Death was an American death metal band from Altamonte Springs, Florida. Formed in 1983 under the name Mantas, the group originally consisted of guitarist Chuck Schuldiner, second guitarist Frederick "Rick Rozz" DeLillo, and drummer and vocalist Barney "Kam" Lee. The band went through many personnel changes during its tenure, before disbanding in December 2001 upon Schuldiner's death. The final lineup of Death featured Schuldiner on guitars and vocals, Shannon Hamm on guitars, Richard Christy on drums, (since 1997) and Scott Clendenin on bass (since 1998).
Chuck Schuldiner formed Mantas in 1983 with drummer/vocalist Kam Lee and guitarist Rick Rozz.[1] The band recorded its first rehearsal demo in early 1984, which is known unofficially as Emotional.[2] The recording featured a temporary bassist named Dave Tett, who left after just a few rehearsals and was the band's only bassist during its tenure as Mantas.[1] The group released its first official demo, Death by Metal, in the summer of 1984.[1] In September, the band briefly broke up for "two or three weeks", and returned in October under the new name of Death.[2] The Reign of Terror demo was recorded later that month.[3]
Shortly after the recording of the Infernal Death demo in March 1985, Rozz left Death; Schuldiner and Lee recorded the Rigor Mortis demo the next month.[4] Guitarist Matt Olivo and bassist Scott Carlson of the band Genocide joined the band that May.[1] However after Lee left and they struggled to find a replacement, the pair left after just a few months.[5] In September, Schuldiner relocated to San Francisco, California and built a new Death lineup with bassist Erik Meade and former D.R.I. drummer Eric Brecht. The trio released the Back from the Dead demo in October, before both new members left in December and Schuldiner returned to Florida.[6]
Death took a brief hiatus in early 1986, while Schuldiner briefly rehearsed with Canadian group Slaughter.[7] In March, the guitarist and vocalist moved to San Francisco again, where he formed a new incarnation of Death with drummer Chris Reifert.[1] Working as a two-piece, with Schuldiner handling bass duties, the group issued the demo Mutilation in April, which led to the band signing a deal with Combat Records.[8] The band briefly played with bassist Steve DiGiorgio of Sadus, with whom they shared practice space.[1] In November the band recorded its debut full-length album, Scream Bloody Gore, which was issued the following May. Before the album's release, the duo was briefly joined by second guitarist John Hand.[9]
Around the time of the release of Scream Bloody Gore, Schuldiner moved back to Florida without Reifert, who opted to stay in San Francisco.[10] He subsequently enlisted former guitarist Rick Rozz along with bassist Terry Butler and drummer Bill Andrews from Massacre for a new incarnation of Death.[11] The group issued Leprosy in 1988, however Butler did not feature on the album and bass was instead performed by Schuldiner.[12] During the subsequent touring cycle, Rozz was dismissed from Death and temporarily replaced by Cynic's Paul Masvidal for a handful of Mexican shows.[13]
After "a few weeks" with Mark Carter,[6] the band was joined by guitarist James Murphy in the summer of 1989.[10] Spiritual Healing was recorded at the end of the year and released the following February.[6] During the subsequent tour, Murphy was fired and the guitarist role changed a number of times – first, Masvidal returned to complete a run of shows in April 1990, before Evildead's Albert Gonzales took over for shows between August and October.[6] When Schuldiner refused to perform in Europe at the end of the year due to poor management and organization of the tour, the remaining members completed the tour without him, using members of the road crew as stand-ins.[10]
Schuldiner parted ways with Butler and Andrews after their tour without him, and in April 1991 he returned to record Human with Masvidal, Sadus bassist Steve Di Giorgio, and Masvidal's Cynic bandmate Sean Reinert on drums.[3] Di Giorgio was unable to commit to the band full-time due to commitments with Sadus, so he was replaced on the subsequent touring cycle by Scott Carino.[6] In spring 1992, Death was forced to cancel a run of shows in the UK due to financial issues.[14]
In early 1993, Schuldiner reunited with bassist Steve Di Giorgio to record Individual Thought Patterns, which also featured King Diamond guitarist Andy LaRocque and former Dark Angel drummer Gene Hoglan.[15] LaRocque was unable to commit full-time to Death, so he was replaced for European festivals in the spring and a US tour in the summer by Ralph Santolla.[16] For a European run later in the year, Forbidden's Craig Locicero took over when Santolla returned to his main band Eyewitness.[6]
By early 1995, Di Giorgio had left Death and LaRocque had confirmed his inability to return.[10] Schuldiner asked former Watchtower bassist Doug Keyser to join the band, but he declined,[6] which led Schuldiner to add bassist Kelly Conlon and guitarist Bobby Koelble in time for the recording of Symbolic.[17] [18] After the album's release, the group performed at several European festivals, before Conlon was dismissed and replaced for subsequent tour dates by Brian Benson.[6] [19]
