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09-20 Death to release Sound of Pers
03-25 Ex-Death bassist dead at 47
08-07 Death announce winter tour
04-22 Death stream Leprosy reissue
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https://death.bandcamp.com/ Unquestionably one of the most important and influential death metal acts to have ever emerged from the North American continent,Florida's DEATH came together in late 1983 when guitarist/vocalist Chuck Schuldiner and guitarist Rick Rozz (real name:Frederick DeLillo) got together with drummer/vocalist Barney "Kam" Lee to form Mantas. Drawing musical inspiration from Venom and Slayer, the trio(no bassist had yet entered the picture!) went about composing original tunes and making very rough, crude rehearsal recordings to sendout to various tape-traders around the worl ...read more
https://death.bandcamp.com/ Unquestionably one of the most important and influential death metal acts to have ever emerged from the North American continent,Florida's DEATH came together in late 1983 when guitarist/vocalist Chuck Schuldiner and guitarist Rick Rozz (real name:Frederick DeLillo) got together with drummer/vocalist Barney "Kam" Lee to form Mantas. Drawing musical inspiration from Venom and Slayer, the trio(no bassist had yet entered the picture!) went about composing original tunes and making very rough, crude rehearsal recordings to sendout to various tape-traders around the world.Out of these sessions came a completely unproduced five-song demo entitled 'Death byMetal' (mid-1984), which - in spite of its primitive nature - ended up establishing the group as one of the most promising contenders forthe American death metal throne, a status that at the time was being firmly held by San Francisco's Possessed. The recognition theyreceived, however, was not enough to help Mantas along in their hometown of Orlando, where the group were still not being takenseriously by any of the clubs or fellow musicians."The local situation was fuckin' nearly impossible,"Schuldiner later recalled. "A lot of people lookeddown upon us. Wegotalotofshitfromthelocalbandscene; all the bands from around (Orlando)thought we were pure shit. We were noisy backthen,but wewereputtingoutbrutaldeathmetal,and itwastoo much for people to comprehend." Thiscomplete lack oflocal support for the bandâsmusicwas at leastpartlytoblamefortheconstantinternal turmoilwithin the group andMantasâeventual break-up in late 1984.Vowing to carry on making music that was "fasterand heavier" than anything he'd donebefore,Schuldinerimmediatelyannouncedhisplanstoformanewband simply called DEATH- and relocateto either Tampa or California after his18thbirthday(which was to occurin Mayof1985), a movethathefeltcouldimprove his chances of securing astable line-up forthe group.Within weeks, however,Chuck reconciled withRozzandLeeandcommencedthewritingsessions for whatwouldbecome the legendary âReign ofTerrorâdemo.We have gotten so much heavier (since reforming),it's almost beyond comprehension," Schuldinerstated on theeveofthedemo'srecording.Laiddownoverafive-hour period during October 1984"in the back room of a music storewheretheykeeprecordingequipment", âReign OfTerrorâ costagrand totalof $80andwas never properly mixeddown due to a lack of time inaproperrecordingstudio.Despite this, the six-song tapewascirculatedworldwidethrough thevasttape-tradingnetworkand put DEATH on themaps one ofthegenre's mostextreme and brutal groups.On December 30th, 1984, DEATH performed withlocal Tampa heroes Nasty Savage at Ruby's Puband madeanaudiorecordingoftheshowthattheywouldlater release as an "official" live tape. "We'regoing to trash the (Reign Of Terror)demo, becauseitsuckscomparedtoour livetapeâ,Chuckwasquoted assaying at the time.Three months later, on March 9th, 1985, Chuck, Rickand Kam finally got the opportunity to record a"proper" studio demo, athree-songrecordingmadespecifically for finding a record deal. Not an"official" demo release, the Infernal Death tape (asitwouldlaterbecomeknown)wastobethelastrecording made with this line-up, as Chuck slowlygrew apart from the othermembers and began tosethis eyes onaMichiganbassistbythenameofScott Carlson (then of Genocide, and laterofRepulsion)."Scott sent us a tape of himself jamming, and heabsolutely kills," Chuck enthused. By thetimeScottrelocatedtoOrlando(replacingRozz),hebroughtalongwith him Genocide guitarist Matt Olivo, andthe two joined Kam and Chuck ina short-livedincarnationofDEATH that endedwhenLeefinallyexited, leavingthe remaining three membersdrummer-less. SeveralfrustratingmonthsfollowedduringwhichChuck, Matt andScottattempted tofind areplacement forKam, but the taskprovedimpossible, ultimatelycausing Scott and MatttoreturntoMichigan and leaving Chuckthedauntingtask offinding anentirelynewline-up.In September of 1985, Chuck relocated to SanFrancisco at the urging of ex-D.R.I. drummer EricBrecht, and thepairsoonhookedupinyetanotherversionofthe band, this time with the intent of theirband "being the fastest ever».Ultimately,however,Chuckrealized that afull-speedassaultdid notallow forthedifferent musical shades and colourswhich madeDEATH suchan import musical entity,andin December ofthat sameyear,hereturned toFlorida,bandlessonce again. It wasaround thattime that he got aphone call from Torontodeathmetal upstartsSlaughter, who justafewshortweeks priortoentering thestudio to begin recordingtheir debutalbum, Strappado, asked himto moveup toCanada and jointheirranks.Frustrated withhis localenvironment.Chuck accepted their offer and in January of 1986moved to Toronto to start rehearsingwiththegroup.Althoughinitiallyenthusiasticabouttheprospectofbeing in an actual "band", Schuldinerquickly realized the need to pursue hisownvisionandnotfollowsomebody elseâs lead,andpromptlyleft Canadatoreturn to Florida, where hestarted plotting his next attack.Withinweeks hewas backinSanFrancisco where he hooked upwithapromisingyoungdrummer by the name ofChrisReifert, and in April of thatsame year, the pairenteredaCaliforniastudio