a guitarist, songwriter, and occasional synth player for the band King Diamond.-Biography:...

 from King Diamond
King Diamond (band)
King Diamond is the heavy metal band that King Diamond formed after the split up of his heavy metal band Mercyful Fate, and the departure of Hank Shermann. He was joined by most members of the then defunct Mercyful Fate. The Satanic focus was replaced by a focus on horror stories...

 for Individual Thought Patterns
Individual Thought Patterns
Individual Thought Patterns is the fifth album by the death metal band Death, released in 1993. The album continues to expand on the technical, progressive style that began with Human, and incorporates elements of jazz as well...

. LaRocque being obligated to his band, Schuldiner hired a then-unknown Ralph Santolla
Ralph Santolla
Ralph Santolla is an Italian-American metal guitarist. He has played in many bands in the past, most recently Deicide, but also including Eyewitness, Death , Millennium, Iced Earth, and the Sebastian Bach band...

 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 of Beavis & 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 with Relativity
Relativity Records
Relativity Records, often branded just Relativity, is an American record label founded by Barry Kobrin at the site of his company, Important Record Distribution in metro New York. Early on, as an indie label, Relativity released music in a variety of styles, including dance, jazz, punk, and...

 and signed with Roadrunner Records
Roadrunner Records
Roadrunner Records is an American record label that concentrates primarily on heavy metal bands. It is currently a subsidiary of Warner Music Group.-History:...

, their European distributor. For 1995's Symbolic, Santolla and DiGiorgio were exchanged for underground Florida musicians Kelly Conlon
Kelly Conlon
Kelly Conlon is an American bass guitarist. He has been a hired member of Death and Monstrosity.-Career:Conlon was part of the Florida underground metal scene until 1994 when Orlando-based Chuck Schuldiner hired him to play with the international death metal band Death...

 and Bobby Koelble. For the Symbolic tour Brian Benson was brought in on bass (Conlon having left the band prior to the tour due to conflicts with Schuldiner).

After Symbolic, Schuldiner and Roadrunner mutually agreed not to pursue an album option and he began writing songs for his progressive metal band Control Denied
Control Denied
Control Denied was a band formed by Chuck Schuldiner to create progressive heavy metal, mixed with elements of power and death metal . The band started in 1996 as Schuldiner wanted to procure a more melodic style than was possible with Death...

. Schuldiner entered into a licensing agreement with Nuclear Blast
Nuclear Blast
Nuclear Blast is an independent record label and mail order record distributor with subsidiaries in Germany, the United States and Brazil. The record label was founded in 1987 by Markus Staiger in Germany. Originally releasing hardcore punk records, the label moved on to releasing albums by melodic...

 for both Death and Control Denied, and subsequently started writing material for the seventh Death release, The Sound of Perseverance
The Sound of Perseverance
The Sound of Perseverance is the seventh and final album by American metal band Death. The album was released on September 15, 1998 through Nuclear Blast.- Overview :...

. The new roster for Death included Florida musicians Richard Christy
Richard Christy
Thomas Richard Christy is an American musician and radio personality who currently works on The Howard Stern Show. Christy began to work on the show after winning the "Get John's Job" contest on July 1, 2004. He is known for his prank calls, song parodies, personality, and stunts performed on the...

, Shannon Hamm
Shannon Hamm
Shannon Hamm is a heavy metal guitarist who played in Death from 1996 until their break-up in 1999. He then joined Chuck Schuldiner's second band Control Denied, which ended with the death of Schuldiner in 2001. Before Death, he was a locally well known guitarist in the Texas underground metal scene...

 and Scott Clendenin, and The Sound of Perseverance was completed at Morrisound Recording
Morrisound Recording
Morrisound Recording is an audio recording facility in Temple Terrace, Florida, owned and operated by brothers Jim and Tom Morris. Since its opening in 1981, Morrisound has been responsible for the popularization of genres such as heavy metal and death metal, but of course caters to every genre of...

 in Tampa and released on Nuclear Blast in 1998.

