Line #34 Music/Death


1	[[quoteright:326:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Death_band_II_8420.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:326:L-R: Steve [=DiGiorgio=], Gene Hoglan, [[IAmTheBand Chuck Schuldiner]], and Andy [=LaRocque=].]]
3
4	Death was an American DeathMetal band, and essentially the first ''true'' death metal band. While Music/{{Possessed}} may have been the first to release an album under the "death metal" moniker, Death were the first to play the "classic" style of death metal, separating it from ThrashMetal altogether, and their debut album ''[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Scream Bloody Gore]]'' has been described as death metal's first definitive article.
5
6	The band was founded by Chuck Schuldiner in 1984 after the dissolution of his previous band Mantas, which he formed at the age of 16. After a lot of members were fired and hired by Schuldiner, the band's first album, ''Scream Bloody Gore'', was released in 1987. It is considered a landmark album of the genre, pretty much starting the trend of gory lyrics and a brutal sound that would become synonymous with death metal.
7
8	Eventually, more "brutal" bands such as Music/CannibalCorpse, Music/{{Deicide}} and Music/MorbidAngel came along and began to present competition. So, rather than up the heaviness, Schuldiner continued to grow musically, heading in a more [[ProgressiveMetal progressive]] direction starting with the album ''Human''. Death's transformation into a [[ProgressiveDeathMetal progressive/technical death metal]] band made them one of the bands that kickstarted that subgenre, along with Music/{{Atheist}} and Music/{{Cynic}}.
9
10	The group, with its ever-changing lineup of members, disbanded in 2001 when Schuldiner died of complications from brain cancer at 34. The band remains one of the most influential death metal bands of all time, and Schuldiner is recognised as the "father of death metal", though he often downplayed the name "death metal" later in his career and regarded Death as a straightforward metal band towards the end of its lifetime.
11
12	Schuldiner was also one of two guitarists for Control Denied, a progressive metal band considered the continuation of Death. In fact, many of the tracks on Death's final album ''The Sound of Perseverance'' were originally intended to be Control Denied songs, but Schuldiner caved to [[ExecutiveMeddling studio pressure]] and used them for a final Death album instead. He intended to disband Death, at least temporarily, to focus on Control Denied, but his death prevented that plan.
13
14	Not to be confused with the '70s punk band of the same name or TheGrimReaper. See also Music/{{Massacre}}.
15	----
16	!!Discography:
17
18	[[AC:Death]]
19	* ''Scream Bloody Gore'' (1987)
20	* ''Leprosy'' (1988)
21	* ''Spiritual Healing'' (1990)
22	* ''Human'' (1991)
23	* ''Individual Thought Patterns'' (1993)
24	* ''Symbolic'' (1995)
25	* ''The Sound of Perseverance'' (1998)
26
27	[[AC:Control Denied]]
28	* ''The Fragile Art of Existence'' (1999)
29	* ''When Man and Machine Collide'' (cancelled; has been stuck in DevelopmentHell ever since [[DiedDuringProduction Chuck's death]] and is more or less confirmed to be a dead project)
30	----
31	!!Tropes of Comprehension:
32
33	* AnAesop:
34	** "Crystal Mountain": forcing your religion onto others is wrong.
35	** ''Spiritual Healing''[='=]s title track is directed against televangelists, criticizing the idea of closed-mindedness.
36	** "Misanthrope" is directed towards, well, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin guess]]. The essential message is that yes, some people are assholes, but despising all of humanity just because there are some horrible people out there is short-sighted, childish, and ignorant. May double as a TakeThat to a [[BlackMetal certain subset of metal bands]].
37	** "Without Judgement": most issues have multiple sides and demand a more discerning view, and taking the easy road and taking a knee-jerk reductivist approach to complex problems and situations is lazy and intellectually dangerous.
38	** "The Philosopher": Don't claim to be enlightened when you're just a naive rich kid who listened to too much [[Music/JohnMcLaughlin Mahavishnu Orchestra]], especially when seemingly everyone except you knows that you're gay because you're in complete denial, or Paul Masvidal needs to figure his life out.
39	%%* BigBrotherIsWatching: Discussed in "1,000 Eyes".
40	* BodyHorror: Common in the band's early lyrics, and sometimes appears on later albums. "Living Monstrosity" is a good example:
41	--> "Born without eyes or hands\
42	And half a brain\
43	Be born addicted\
44	To cocaine"
45	* CallBack: Control Denied's "Believe" contains a TitleDrop of Death's "Voice of the Soul".
46	* CarefulWithThatAxe: ''The Sound of Perseverance'' has Chuck pulling off some of his most ungodly screams in his career throughout the whole album.
47	* CoverVersion: [[Music/JudasPriest "Painkiller"]], the final track on ''The Sound of Perseverance'', and a version of Music/{{KISS}}'s "God of Thunder" on the Japanese version of ''Human'' before getting a worldwide release on the 2011 reissue of the same album.
