Metal Martyr » chuck-schuldiner

Chuck Schuldiner May 13th 1967 – December 13th 2001

Scott — Wed, 13 May 2009 19:57:50 +0000

Bravewords.com reminded me that today (may 13th) would have been the late Death singer, Chuck Schuldiner’s 42nd birthday. Chuck died of complications of the brain cancer in December of 2001. He established himself as an icon in [death] metal and will forever be missed. Rest In Peace, Chuck.

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Death: Scavenger Of Human Sorrow

Scott — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 02:44:49 +0000

I dare you to tell me that this song doesn’t kick so much ass it makes it painful to walk! Try and tell me that that opening riff just doesn’t give you at least a half-chub! Scavenger Of Human Sorrow is the opening track from Death’s last album The Sound Of Perseverance. Seriously, it makes me want to dig up Chuck Schuldiner and bring him back to life like some kind of Frankenstein monster, throw a B.C. Rich Stealth in his hands and just let him go crazy! We’ve lost way too many metal geniuses in the last 30 years. I’d say “RIP Chuck”, but I really want him back.

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Death – The Philosopher Video

Scott — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 16:53:23 +0000

Doing the Top 10 Death Metal songs a bit ago had me remembering back to 1993 when this video was actually in rotation on Headbanger’s Ball. This is an awesome song from a great Death album.

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(Florida) Death Metal History

Scott — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 23:52:10 +0000

Unless you’re only into some of the new Death metal or Deathcore, then you probably know at least some part of American Death Metal history. That history being that so many influential and break through death metal bands paved the way for so many other bands out of The Sunshine State.

January’s issue of Revolver Magazine has a great article on the history of Florida Death Metal with contribution from David Vincent (Morbid Angel), Glen Benton (Deicide), John Tardy (Obituary), Paul Masvidal (Death, Cynic) and Scott Burns. If you don’t have a clue who Scott Burns is, he is responsible for many early productions of death metal bands from the Florida scene.

I highly recommend this article. It’s a great read and you get to see just how much of a demented bastard Glen Benton really is. The Article talks about how, when the grunge scene errupted in the early/mid 1990’s how like most other genres, Death Metal kind of got pushed back underground like most metal did.

Even these days with the rise of the Metal/Deathcore bands popping up like mushrooms on a damp spring day, the death metal bands that persevered through the slump still live on strong. Sadly, most snot-nose kids in the cookie-cutter bands we see all over the place, growling into the microphone haven’t a clue when, where or with whom the scene began to form and they could care less. Most of them just want fame and to make a few bucks. Unless they present themselves as something epic, that’s all they’ll ever make…a few bucks. Regardless of the garbage that plagues the shelves of record stores and myspace, we’ll always have the bands that put the American Death Metal scene together, whether they’re from Florida, NY, California or Hell’s Half Acres. They can’t take away what’s already been carved in to metal history no matter how much they taint it.

Also, yesterday, December 13th marks the day that Chuck Schuldiner of Death, died at a far too young age of 34 years old back in 2001 of brain cancer. Chuck was one of the first great pioneers of the genre.

R.I.P., Chuck~

Image Source: Amazon.com

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IGN.Com Names The 10 Best Death Metal Singers…Metal Martyr’s $.02

Scott — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 15:46:36 +0000

IGN.Com, a video game site recently published a post on the 10 Best Death Metal Singers and I must say that it is a hell of a list. I couldn’t agree more with it. Take a peak at the list below, but visit the site to get their insight on them, essential albums and a song/video from the band. My 10 picks aren’t much different, but when you put together a list like they did, it’s tough not to pick some of the same ones.

Frank Mullen – Suffocation
Lars Göran Petrov – Entombed
Paul Pavlovich – Assük
David Vincent – Morbid Angel
Mikael Akerfeldt – Opeth/ Bloodbath
Antti Boman – Demilich
John Tardy – Obituary
Martin Van Duren – Hail Of Bullets
Chuck Schuldiner – Death
Thomas Lindburg – At The Gates