After the album and two supporting tours, Schuldiner put Death aside to pursue Control Denied
Control Denied
Control Denied was a band formed by Chuck Schuldiner to create progressive heavy metal, mixed with elements of power and death metal . The band started in 1996 as Schuldiner wanted to procure a more melodic style than was possible with Death...

 with Christy and Hamm. Clendenin was dropped in favor of Steve DiGiorgio
Steve DiGiorgio
Steve DiGiorgio is an American bassist and musician.DiGiorgio has played bass guitar in heavy metal bands such as Death, Autopsy, Control Denied, Testament, Vintersorg, Iced Earth, Sebastian Bach, Charred Walls of the Damned, Obituary, and is a founding member of Sadus. He is widely renowned for...

, who was once again available, and an underground power metal
Power metal
Power metal is a style of heavy metal combining characteristics of traditional metal with speed metal, often within symphonic context. The term refers to two different but related styles: the first pioneered and largely practiced in North America with a harder sound similar to speed metal, and a...

 singer named Tim Aymar. Though 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. However, rather than betray what the band Death meant and sounded like to the fans, he opted to create a new band: "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." As Schuldiner finished Control Denied's debut album, he was diagnosed with brain cancer
Brain tumor
A brain tumor is an intracranial solid neoplasm, a tumor within the brain or the central spinal canal.Brain tumors include all tumors inside the cranium or in the central spinal canal...

, 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 contracted pneumonia
Pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung—especially affecting the microscopic air sacs —associated with fever, chest symptoms, and a lack of air space on a chest X-ray. Pneumonia is typically caused by an infection but there are a number of other causes...

 and was placed in the hospital. On December 13, 2001, Schuldiner was released and returned home where, one hour later, he died.

The aftermath (2001 onwards)

The second Control Denied release has yet to be completed and was 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
Gene Hoglan
Eugene "Gene" Victor Hoglan II is an American drummer. He is acclaimed for his creativity in drum arrangements, including usage of odd devices for percussion effects and his trademark lengthy double-kick drum rhythms...

 from Dark Angel
Dark Angel (band)
Dark Angel was an American thrash metal band from Los Angeles, California. Their over-the-top style earned them the nickname "the L.A...

 and Andy LaRocque
Andy LaRocque
Andy LaRocque is best known as a guitarist, songwriter, and occasional synth player for the band King Diamond.-Biography:...

 from King Diamond
King Diamond
Kim Bendix Petersen , better known by his stage name King Diamond, is a Grammy Award nominated Danish heavy metal musician. As a vocalist, he is known for his extensive vocal range, in particular his usage of falsetto. He is the lead vocalist for both Mercyful Fate and the eponymous King 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 including Strapping Young Lad
Strapping Young Lad
Strapping Young Lad was a Canadian extreme metal band formed by Devin Townsend in Vancouver, British Columbia, in 1994. The band started as a one-man studio project; Townsend played most of the instruments on the 1995 debut album, Heavy as a Really Heavy Thing...

 and Fear Factory
Fear Factory
Fear Factory is an American industrial metal band. Formed in 1989, they have released seven full-length albums and a number of singles and remixes. Over the course of their career they have evolved from a succession of styles, as well as steadily pioneered a combination of the styles death metal,...

. Paul Masvidal
Paul Masvidal
Paul Albert Masvidal is the guitarist, singer and a founding member of the progressive band Cynic and previously led the alternative rock band Æon Spoke. Born in Puerto Rico, Masvidal grew up in Miami, Florida and currently resides in Los Angeles...

 found success with Cynic
Cynic (band)
Cynic is an American progressive rock band, incorporating experimental music, alternative, metal and jazz fusion elements, founded in Miami, Florida and currently based in Los Angeles, California. Their first album, Focus, released on September 14, 1993, is widely regarded as a landmark release of...

 alongside fellow Death member Sean Reinert
Sean Reinert
Sean Reinert is the drummer of Cynic and Æon Spoke. He is known for his technical, original and creative drumming technique....

