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Death (metal band)

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File:Death band.gif
Death logo

Death was an influential death metal band from North America that was founded in 1983 and dissolved in 1999.

Biography

Early history (1983-1987)

Founded in 1983 by Chuck Schuldiner under the original name of Mantas in Orlando, Death pioneered the death metal sound along with Morbid Angel and Possessed. It was a part of and helped define the famous Florida death metal scene.

Together with Barney "Kam" Lee, and Rick Rozz, 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.

In 1985, after the Infernal Death tape was recorded and released, Schuldiner fired Lee and Rozz in favour of Repulsion's bassists and guitarists, Scott Carlson and Matt Olivio, respectively. However, a drummer could not be found; 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.

File:Chuckschuldiner.jpg
Chuck Schuldiner

There, in 1986, Schuldiner got an invitation from early Canadian thrash band Slaughter to play on its album, which he accepted, moving to Canada. This only lasted two weeks, as he found out it was not his thing. 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 that enabled them to record the first LP.

Scream Bloody Gore was released in 1987. Schuldiner teamed up with a second guitar player, John Hand, who never played anything for Death but still showed up on the album cover. The album was a great success, but Schuldiner nevertheless decided to move 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 lots of gigging around, Rick Rozz was fired in 1989. A replacement was found in James Murphy, with whom the third album, Spiritual Healing, was recorded in 1990. Chuck 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. More and more melody was added to the band's sound. Soon, in 1990, the entire band dissolved once again. However as part of the disagreement, Andrews and Butler continued to tour Europe as Death and recruited Walter Trachsler (guitar) and Louie Carrisalez (vocals) to replace Schuldiner, much to Schuldiner's disgust.

Schuldiner abandoned the idea of a band altogether and began working with session musicians only. Chuck 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.

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 Ralph Santolla as touring guitarist. For 1995's Symbolic, Santolla and DiGiorgio were exchanged for underground Florida musicians Kelly Conlon and Bobby Koelbe.

After Symbolic, Schuldiner dissolved the band and all ties with Roadrunner Records and began writing songs for Control Denied. When he began writing, though, he found that much of the material he had written was definitely Death, not Control Denied, so 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 a supporting tour, 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 tour. As he worked on the second release, the disease overcame him, and he died on Dec. 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.

Members of Death have dispersed all throughout the landscape of extreme metal. 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 sensitive pop band named Aeon 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 also ended up with Iced Earth, as did Steve DiGiorgio momentarily. DiGiorgio played for Testament, but is now a permanent member of Sadus and Vintersorg. James Murphy has formed numerous projects such as Disincarnate 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 this year.

Band members

Discography

See also

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