48	* DeathMetal: The TropeMakers ''and'', alongside Possessed's demo ''Death Metal'', the TropeNamers.
49	* {{Dystopia}}: "Genetic Reconstruction"; "1,000 Eyes"
50	* EpicRocking: A couple of songs in their early career (the title tracks of ''Leprosy'' and ''Spiritual Healing''), as well as several songs off ''Symbolic'' and especially ''The Sound of Perseverance'' (with "Perennial Quest", at 8:20, and "Flesh and the Power It Holds", at 8:26, being the longest). This continued with Control Denied; half the songs on ''The Fragile Art of Existence'' are over six minutes long, with the longest (the TitleTrack) being 9:38.
51	* TheFundamentalist:
52	** "Crystal Mountain" was based off of Chuck's fundamentalist neighbors.
53	** "The Philosopher" is about someone who acts like a fundamentalist. [[invoked]][[MisaimedFandom At least that's what people thought it was about]] until [[TakeThat a rumour about the song's actual meaning was proven right...]]
54	** The whole album ''Spiritual Healing'' deals with this trope, with its title track dealing with Christian faith healers that con gullible parishioners out of their money.
55	* GenreShift: From death metal to tech-death to progressive death metal.
56	** ''The Sound of Perseverance'' also has some heavy hints of PowerMetal, as some of its tracks were (according to one telling; Chuck flip-flopped on this subject between interviews, though Tim Ayman also backs up this account) originally intended to be Control Denied material, but [[ExecutiveMeddling the label wanted]] another Death album, so Chuck included them on the album after changing them only slightly (mostly by changing the vocals from clean singing to some of the most extreme examples of CarefulWithThatAxe on record). subverted this when he formed Control Denied, however, as he wanted to focus more on prog metal / power metal fusion with no traces of death metal, but also wanted to avoid a TheyChangedItNowItSucks reaction from fans of Death, so he formed what was technically a new band, even if said band shared many members with the old one.
57	* {{Gorn}}: The lyrical content on ''Scream Bloody Gore'' and, to a lesser degree, ''Leprosy''. However, they moved away from gory lyrics with ''Spiritual Healing'', and never looked back.
58	* HeteronormativeCrusader: Chuck was probably one (at least in his younger days). In "Mutilation," he "celebrate[s] a faggot's death." However, he later grew to regret these lyrics. (Two of Death's members from the early '90s, Paul Masvidal and Sean Reinert, are/were gay.)
59	* IAmTheBand: Chuck Schuldiner. Most notable on ''Scream Bloody Gore'', where he played bass and the only thing not done by him for the album was [[Music/{{Autopsy}} Chris Reifert's]] drumming. Chuck also played bass on ''Leprosy''.
60	* {{Instrumentals}}: Two of them: "Cosmic Sea" off ''Human'', and "Voice of the Soul" off ''The Sound of Perseverance''.
61	* LeadBassist: Starting with Steve [=DiGiorgio=], all of their bassists were Type A examples, though [=DiGiorgio=] doubled as a Type C due to his immensely influential nature among metal bassists and [[WolverinePublicity prolific session appearances]].
62	* LeadDrummer: Kam Lee shared vocal duties with Chuck Schuldiner during his time in the band. His vocal contributions on the early demos are frequently cited as the UrExample of the "death growl" as we know it.
63	* LeadSingerPlaysLeadGuitar: Chuck was the band's frontman and primary lead guitarist. Being responsible for many, many riffs and solos.
64	* LesserStar: Pretty much everyone in the band aside from Chuck Schuldiner. Though he wasn't the only well-known member -- [[Music/{{Testament}} Gene]] [[WesternAnimation/{{Metalocalypse}} Hog]][[Music/FearFactory lan]], [[Music/{{Cynic}} Paul Masvidal, Sean Reinert]], [[Music/{{Autopsy}} Chris Reifert]], and [[Music/KingDiamond Andy LaRocque]] all played with the band.
65	* LongestSongGoesLast:
66	** "Perennial Quest", at 8:20, is the longest song on ''Symbolic'', and also the last. Chuck originally intended it to be the last Death song, period, but the record company wanted one more album, so he made ''The Sound of Perseverance''.
67	** ''Scream Bloody Gore'' is a case of "Tie for Longest Song Goes Last" in its original release, as the TitleTrack, at 4:35, is the last song on the album, and it is the same length as "Zombie Ritual"; they each exceed the third-longest song on the album, "Baptized in Blood", by some four seconds. Later releases add bonus tracks; the live version of "Choke on It", at 5:56, closes out the 1999 version and well outstrips any other songs on that particular release. This is, however, an AvertedTrope on other reissues, unless one simply disregards bonus material.