, who continue to release albums and tour in the present. Richard Christy
Richard Christy
Thomas Richard Christy is an American musician and radio personality who currently works on The Howard Stern Show. Christy began to work on the show after winning the "Get John's Job" contest on July 1, 2004. He is known for his prank calls, song parodies, personality, and stunts performed on the...

 went on to gigs with Acheron
Acheron (band)
Acheron are an American black/death band, originally based in Florida.-History:Founded in 1988 by vocalist/bassist/songwriter Vincent Crowley , Acheron's musical output is almost exclusively Satanic and anti-Christian in content. Early albums featured interludes by Peter H. Gilmore...

 and Iced Earth
Iced Earth
Iced Earth is an American heavy metal band from Tampa, Florida. Originally formed under the name "Purgatory" in 1984, Iced Earth has released a total of ten studio albums, one live album, three EP's, two compilations and boxsets...

 before joining The Howard Stern Show, though he has recently resurfaced on the metal scene with Charred Walls of the Damned
Charred Walls of the Damned
The band's first single, "Ghost Town", was released on December 1, 2009. Their debut album, Charred Walls of the Damned, was released on compact disc and iTunes on February 2, 2010. Blabbermouth.net reported around 2,200 copies were sold in the United States in its first week of release...

. Ralph Santolla
Ralph Santolla
Ralph Santolla is an Italian-American metal guitarist. He has played in many bands in the past, most recently Deicide, but also including Eyewitness, Death , Millennium, Iced Earth, and the Sebastian Bach band...

 has also played with Iced Earth, as well as Sebastian Bach
Sebastian Bach
Sebastian Bach is a Canadian heavy metal singer who achieved mainstream success as frontman of Skid Row from 1987 to 1996. Since his departure from Skid Row, he has had many television roles, acted within Broadway plays, and leads a successful solo career.-Early life:Bach was born Sebastian...

, both of which were also bands Steve DiGiorgio
Steve DiGiorgio
Steve DiGiorgio is an American bassist and musician.DiGiorgio has played bass guitar in heavy metal bands such as Death, Autopsy, Control Denied, Testament, Vintersorg, Iced Earth, Sebastian Bach, Charred Walls of the Damned, Obituary, and is a founding member of Sadus. He is widely renowned for...

 played in as well. While Santolla is now in Obituary
Obituary (band)
Obituary is an American death metal band formed in 1984 in Tampa, Florida under the name Executioner, then changed the name's spelling to Xecutioner, and later changed their name to Obituary in 1988. The band comprises vocalist John Tardy, drummer Donald Tardy, guitarists Trevor Peres and Ralph...

, he was previously in Deicide
Deicide (band)
Deicide is an American death metal band formed in 1987. Their first two albums, Deicide and Legion, are ranked second and third place in best-selling death metal albums of the SoundScan era.-As Amon/Carnage :...

. DiGiorgio also played for Testament
Testament (band)
Testament is an American metal band from Berkeley, California, formed in 1983. They are often credited as one of the most popular bands of the 1980s thrash metal scene...

 and is still active with his original band Sadus
Sadus
Sadus is an American thrash metal trio from Antioch, California.-History:Sadus was formed in 1984 in Antioch, California. While their very first efforts were influenced by early thrash metal bands, such as Slayer or Death, the band would later develop its own musical style by adding complicated...

. Bobby Koelble founded the Orlando rock-funk-Latin fusion group JunkieRush in 2000. James Murphy was also in Testament
Testament (band)
Testament is an American metal band from Berkeley, California, formed in 1983. They are often credited as one of the most popular bands of the 1980s thrash metal scene...

, formed projects such as Disincarnate, as well as having stints with death metal bands Obituary and Cancer
Cancer (band)
Cancer was a British death / thrash metal band formed in Ironbridge, Telford, Shropshire in 1988. Over the course of their career they released five full-length albums, including one for the major label East West, breaking up in 2006.-Biography:...

