Death metal fans....favorite Death album

Just happened to see the Death By Metal documentary on amazon prime, pretty good, pretty much what you'd expect, amazing how much confidence Chuck's mother had in him from the beginning.
Maybe I'm misinterpreting things but it seemed like there was a possibility that he was going to do clean vocals later on but he seemed to be fed up with singing and maybe his vocals would have become a rarity if he had lived.
Looks like he blew some things out of proportion, like being sold as a death metal band when he was feeling restricted by those expectations.

Then bookmarked a bunch of documentaries I'd never heard of (Pentagram, L7, female metal vocalists doc, Barclay James Harvest)

Enjoyed the documentary. Also, I've spent three decades mispronouncing Chuck Schuldiner's last name. Anyone else?

I spent most of the running time listening for a mention of his surname but didn't hear one! I've always pronounced it Shooldinner (Schooldinners lol) - is that wrong?

I thought the documentary was fine if kinda plodding. I was wondering why I'd not seen Death back in the day as I saw most of the big hitters at the time. So now I know. Were his mental health issues that well known at the time?

If I'd wanted anything from the documentary, I'd have liked a bit more focus on the music. A little musicology goes a long way but something a bit more on how he constructed the music, how he transitioned from the bludgeon of the early records to the more technical stuff, how they managed that in the studio etc etc.

Yeah, I would have enjoyed hearing some more about that too, but as music documentaries go, I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. It doesn't insult the intelligence of the average death metal fan. Paul Masvidal conspicuously absent from the interviews. I assumed there was some beef, but Paul did those tribute shows, so who knows.

His name was pronounced in the doc when someone--I think it was Steve Digiorgio--refers to Chuck's mom as "Mrs. Schuldiner." I've always said "SHULL-dinn-ur" but I guess it's pronounced "shul-DEEN-ur?"

It does seem he gave plenty of people the right to be permanently pissed off with him. Sean Reinert still seems pretty raw about things. Gene Hoglan seems more sanguine but it's clearly there.

Yep. I was actually impressed by how diplomatic Reinert came off in the interview in light of Chuck's seemingly passive aggressive way of dealing with band personnel. But I'm a Cynic fanboy, so of course I'd think that.

Best thing about the doc is that the filmmakers realized they didn't need to explain the entire history of death metal. Clearly, this film was made for people who were already fans, which I appreciated, despite the fact that it probably limited the appeal of the film somewhat. There's nothing worse, to me, in music documentaries, when they begin with 25 minutes of, say, "bebop is an offshoot of the American art form know as jazz..."

I don't recall if I gave this the one vote for Spiritual Healing or not.

I was assuming it was me, to be honest. That was my first Death album so I've always stood behind it, even though they have other albums that are arguably better.

Sound of Perseverance is such a high note that they went out on. I know some folk don't like it as much. my only qualm with it is Chuck's voice, which was usually this powerful, throaty, death-rattle, seems more like Sebastian Bach shrieks at times.

"Painkiller" vocals are pretty amazing.

yeah it was interesting hearing him attempt clean vocals for the first time.

at the time I got TSOP I had only gotten Painkiller a year earlier so I was mega excited about the cover.

I do find it interesting that (for me at least), the more progressive they got, the easier the individual riffs got to play.

holy fuck, listening to the Painkiller cover for the first time in decades, I forgot how good his falsetto sounded

also cool that they didn't recreate the Priest solos but added their own

Rest in peace Sean Reinert

Cynic - "Nunc Stans"

Hey comrade,
What will it be like,
On the day we face our mortal lives?
We're all given,
The misfortune of loss,
But that's a gift we call impermanence,
We don't own our work,
We don't own the earth,
At all
We're eternal Nunc Stans soldiers,
The eternal warriors.
We're accountants,
In the firm of life,
Entrusted with a body, heart and mind.
Hey comrade,
Did I love well?
Have I learned to live moment to moment?
We don't own our work,
We don't own the earth,
We don't own our minds,
We don't own anything,
At all.
We're eternal Nunc Stans soldiers,
The eternal warriors.
We're eternal Nunc Stans soldiers,
The eternal warriors.
It was not death,
It was not life,
It was love.

RIP

human the greatest album of all time, still devastated by this news

Damn, I loved that Cynic album in high school, really unique & great drummer.

On the opposite end of the spectrum of Death, I am listening to Scream Bloody Gore and it is still faaaaantastic.

― The Man Who Saw The Midwife (GOTT PUNCH II HAWKWINDZ), Sunday, August 6, 2017 5:54 AM bookmarkflaglink

playin this on vinyl rn. it's helping with my down mood.

ZOMBIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
RITUAL

few things....

so these all got reissued...again, except Symbolic...again. in 2010, the same thing happened- the explanation given was that Roadrunner wouldn't give permission to Relapse to reissue that one. is there some unknown reason they don't want that one to be re-issued? I mean I know it's been reissued before, but it was not part of the last two major reissues.

also, anybody wanna change their vote? my order goes:

1) Human (this one took years to grow on me, now it's the first one I want to play - bridged the gap between proggy and face-punchy, just great writing all over this thing, all-star lineup)
2) Symbolic (the "thoughtful" Death album. some of the best lyrics Chuck wrote, and the riffs are less about sanding faces off and more good, poignant songwriting. the ideas are simple throughout, probably the simplest on a Death album ever - but are ever so atmospheric and ear catchy.
3) Leprosy (my favorite of their early gonzo balls to the wall shit. It's everything SBG was, ratcheted up by 1000)
4) Individual Thought Patterns (the first one I bought, age 16. loved the fluidity of the guitar leads and the creative, melodic riff-writing, and the production ,which still had bite, with Chuck's zombie-ish vocals. "Overactive Imagination" is an all-time favorite)
5) Sound of Perseverance (I was ambivalent to this one when it came out, though it was the second one I owned. time's been kinder to it. it's proggy af, but it has a lot of what made Human good throughout it as well. "Bite the Pain" is a classic)
6) Scream Bloody Gore (this entire album rips start to finish. i can't imagine what this sounded to metal fans at the time....alas I was an elementary school kid)
7) Spiritual Healing (I only acquired this one about 7 or 8 years ago, and it didn't grab me as much as the others, though it's not "bad" whatsoever.)

I slightly prefer Sound Of Perseverance to Symbolic but I still need to get the rest of them.

Re: the documentary, how do you guys feels about Chuck seemingly wanting to give up singing eventually?

Spiritual Healing was robbed

Roadrunner wouldn't give permission to Relapse to reissue that one. is there some unknown reason they don't want that one to be re-issued?

Roadrunner is a division of Atlantic Records/Warner Music Group. Major labels don't license their titles to indies to be reissued. (That's assuming Atlantic/WMG even gives a shit at all — they're pretty much 100% in the pop and hip-hop business at this point.)

Also, my ranking:

1) Human/Individual Thought Patterns (tie)
2) Symbolic/Sound of Perseverance (tie)
3-7) don't care, honestly

it is unsatisfying ranking death records they're all great

like scream bloody gore would prob be last in my ranking and that feels stupid bc it rocks my face off

Re: the documentary, how do you guys feels about Chuck seemingly wanting to give up singing eventually?

― Robert Adam Gilmour, Tuesday, August 25, 2020 2:57 PM bookmarkflaglink

I mean, he kinda did with Control Denied. I honestly woulda missed his vocals if he just did the Control Denied thing and never screamed again.

ok I might be back to ITP as my favorite now.

it's an all Death DJ set tonight.

I want to watch you drown in your lies
The end of your masquerade
A matter of time, intertwining lies
Domination, control
Feed his twisted nature

It is sickening to see dreams die
A word of advice
Fate's patience is growing short
Fake down to your mind and appearance
You will fall short of the dreams to destroy

In time you will find
Yourself trapped in a corner
These four words, my friend
I promise you will not forget

I am one of many that see through your lies
Hiding will do you no good, many seek revenge
Soon to become a victim of what
You live to create and cannot have

It is sickening to see dreams die
A word of advice
Fate's patience is growing short
Fake down to your mind and appearance
You will fall short of the dreams to destroy

i am just getting into classic death metal in a very big way

this is one of the very greatest bands of all time, right? my god.

sorry for shitpost i just... this band!

one of the very greatest bands of all time yes

Otm

I first heard them at 16 and it was transformative, you could say.

I love that each album is classic in a different way.

yeah just always great, stoked for you getting into them, what a pleasure

so I'm on the lawn outdoors at the Orlando Fringe Festival, listening to this guy play some electric jazz, and my friend tells me it's actually Bobby Koelbe. aka, the lead guitarist on Death's "Symbolic", who is apparently a jazz legend here and I never knew it. he was my old friend's guitar teacher apparently!

Nice

"God Of Thunder" sounds almost ploddingly simple at the end of Human

Because it's a KISS cover?

:)

it’s a great cover tho, imo!

Yeah I knew it was a cover. Other than "Painkiller" how many covers did they do?

Not many! That might be it actually

Di Giorgio really is the star of ITP, isn't he

my god, I'd never heard metal bass playing like that before I picked up this album as a child.

Hoglan REALLY beats the shit out of the drums on this, I mean lol he has some really nice fills too don't get me wrong, but while Sean Reinert's masterful performance was a lot about the texture of his playing and fitting into the groove of the band, Hoglan just goes ham on his kit at times. and it works!

Yeah after I heard ITP I immediately went on a hunt for anything else Hoglan was on but unfortunately there's not really anything else where he goes all-out in the same way.

I think that's hwy I prefer this to Human. Human's a good, solid album, but it's 'clean' and precise, ITP brings back some of the 'extremes' that were eschewed while still pursuing the proggy direction Human went to. it's a better marriage of the two sounds, I think.

I think it's fair to say Hoglan beats the shit out of the drums on those early Dark Angel records? Darkness Descends, man.

If you've ever seen him live, he's fantastic to watch; he unloads these avalanches while sitting perfectly upright and still like a court reporter. It's hilarious.

i saw him with Dethklok I think, lol

I’ve been listening to the second Watchtower album a bit and I can definitely hear their influence in a lot of moments on ITP. Interesting band.