68	** The TitleTrack of ''The Fragile Art of Existence'' closes out the album and, at 9:38, is the longest song on the album (and, in fact, in Chuck's entire discography).
69	* MetalScream: Kam Lee was an early example of Type 2. Chuck Schuldiner started out as a hybrid of Type 1 and Type 2, but shifted towards Type 3 in the band's later years.
70	* NewSoundAlbum: ''Human'' (which began their venture into TechnicalDeathMetal) and ''Symbolic'' (which marked a venture into a more [[ProgressiveMetal progressive]] direction). Also averted, as Schuldiner started Control Denied to be more progressive (and change vocalists) without "betraying" fans of Death's HarshVocals.
71	* ProgressiveMetal: The latter four (especially the latter two) Death albums, as well as all of Control Denied's material.
72	* PunctuatedForEmphasis: Schuldiner loved this trope. His performance in "The Philosopher" and "Lack of Comprehension" turned the word ''lies'' into a metalhead in-joke.
73	* ReligionRantSong: "Crystal Mountain" is a Type 3, about why proselytizing is forcing yourself on other people.
74	* RevolvingDoorBand: Hand-in-hand with IAmTheBand. Website/ThatOtherWiki identifies twenty-five people as having been full members of Death at some point, along with three additional live members.
75	* SplitPersonality: "Defensive Personalities"
76	* StartMyOwn:
77	** Kam Lee joined the band Massacre after leaving, and in fact is best-known as the frontman and voice of that group. Today, Lee performs vocals for countless underground death metal bands, but prefers to stay deep under the radar to the point that very few people are aware he's still active.
78	** Chris Reifert formed Music/{{Autopsy}}, following the release of Death's debut, ''Scream Bloody Gore''.
79	* SurprisinglyGentleSong: "Voice of the Soul"
80	* TakeThat: Chuck wasn't afraid to pull a few punches during his career.
81	** "Out of Touch" is directed at extreme metal bands who sacrificed musical quality for brutality and shock value and "Low Life" was almost certainly aimed at Kam Lee.
82	** "The Philosopher" is really Chuck venting about former bandmate Paul Masvidal. This was a rumour for years that Paul denied but was proven to be true after events surrounding the formation of Cynic and Sean's departure from Cynic came to light. The most damning lyric of all? "So you preach about how I'm supposed to be, yet you don't know your own sexuality." Yikes. The message of the song in a nutshell is "you think you're enlightened, but you're really just a naive rich kid who thinks that he'll turn into John [=McLaughlin=] if he wishes hard enough".
83	* TitleOnlyChorus: "Scream Bloody Gore", "Zombie Ritual", "Evil Dead".
84	* TokenMinority: Original vocalist Kam Lee, who is one of the few death metal musicians of Asian descent. Though he's technically of mixed race, as his mother is (or at least appears to be) Caucasian (Irish).[[note]]Lee has stated that he has some Irish in him and from what he's shown of his mom on social media, she seems to be at least partially white, though he's never outright confirmed this and always refers to himself as Asian, so it's pretty ambiguous as to what his Asian ethnicity truly is (though it's usually reported as either Chinese, Filipino, Indonesian, or some combination of the three.)[[/note]]
85	** Paul Masvidal and Sean Reinert both are/were gay, which is still relatively rare in metal music, though neither member's sexuality was public knowledge at the time (bear in mind this was 1991).
86	* TropeMakers: While Possessed's album ''Seven Churches'' is generally regarded as the first full-length death metal album, Death are considered to be co-trope makers along with Possessed, turning death metal into an actual subgenre instead of just an extreme thrash metal variant.
87	* TitleTrack:
88	** All albums have one, with the exception of ''Human'' and ''The Sound of Perseverance''.
89	** Also applies to Control Denied's ''The Fragile Art of Existence''.
90	* UnbuiltTrope: Compared to later death metal bands, Death has surprising amounts of ProgressiveMetal, making it an UrExample of TechnicalDeathMetal.
91	* UncommonTime: To be expected with Progressive[=/=]TechnicalDeathMetal. "Perennial Quest", to name but one example, has long segments in 5/4.
92	* VocalEvolution: Chuck's voice on ''Symbolic'' and especially ''The Sound of Perseverance'' was considerably higher than in the previous albums.
93	* WolverinePublicity: James Murphy, Gene Hoglan, and Steve [=DiGiorgio=] have all become well-known for this. Murphy was ''the'' go-to in the '90s if you played death metal and wanted a cool shred solo; basically, if you're listening to a song from a death metal act that isn't really known for dazzling leadwork from that time period that breaks into a blazing neoclassical lead, they probably got Murphy to do it. The other two, meanwhile, are just known for making it their life's missions to play in just about every band ever.
94	* WordSaladLyrics: A good chunk of Control Denied's songs had this, with a stand out example being
95	-->''"When the link they breathe becomes missing."''

Context Music / Death