. Murphy was also stricken with cancer, for which he received treatment, and, along with Deron Miller
Deron Miller
Deron John Miller is the lead singer, guitarist and songwriter for World Under Blood and CKY , which has been through various incarnations since being founded in 1998. CKY's most recent release was 2009's Carver City....

 of CKY
CKY (band)
CKY is an American alternative metal band that formed in West Chester, Pennsylvania in 1998. Centred around core members Deron Miller , Chad I Ginsburg and Jess Margera , the band shares its name with a skateboarding and stunt video series produced by Bam Margera, brother of drummer Jess...

, attempted to organize a Death tribute album
Tribute album
A tribute album is a recorded collection of cover versions of songs or instrumental compositions. Its concept may be either various artists making a tribute to a single artist, a single artist making a tribute to various artists, or a single artist making a tribute to another single artist.There...

. Kam Lee
Kam Lee
Kam Lee is an American singer. He is best known for his vocal contributions to an early incarnation of Death in 1983–84, and later joined Massacre in 1985, founded and formed by Bill Andrews....

 formed the band Denial Fiend with Terry Butler
Terry Butler
Terry Butler of Tampa, Florida, U.S., is the current bassist in the death metal band Obituary. He was also a member of Six Feet Under, Massacre and Death...

, who has also found success in Six Feet Under
Six Feet Under (band)
Six Feet Under is an American death metal band from Tampa, Florida, formed in 1993. The band was originally a side project by Cannibal Corpse vocalist Chris Barnes with guitarist Allen West of Obituary...

. Scott Clendenin
Scott Clendenin
Scott Clendenin is a death metal bassist. He played with Death from 1996 until their breakup in 1999. In 1997, he joined Chuck Schuldiner's second band Control Denied as well, which he was replaced by Steve DiGiorgio in 1999 as the band's bassist.- References :...

 resides in Central Florida and works in production.

On May 10, 2010, it was announced that Perseverance Holdings Ltd. and the Schuldiner family had partnered with Relapse Records to re-master and re-issue the Death and Control Denied
Control Denied
Control Denied was a band formed by Chuck Schuldiner to create progressive heavy metal, mixed with elements of power and death metal . The band started in 1996 as Schuldiner wanted to procure a more melodic style than was possible with Death...

 releases. On December 13 of the same year, it was announced that The Sound of Perseverance
The Sound of Perseverance
The Sound of Perseverance is the seventh and final album by American metal band Death. The album was released on September 15, 1998 through Nuclear Blast.- Overview :...

would be the first Death album to receive this treatment, and was released February 2011 in a 2-CD and 3-CD format. The Human album has been remixed, with Schuldiner's intellectual property lawyer Eric Greif stating that Sony had lost the tapes of the original mixes, and was reissued in 2-CD and 3-CD formats as well as a digital release. Shortly after the Individual Thought Patterns
Individual Thought Patterns
Individual Thought Patterns is the fifth album by the death metal band Death, released in 1993. The album continues to expand on the technical, progressive style that began with Human, and incorporates elements of jazz as well...

album was reissued.

Legacy

Music biographer Garry Sharpe-Young
MusicMight
MusicMight, formerly Rockdetector is a rock music website which provides artist and product information through a global website and an ongoing book series...

 considered Death "a genre-breaking band...centered upon frontman Chuck Schuldiner" and that the band "would become one of the prime instigators of the death metal movement". 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".

In January 2001, an Iranian musician named Mahyar Dean, wrote Death
Death (book)
Death - Chuck Schuldiner's lyrics is a book about the American death metal musical group Death.- Overview :Published in Iran in 2000, written and translated by a classically trained musician named Mahyar Dean who later formed the power metal act Angband...

, a book about Death and Schuldiner and released it in Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...

.

Band logo

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 and the "T" in the logo was swapped from an inverted Cross to a more regular looking "T", one reason being to quash any implication of religion. The logo was changed again, between Symbolic and The Sound of Perseverance, with a more streamlined look and the removal of the hooded skull above the "H", among other changes.