Check out my picks after the fold…

Frank Mullen of Suffocation – Suffocation are one of the earlier pioneers of NYC Death Metal. While I haven’t heard much of the earlier stuff I really dig their last self titled effort on Relapse Records and I think the modern generation would probably dig this one as well. The production is much better and vocals have more clarity to them. This band kills live too!
Lars Göran Petrov Of Entombed – Another very more clarified death metal voice, I’d have to pick Wolverine Blues as my Favorite, and the Hollowman EP comes in a close second. With all the other “deathcore” and death metal out there these days, this is one of the staple bands out of the overlooked death metal scene.
David Vincent of Morbid Angel – I was fan as soon as I heard the doom ridden, creepiness of God Of Emptiness. The entire Covenant album is awesome as well as Blessed Are The Sick, Alters Of Madness and Domination. Domination doesn’t get as much credit as it should.
Mikael Akerfeldt of Opeth/Bloodbath – Even though I have only come to really know Opeth and Bloodbath in the past 6 or 8 months, I can’t get past the sound the Mikael’s voice. First you wouldn’t expect such a vicious sound to come from the same pipes that sing the beautiful melodies that you hear in the softer Opeth songs. I only have 2 Opeth CDs, but Blackwater Park is an amazing album and Bloodbath’s Resurrection Through Carnage and the recent Unblessing The Purity EP are about as brutal as they come. I need to get the new Fathomless Mastery CD. Maybe the merch table at tonight’s Opeth show will have it.
John Tardy of Obituary – John Tardy had a different sound to his voice than most of the death metal vocalists when they came in to the scene. A unique range with clarity and the more they progressed the better he sounded…to me anyway. It wasn’t a low guttural voice that had to be done with mic directly to mouth in an inaudible tone. He has a voice that stands out and makes it look and sound effortless. Ever tried to imitate his voice? The End Complete is my pick as well but World Demise is a great album too.
Chuck Schuldiner of Death – Chuck was another unique voice like John Tardy. Not only could Chuck sing with a different range of most Death Metal vocalists, he could rip on guitar as well. My album pick would be Symbolic but if you want a good mix check out Fate: The Best Of Death. Death had a melodic yet brutal sound to them with speed and breakdowns that were hard to top.
Jeff Walker of Carcass – Once more a unique voice…at the time. Now every other deathcore band tried to sound like Jeff, but they have no friggin’ clue who he is or the legacy of Carcass. As you can see, clarity in vocals is a big thing for me. I like to understand what they are saying. It makes it much easier to sing along when you know the words. Carcass’s Heartwork is a great metal album as well as the slightly slower and often under-rated Swansong.
Chris Barnes Of Six Feet Under/ ex-Cannibal Corspe – Okay, this is the exception to the clarity thing. Some songs you can catch a lot of the words from Chris Barnes and some not so much. Chris just has that deep guttural voice that sounds grim and evil. Six Feet Under’s Debut album, Haunted is a great example of Chris’s voice as it most Cannibal Corpse’s early albums but mostly The Bleeding in my opinion.
Maurizio Iacono of Kataklysm – Maurizio has a great death metal voice. Deep, clear and powerful. Their latest release, Prevail, is a great example of Maurizio’s voice. If I said that all the others sounded as good I would be lying because I have yet to explore much more of Kataklysm’s work.

Honorable Mentions

Jörgen Santöm formerly of Grave
Tim King Formerly Of Oppressor
Johnny Hedlund of Unleashed

Check out IGN.Com list here.

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Chuck Schuldiner Tribute Concert

Scott — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 11:09:43 +0000

Heres a quick excerpt from Blabbermouth concerning a tribute concert to be held in Quebes City fro late Death Singer/Guitars Chuck Schuldiner. Click the link at the bottom to read the whole article at Blabbermouth.net

On December 13 2001, one of the most influential musicians in the extreme metal world, DEATH/CONTROL DENIED mastermind Chuck Schuldiner, tragically passed away at age 34 after a a battle with pontine glioma, a rare type of brain tumor. In order to keep his memory alive, Capitale du Metal will present a very special benefit concert on December 12, 2007 at the Theatre Imperial in Quebec City, QC, Canada. This event will feature the ultimate DEATH tribute band SYMBOLIC, with former members of DEATH and other very special guests, which will be announced shortly on the Capitale du Metal web site. It will be over two hours long with a few surprises throughout the night. Tickets will be on sale via Billetech starting November 17 at 10 a.m. There will also be limited V.I.P tickets available. This will allow people to enter the show 30 minutes before doors open, have a meet-and-greet with the band, free posters of the show and more. All profits will be divided between Chuck’s foundation for cancer research and a local foundation.

CHUCK SCHULDINER Tribute Concert To Be Held In Quebec City

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Death: Symbolic Fate

Scott — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 07:30:14 +0000

Another pioneering band from Florida, (in case you didn’t know, most of the bands that paved the path for death metal came from Florida) Death started way back before death metal was even close to being mainstream. Chuck Schuldiner, the founding and only member to be with the band from beginning to end, died in 2001 due to complications from a brain tumor. Death, a very technical and unique death metal band put out 4 records before releasing “Fate” The Best Of Death. Chuck’s vocals are one thing that really sets them apart from other death metal bands. Or at least did at the time.
Often bands put out best of albums too early in their career but this one is true to form. I honestly think this is the best of Death. Zombie Ritual kicks things off and Together As One ramp things up like a runaway freight train. The overall technicality of the guitars on this records show you just how talented musically this band is. You can say what you want about death metal but you can not deny the raw talent that a lot of these band members have. One of the greatest things about Chuck and his vocals is that can understand each and every word he says!

Symbolic, the follow up to Individual Thought Patterns is the last Death record I bought due to descending interest in the genre. I owned individual thought patterns for about a week before it was stolen along with a bunch of other cd’s I cherished. Although Symbolic is a great Death metal album, I regret to say that I’m just not into it as I used to be and there for I don’t have a lot to say about it. If you feel otherwise, by all means let me know what you think of this and other Death Albums.

Image Source: http://www.sleazeroxx.com/rip/chuckschuldiner2.jpg

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