In memory of Chuck Schuldiner (RIP) 1967 - 2001

Karl Hungus

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXQY-H7L58k

From the astonishing Live In LA DVD, which I think is probably one of the best live recordings in existance.

It's his birthday on Sunday, Chuck would be 40 in 3 days time.

RIP, man.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4qjp0ICUAw

Zapp Brannigan

For anyone interested there's a show this sunday in his honour in the Voodoo Lounge in aid of the Irish Cancer Society with Era Vulgaris, Coldwar, Sorrowfall and Overoth playing a mix of original songs and Death covers.

I can't go due to exams but sounds like a good show.

RIP Chuck

Karl Hungus

That would be a cool show alright.

Prezatch

Those videos aren't allowed to be embedded

CyberWaste

RIP "Evil Dead".
Still if he was alive 40 would be young. All we can do is put on some Symbolic or Leprosy and wonder, what metal would be like today if he was still alive.:(

the_syco

JoeyD wrote:

Those videos aren't allowed to be embedded

Death - Flesh And The Power It Holds ( Live In L.A. )
Death - Crystal Mountain ( Live In L.A. )
Enjoy.

Pugsley

A friend of mine has that whole show on video, brilliant set. RIP Chuck.

It wasn't me!

I have that DVD, it's an incredible show.

Undergod

It wasn't me! wrote:

I have that DVD, it's an incredible show.

Technically, I have _that_ DVD.:D
It's just amazing. What a musician.

Mr. CooL ICE

I got converted to Death about 2 years ago by people on this board. Haven't looked back since. What a legend of a musician.

CyberWaste wrote:

what metal would be like today if he was still alive.

It would still be full of the crap thats there today. But on the plus side, we might have some more Control Denied or a new Death lineup doing festival gigs.

It wasn't me!

Undergod wrote:

Technically, I have _that_ DVD.:D
It's just amazing. What a musician.

Yeah, I want that back.

steveone

great post in honour of a great mind- shame death metal has mostly gone to ****e, i'm pissed off that i missed the show in chucks honour, sorrowfall are excellent, first saw them at D.O.D, for ruin should have been there too..

Karl Hungus

steveone wrote:

shame death metal has mostly gone to ****e

Has it?

neGev

steveone wrote:

shame death metal has mostly gone to ****e

Karl Hungus wrote:

Has it?

The vast majority, yup.

It wasn't me!

The vast majority of anything is shíte, it's what makes the things that are great worth waiting for.

neGev

Sturgeon's Law.

Karl Hungus

I don't think Death Metal has gone to ****e. There's still plenty of great albums coming out these days.

What are these ****e Death Metal bands you guys are on about?

neGev

The only DM bands that are still producing material anywhere near the standard of the early 90's are Bolt Thrower, Dismember, Drawn And Quartered, Fleshcrawl, Immolation, and Ribspreader. Four of those are old-school and the other two are emulating different old-school styles.

The Florida DM scene is pretty much dead, as is the old-school Swedish scene. The Californian DM scene has emerged and is producing bands that are either technical as hell, br00tal as hell or both, but in all cases utterly soulless. I think maybe that's the problem I have with it anyway, it sounds like DM by numbers.
Too much DM today is diluted by other influences from hardcore, prog and so on. Yes, of course there are still some gems to be found, but they're much more rare than they were.

Karl Hungus

neGev wrote:

Too much DM today is diluted by other influences from hardcore, prog and so on.

And that's supposed to be a bad thing?

Even Schuldiner's best work came about when he took in more prog influences. Just compare Individual Thought Patterns to Scream Bloody Gore, for example. Some of the best things to have ever happened in the genre happened because of bands who were influenced by prog, such as Atheist and Cynic. It's albums like Unquestionable Prescence and Focus that stand above a lot of what was going on at the time.

And what of the whole Polish DM scene? Behemoth, Decapitated and the like. I still think Winds Of Creation is one of the most fierce albums to have ever been written.

I might be in the minority here, but I think there's plenty of great stuff that has come out in the last couple of years. I think Akercocke and Mithras are doing exceptional things, and if you ignore the whole Kerrang-fueled hype behind Nile as the 'Saviours of Death Metal' (groan), they're actually very good indeed, from their first album up to Annihilation Of The Wicked, I've loved their stuff.

Depending on your definitions of the genre, you could also take into account Gojira, Strapping Young Lad, Meshuggah, and of course, Opeth. All of whom have released absolutely fantastic albums as of late. Oh, and as for oldschool bands still pumping out the goods, I liked Morbid Angel's Heretic too.

So, in closing, there's a plethora of excellent music that's come out lately. It might not be the same as the early 90's stuff, but that's not a bad thing at all.

neGev

Well, there's no point in going through your post point by point as it's obvious we're both looking for different things in music. As a broad example, I'd prefer Leprosy/Spiritual Healing/Human to Death's later prog-death era.

Prog death just doesn't do it for me I'm afraid. It has to be really amazing stuff to work - the amount of bands that managed to incorporate styles such as jazz into death metal in a positive way is testament to that. Atheist and possibly Cynic are the only real examples. Perhaps Coprofago. In 27 years, that's not really a very high success rate.

Behemoth are indeed a good band, but I don't particularly like the path they're going down. Thelema.6 and Zos Kia Cultus were really good albums, but ever since then, Inferno's drumming is becoming more triggered, Nergal's vocals are more and more layered and processed and so on. It just doesn't sound natural to me.

But that's the beauty of music, everyone's got their own point of view.

Karl Hungus

neGev wrote:

But that's the beauty of music, everyone's got their own point of view.

I agree, but that's also why it makes it so much fun to discuss it.

steveone

for me i haven't heard anything to come up against schuldiner. you can follow his evolution listening to his albums- his skill level definitely changed at spiritual healing i think his thought process shifted with leprosy- that is one class album, i remember picking the riffs out when i was 16 -there are for me he's an icon...the rest is just the rest..
glad to see bands like bolt thrower and entombed still running-and morbid angel -i'm sure MA were the first of the bands i heard using snare blast beats...i think that takes away from the music,- altars of madness was class tho-, synths n'all!,
keep the metal faith alive!!

Karl Hungus

steveone wrote:

for me i haven't heard anything to come up against schuldiner.

Well for me, I don't think that more current Death Metal really has to come up against Schuldiner. He did his thing, and other bands are doing theirs. I doubt anyone is ever going to match Schuldiner on that level, but it doesn't really have to in order to be good music.

steveone

Karl Hungus wrote:

Well for me, I don't think that more current Death Metal really has to come up against Schuldiner. He did his thing, and other bands are doing theirs. I doubt anyone is ever going to match Schuldiner on that level, but it doesn't really have to in order to be good music.

that makes sense:)