Final line-up

  • Chuck Schuldiner
    Chuck Schuldiner
    Charles Michael "Chuck" Schuldiner was an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist.Schuldiner was the singer, songwriter, and guitarist of the band Death, which he founded in 1983, initially under the name Mantas. He also recorded as guitarist and songwriter with his other band, Control Denied...

     – lead vocals, guitar
    Guitar
    The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...

     (1983–2001), bass (1987-1988)
  • Shannon Hamm
    Shannon Hamm
    Shannon Hamm is a heavy metal guitarist who played in Death from 1996 until their break-up in 1999. He then joined Chuck Schuldiner's second band Control Denied, which ended with the death of Schuldiner in 2001. Before Death, he was a locally well known guitarist in the Texas underground metal scene...

     – guitar
    Guitar
    The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...

     (1996–2001)
  • Scott Clendenin
    Scott Clendenin
    Scott Clendenin is a death metal bassist. He played with Death from 1996 until their breakup in 1999. In 1997, he joined Chuck Schuldiner's second band Control Denied as well, which he was replaced by Steve DiGiorgio in 1999 as the band's bassist.- References :...

     – bass
    Bass guitar
    The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....

     (1996–2001)
  • Richard Christy
    Richard Christy
    Thomas Richard Christy is an American musician and radio personality who currently works on The Howard Stern Show. Christy began to work on the show after winning the "Get John's Job" contest on July 1, 2004. He is known for his prank calls, song parodies, personality, and stunts performed on the...

     – drums
    Drum kit
    A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....

     (1997–2001)

Guitarists

  • Rick Rozz
    Rick Rozz
    Rick Rozz is an American guitarist. Spent his formative years in Apopka, Florida, attending Lake Brantley High School. He is best known for his work with the death metal bands Death and Massacre...

     (1983–1985, 1987–1989)
  • Matt Olivo (1985)
  • John Hand (1986–1987; joined during the mastering of Scream Bloody Gore, which he was credited on, but left before recording or playing anything live.)
  • Paul Masvidal
    Paul Masvidal
    Paul Albert Masvidal is the guitarist, singer and a founding member of the progressive band Cynic and previously led the alternative rock band Æon Spoke. Born in Puerto Rico, Masvidal grew up in Miami, Florida and currently resides in Los Angeles...

     (1989, 1990, 1991–1992)
  • Albert Gonzalez (1990)
  • James Murphy (1989-1990)
  • Andy LaRocque
    Andy LaRocque
    Andy LaRocque is best known as a guitarist, songwriter, and occasional synth player for the band King Diamond.-Biography:...

     (1993)
  • Ralph Santolla
    Ralph Santolla
    Ralph Santolla is an Italian-American metal guitarist. He has played in many bands in the past, most recently Deicide, but also including Eyewitness, Death , Millennium, Iced Earth, and the Sebastian Bach band...

     (1993; never recorded with the band, but appeared in the "The Philosopher" music video)
  • Craig Locicero (1993)
  • Bobby Koelble (1995)
  • Shannon Hamm (1996–2001)

Bassists

  • Scott Carlson (1985)
  • Erik Meade (1985)
  • Terry Butler
    Terry Butler
    Terry Butler of Tampa, Florida, U.S., is the current bassist in the death metal band Obituary. He was also a member of Six Feet Under, Massacre and Death...

     (1987–1990)
  • Steve DiGiorgio
    Steve DiGiorgio
    Steve DiGiorgio is an American bassist and musician.DiGiorgio has played bass guitar in heavy metal bands such as Death, Autopsy, Control Denied, Testament, Vintersorg, Iced Earth, Sebastian Bach, Charred Walls of the Damned, Obituary, and is a founding member of Sadus. He is widely renowned for...

     (1986, 1991, 1993-1994(feat. the Symbolic demos), 1997-1998 (only on the The Sound of Perseverance demos)
  • Skott Carino (1991-1992)
  • Kelly Conlon
    Kelly Conlon
    Kelly Conlon is an American bass guitarist. He has been a hired member of Death and Monstrosity.-Career:Conlon was part of the Florida underground metal scene until 1994 when Orlando-based Chuck Schuldiner hired him to play with the international death metal band Death...