to record the infamousthree-songMutilationdemo.By far the best-recorded tape Chuck hadlaid down up untilthatpoint,Mutilation rapidly made therounds in metalcircles,andthedemosoon foundits way in thehands of CombatRecords, who proceeded tosnapupthe group to a multi-albumdeal.In July of 1986, Chuck and Chris entered a Floridarecording studio to start work on their debut albumforthelabel,butduetovarioustechnicalproblems,thesessions didn't go past the initial basic tracksand the whole project was movedovertoHollywood'sMusicGrinderStudios.Pairedupwithproducer RandyBurns, DEATH spent only a fewdays recording the LPbefore Chuck andChrisreturnedhome,leaving Randy tomixthealbum.Whilewaiting for the album tobe mixedandmastered, Schuldiner and Reifertencountered ayoungCalifornianguitarist by the nameofJohnHand,whom theywelcomedin the band, evengoingso far as to have his photoincluded on the backcoverof theupcoming record. It wasadecisionthatwouldlater hauntthe group, as Hand wouldleavethe group prior tothe recording of theirsecondalbumand thus neverrecorded so much asasinglenote withDEATH.Released in May of 1987, DEATH's debut recordScream Bloody Gore was immediately met withpraise andaccolades,withmagazinesandfanshailingitasoneof the most important death metalreleases of all time. However, with Chuckonceagainhaving returnedto Florida andReifertbasinghimselfinSanFrancisco,Schuldiner, in yet anothersurprising move, decided tojoinforces with three-fourths ofFlorida's Massacre(includingRickRozz).Thismarked thefirst touringincarnation ofDEATH,which made its firstmajor live appearanceat thatyear's Milwaukee Metalfest.Duringthesuccessful clubtour thatfollowed,DEATHairedthree brand-new numbers("Born Dead", "OpenCasket" and"Pull the Plug") thatChuck hadwrittenforthegroup'ssophomore outing,which showcasedamore mature,focused direction for the bandwhileretaining the brutalitythathad becomethegroup'strademark.By April of 1988, DEATH had returned to therecording studio (Tampa's Morri sound facility) and,under the guidanceofDanJohnson,laiddowntheirmuch-anticipated second album. A polished, yetsavagely heavy effort, Leprosy, like itspredecessor,haditsrootsfirmlyintheSlayer/Venom/Hellhammerschoolofsong writing,but with an increased emphasis on the kindofmelodic passages thatwouldlaterbecomecentraltothe group's sound.Notsurprisingly,thispowerful combination was aninstant "hit" in themetal underground andbecame amajorinfluenceonhundredsof bands hatemergedduringdeathmetalâs"resurgence" in the late '80's, includinggroups such asEntombed andNapalmDeath (whoendeduprecordingtheirHarmonyCorruptionalbumat Morri sound Studios to recapture Leprosy'sdistinctiveproduction).Although the DEATH line-up would change onceagain, the band had made an indelible impressionwith theirfirsttworeleases.Indeed,itwasalbumssuchasLeprosy that help to forge a path for thehundreds of death metal bands which wouldsoonriseinsubsequent years,althoughnoneofthemwould beable toerase the importance nor savageryof tracks such as "Pull thePlug". Thefact thatsomeof these songs remainfanfavouritesevento thisday speaksof theirtime-tested craftsmanshipandthe importance of the band,not only intheAmerican metal scene butwithanimpactwhoseinfluence would soonbewitnessedthroughout theworld.An appearance at the Ultimate Revenge II videoshoot (a live video/CD which also included Dark Angel and Forbidden, among others)took place in October, 1988, followed by more touring through much of 1989. By the end of that year, the volatile relationship betweenChuck and Rick had gotten virtually intolerable for Schuldiner and a parting of the ways became inevitable. "Rick was basically kicked outof the band since we were all into progressing as a group and getting better as musicians, and he simply was not," Chuck was quoted assaying a few months later." He was stopping me from writing the kind of material I wanted to write due to his inability to play the songs,and we all knew it was time for a change."In Rick's place, DEATH enlisted James Murphy, a Florida resident who'd previously spent time in Agent Steel and Hallows Eve, and beganwork on the all-important third album, entitled "Spiritual Healing". Produced by Scott Burns, Spiritual... represented yet another stepforward in Chuck's quest towards incorporating an increased level of musicality into the group's songwriting,while at the same timeshying away from the Satanic and low-budget gore movie-type lyrics that were becoming common place in the genre. "I think thatSpiritual Healing is very much representative of what death metal can sound like when it's done with strong emphasis on musicality andless so on hyper-speed and stupid Satanic lyricsâ, Chuck said after the albumâs release. "We believe that we can turn a few more peopleinto death metal with this record and change a lot of people's minds about what death metal's supposed to sound like."Despite some of the early criticism from the die-hard death metal fans who viewed the musical progression on Spiritual Healing as anegative one, the album went on to be a highly successful one for the group, with DEATH doing more touring and in front of larger crowdsthan ever before. Unfortunately, it also marked the last time the group would record with this line-up, as pressure in Chuckâs personal lifeand internal band disagreements caused Murphy to be ejected from the group first, followed by drummer Bill Andrews and bassist TerryButler a few months later.In the decade that followed, DEATH issued several more critically-acclaimed releases while gradually gravitatingtowards a much moretechnical musical approach, one that would inevitably alienate some of the group's long-time fans. Along the way, Chuck came to berightfully regarded as one of the pioneers of the death metal genre, while Spiritual Healing came to earn its place in the annals of deathmetal history as one the finest albums ever released under the banner.TL;DR This website will kill you if you don't know who these guys are. « hide |
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