Early the next year, Schuldiner announced the disbandment of Death and the formation of Control Denied,[20] following a disagreement with Roadrunner Records.[21] The new group initially featured vocalist B.C. Richards,[22] though he left the band in 1997.[23] An early lineup of the band included guitarist Shannon Hamm, bassist Benson and drummer Chris Williams.[10]
Death returned in the summer of 1997,[10] with Control Denied members Hamm, Scott Clendenin (who by that time had replaced Benson on bass) and Richard Christy (the replacement for drummer Williams) featuring in the new incarnation of the band.[24] This lineup issued The Sound of Perseverance, Death's final studio album, in 1998.[25] After a tour promoting the album, Schuldiner returned to focus on recording the second Control Denied album.[10] However, in 1999 he was diagnosed with pontine glioma, for which he underwent surgery in January 2000.[26] Despite initially improving, Schuldiner's condition worsened in 2001, and on December 13 he died.[27] Shortly before his death, the band issued its first two live albums.[28]
| Image | Name | Years active | Instruments | Release contributions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chuck Schuldiner | all Death releases | |||
| Barney "Kam" Lee | 1983–1985 | |||
| Rick Rozz | guitars | |||
| Dave Tett | 1984 | bass | none | |
| Scott Carlson | 1985 | none | ||
| Matt Olivo | guitars | |||
| Erik Meade | bass | Back from the Dead (1985) | ||
| Eric Brecht | drums | |||
| Chris Reifert | 1986–1987 | |||
| Steve Di Giorgio | bass | |||
| John Hand | 1986 | guitars | none | |
| Terry Butler | 1987–1990 | bass | ||
| Bill Andrews | drums | |||
| Paul Masvidal | guitars | |||
| Mark Carter | 1989 | none | ||
| James Murphy | 1989–1990 | Spiritual Healing (1990) | ||
| Albert Gonzales | 1990 | Live 1990, 1991 Unknown (2020) | ||
| Louie Carrisalez | vocals | none | ||
| Walter Trachsler | guitars | |||
| Sean Reinert | 1991–1992 | drums | ||
| Scott Carino | 1991–1992 | |||
| Gene Hoglan | 1992–1995 | drums | ||
| Andy LaRocque | 1993 | guitars | Individual Thought Patterns (1993) | |
| Ralph Santolla | 1993 | Detroit, MI 1993 (2020) | ||
| Craig Locicero | 1993 | none | ||
| Bobby Koelble | 1994-1995 | |||
| Kelly Conlon | bass | Symbolic (1995) | ||
| Brian Benson | 1995 | |||
| Scott Clendenin | 1998–2001 | all Death releases from The Sound of Perseverance (1998) to Vivus! (2012) | ||
| Shannon Hamm | 1997–2001 | guitars | ||
| Richard Christy | drums |
| Period | Members | Releases | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Early 1983 |
| none | |
| Early – spring 1984 |
| none | |
| Spring – September 1984 |
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| Band inactive September – October 1984 | |||
| October 1984 – March 1985 |
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| March – April 1985 |
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| May – summer 1985 |
| none | |
| September – December 1985 |
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| Band inactive December 1985 – February 1986 | |||
| April – late 1986 |
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| 1986 |
| none | |
| November 1986 |
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| Early 1987[29] |
| none | |
| Late 1986 – May 1987 |
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| June 1987 – May 1989 |
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| June 1989 |
| none | |
| July 1989 |
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| Summer 1989 – April 1990 |
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| April 1990 |
| none | |
| August – October 1990 |
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| October 1990 |
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| October – December 1990 |
| none | |
| Band inactive January – April 1991 | |||
| April 1991 |
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| October 1991 – March 1992 |
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| Band inactive spring 1992 | |||
| 1992 |
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| December 1992 |
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| Early 1993 |
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| April – August 1993 |
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| September – October 1993 |
| none | |
| Band inactive late 1993 | |||
| January 1994[31] |
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| March 1994 |
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| January – May 1995 |
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| June – October 1995 |
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| Band inactive late 1995 – summer 1997 | |||
| 1997 – 1998 |
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| 1998 – December 2001 |
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