     (1995)
  • Brian Benson (1995)
  • Scott Clendenin (1996-2001)

Drummers

  • Kam Lee
    Kam Lee
    Kam Lee is an American singer. He is best known for his vocal contributions to an early incarnation of Death in 1983–84, and later joined Massacre in 1985, founded and formed by Bill Andrews....

     (1983–1985; also vocals)
  • Eric Brecht (1985)
  • Chris Reifert
    Chris Reifert
    Chris Reifert is an American musician, and one of the pioneers of the death/doom genre. Although his music is more death metal than doom metal, he is one of the first musicians that blended the two styles. He played drums on the Death debut album, Scream Bloody Gore...

     (1986–1987)
  • Bill Andrews
    Bill Andrews (drummer)
    Bill Andrews is an American drummer. He is best known for his work with Death and Massacre.-Discography:* Death - Leprosy * Death - Spiritual Healing * Massacre - From Beyond...

     (1987–1990)
  • Sean Reinert
    Sean Reinert
    Sean Reinert is the drummer of Cynic and Æon Spoke. He is known for his technical, original and creative drumming technique....

     (1991–1992)
  • Gene Hoglan
    Gene Hoglan
    Eugene "Gene" Victor Hoglan II is an American drummer. He is acclaimed for his creativity in drum arrangements, including usage of odd devices for percussion effects and his trademark lengthy double-kick drum rhythms...

     (1993–1995)
  • Richard Christy
    Richard Christy
    Thomas Richard Christy is an American musician and radio personality who currently works on The Howard Stern Show. Christy began to work on the show after winning the "Get John's Job" contest on July 1, 2004. He is known for his prank calls, song parodies, personality, and stunts performed on the...

     (1997–2001)

Studio albums

Year Album details Peak chart positions Sales
US
Heat.
AUT
Ö3 Austria Top 40
Ö3 Austria Top 40 is the name of the official Austrian singles chart, as well as the radio show which presents it, aired Fridays on Hitradio Ö3. The show presents the Austrian singles, ringtones and downloads chart. It premiered on 26 November 1968 as Disc Parade and was presented by Ernst Grissemann...


GER
Media Control Charts
The official music charts in Germany are gathered and published by the company Media Control GfK International on behalf of Bundesverband Musikindustrie...


NLD
MegaCharts
MegaCharts is responsible for the composition and exploitation of a broad collection of official charts in the Netherlands, of which the Mega Top 50 and the Mega Album Top 100 are the most known ones. Mega Charts also provides information to the Stichting Nederlandse Top 40, of which the Dutch Top...


1987 Scream Bloody Gore
Scream Bloody Gore
Scream Bloody Gore is the debut album by American band Death, released in 1987 and considered "the first true death metal record". Chuck Schuldiner plays bass, wrote all the songs on the album and provides vocals in addition to guitar for the album...

  • Released: May 25, 1987
  • Label: Combat
    Combat Records
    Combat Records was an independent record label from New York City. The label was home to predominantly metal and punk rock acts including Megadeth, Circle Jerks, Nuclear Assault, Death, Dead Brain Cells, Possessed, Crumbsuckers, Agnostic Front, Agent Steel, Dark Angel, Heathen, Zoetrope and...

     (8146)
  • Format: CD
    Compact Disc
    The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...

    , CS
    Compact Cassette
    The Compact Cassette, often referred to as audio cassette, cassette tape, cassette, or simply tape, is a magnetic tape sound recording format. It was designed originally for dictation, but improvements in fidelity led the Compact Cassette to supplant the Stereo 8-track cartridge and reel-to-reel...

    , LP
    LP record
    The LP, or long-playing microgroove record, is a format for phonograph records, an analog sound storage medium. Introduced by Columbia Records in 1948, it was soon adopted as a new standard by the entire record industry...

1988 Leprosy
Leprosy (album)
Leprosy is the second album by death metal band Death, released in 1988. Notably different in tone and quality from the 1987 debut, it is the first example of Scott Burns' work heard on many of the death metal and grindcore albums of that era...

  • Released: November 16, 1988
  • Label: Combat (8248)
  • Format: CD
  • 1990 Spiritual Healing
    Spiritual Healing (album)
    Spiritual Healing is the third album by death metal band Death, released in February 1990. This album is currently out of print but will be reissued by Relapse Records in 2011....

  • Released: February 16, 1990
  • Label: Combat (2011)
  • Format: CD, CS, LP
  • 63
    1991 Human
  • Released: October 22, 1991
  • Label: Combat (2036)
  • Format: CD, LP
  • 34 US: 94,000+
    1993 Individual Thought Patterns
    Individual Thought Patterns
    Individual Thought Patterns is the fifth album by the death metal band Death, released in 1993. The album continues to expand on the technical, progressive style that began with Human, and incorporates elements of jazz as well...

  • Released: June 15, 1993
  • Label: Roadrunner
    Roadrunner Records
    Roadrunner Records is an American record label that concentrates primarily on heavy metal bands. It is currently a subsidiary of Warner Music Group.-History:...

     (90792)
  • Format: CD, CS, LP
  • 30 86
    1995 Symbolic
  • Released: March 21, 1995
  • Label: Roadrunner (8957)
  • Format: CD, LP
  • 68
    1998 The Sound of Perseverance
    The Sound of Perseverance
    The Sound of Perseverance is the seventh and final album by American metal band Death. The album was released on September 15, 1998 through Nuclear Blast.- Overview :...

  • Released: September 15, 1998
  • Label: Nuclear Blast
    Nuclear Blast
    Nuclear Blast is an independent record label and mail order record distributor with subsidiaries in Germany, the United States and Brazil. The record label was founded in 1987 by Markus Staiger in Germany. Originally releasing hardcore punk records, the label moved on to releasing albums by melodic...

     (6337)
  • Format: CD, DualDisc
    DualDisc
    DualDisc was a type of double-sided optical disc product developed by a group of record companies including EMI Music, Universal Music Group, Sony/BMG Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group, and 5.1 Entertainment Group and later under the aegis of the Recording Industry Association of America...

  • 47 35 60 93
    "—" denotes a release that did not chart.

    Live albums

    Year Album details
    2001 Live in L.A. (Death & Raw)
    Live in L.A. (Death & Raw)
    Live in L.A. is a live album released by Death. It was recorded on December 5, 1998, in Los Angeles and released on October 16, 2001, through Nuclear Blast. The album also was also released in DVD format...

    • Released: October 16, 2001
    • Label: Nuclear Blast
    • Format: CD
    Live in Eindhoven
    Live in Eindhoven
    Live in Eindhoven is the second live album by American band Death. It was recorded in Eindhoven, Netherlands at Dynamo Open Air in May 1998 and released on October 30, 2001 through Nuclear Blast. The album was also released in DVD format. The performance of "Spirit Crusher" was released as a music...

  • Released: October 30, 2001
  • Label: Nuclear Blast
  • Format: CD (+DVD
    DVD
    A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....

    )
  • 2005 Live in Cottbus '98
    Live in Cottbus '98
    Live in Cottbus '98 is a DVD by American band Death. It was recorded in Cottbus, Germany in 1998 and released on November 11, 2005 through Nuclear Blast...

  • Released: November 11, 2005
  • Label: Nuclear Blast
  • Format: CD (+DVD)

  • Compilation albums

    Year Album details
    1992 Fate: The Best of Death
    Fate: The Best of Death
    Fate: The Best of Death is a compilation album by Death. It contains songs collected from:* Scream Bloody Gore - 1987* Leprosy - 1988* Spiritual Healing - 1990* Human - 1991...

    • Released: 1992
    • Label: Combat (88561-1119)
    • Format: CD, CS

    Demo albums

    • Death by Metal (demo as Mantas, 1984)
    • Live in Tampa (live-demo, 1984)
    • Reign of Terror
      Reign of Terror (demo)
      Reign of Terror was a demo released by Death in 1984.Along with Death's demo Infernal Death, Reign of Terror "influenced the Death metal scene tremendously", as "their low and guttural nature would become the staple of the genre"...

      (demo, 1984)
    • Live at Ruby's Pub (live-demo, 1985)
    • Infernal Death (demo, 1985)
    • Rigor Mortis (demo, 1985)
    • Back from the Dead (demo, 1985)
    • Infernal Live (live-demo, 1985)
    • Mutilation
      Mutilation (demo)
      Mutilation was a demo released by Chuck Schuldiner and Death in 1986. The following year, they would release their first album, "Scream Bloody Gore", on Combat Records...

      (demo, 1986)

    Singles

    Year Song Album
    1993 "The Philosopher" Individual Thought Patterns
    1995 "Empty Words" Symbolic
    1998 "Spirit Crusher" The Sound of Perseverance

    Video albums

    • Live in Combat Ultimate Revenge 2 (1988)
    • Live in Houston (Bootleg
      Bootleg recording
      A bootleg recording is an audio or video recording of a performance that was not officially released by the artist or under other legal authority. The process of making and distributing such recordings is known as bootlegging...

      , VHS
      VHS
      The Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....

      , 04.02.1989)
    • Lack of Comprehension (videoclip, 1991)
    • The Philosopher (videoclip, 1993)
    • Live in Florence (VHS
      VHS
      The Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....

      , 10.12.1993)
    • Live in Cottbus '98
      Live in Cottbus '98
      Live in Cottbus '98 is a DVD by American band Death. It was recorded in Cottbus, Germany in 1998 and released on November 11, 2005 through Nuclear Blast...

      (1998, Official Bootleg)
    • Live in L.A. (Death & Raw)
      Live in L.A. (Death & Raw)
      Live in L.A. is a live album released by Death. It was recorded on December 5, 1998, in Los Angeles and released on October 16, 2001, through Nuclear Blast. The album also was also released in DVD format...

      (Official Live, DVD
      DVD
      A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....

      /VHS
      VHS
      The Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....

      , 05.12.1998)
    • Live in Music Hall (1998, Virus Cable TV)
    • Live in Eindhoven
      Live in Eindhoven
      Live in Eindhoven is the second live album by American band Death. It was recorded in Eindhoven, Netherlands at Dynamo Open Air in May 1998 and released on October 30, 2001 through Nuclear Blast. The album was also released in DVD format. The performance of "Spirit Crusher" was released as a music...

      (Official Live, DVD
      DVD
      A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....

      ), 2001, Nuclear Blast
      Nuclear Blast
      Nuclear Blast is an independent record label and mail order record distributor with subsidiaries in Germany, the United States and Brazil. The record label was founded in 1987 by Markus Staiger in Germany. Originally releasing hardcore punk records, the label moved on to releasing albums by melodic...

      )

    See also

    • Control Denied
      Control Denied
      Control Denied was a band formed by Chuck Schuldiner to create progressive heavy metal, mixed with elements of power and death metal . The band started in 1996 as Schuldiner wanted to procure a more melodic style than was possible with Death...

       - The band Chuck Schuldiner performed with after the dissolution of Death.
    • Voodoocult
      Voodoocult
      Voodoocult was an international thrash metal band formed in 1994 by Phillip Boa, vocalist of the alternative band Phillip Boa & The Voodooclub. The project was especially notable for the reputation of the participating musicians, such as Chuck Schuldiner , Slayer drummer Dave Lombardo, and Mille...

       - A supergroup
      Supergroup (music)
      In the late 1960s, the term supergroup was coined to describe "a rock music group whose performers are already famous from having performed individually or in other groups"....

       in which Chuck played guitar
    • Death (book)
      Death (book)
      Death - Chuck Schuldiner's lyrics is a book about the American death metal musical group Death.- Overview :Published in Iran in 2000, written and translated by a classically trained musician named Mahyar Dean who later formed the power metal act Angband...

       - A book about Death published in 2000.

    External links

    The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
     
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