Death was an American death metal band formed in Altamonte Springs, Florida, in 1984 by guitarist and vocalist Chuck Schuldiner. Death is considered to be among the most influential bands in heavy metal music and a pioneering force in death metal. The band's 1987 debut album, Scream Bloody Gore, has been widely regarded as one of the first death metal records, alongside the first records from Possessed and Necrophagia.
Charles Schuldiner was an American musician. He founded the death metal band Death in 1983, in which he was the lead vocalist, guitarist, primary songwriter and only continuous member until his death in 2001. His obituary in the January 5, 2002 issue of Kerrang! described him as "one of the most significant figures in the history of metal." Schuldiner was ranked No. 10 in Joel McIver's book The 100 Greatest Metal Guitarists in 2009 and No. 20 in March 2004 Guitar World's "The 100 Greatest Metal Guitarists". In 1987, Schuldiner founded the publishing company Mutilation Music, affiliated with performance rights organization BMI. Schuldiner died in 2001 of a brain tumor.
Thomas Richard Christy Jr. is an American drummer and radio personality, best known for being the former drummer for several heavy metal bands since the early 1990s, most notably Death, and his tenure on The Howard Stern Show. Born and raised in Kansas, Christy took an interest in rock and heavy metal music in his youth, and started playing the drums at age ten. He played in several bands while at school.
Bay Area thrash metal referred to a steady following of heavy metal bands in the 1980s who formed and gained international status in the San Francisco Bay Area in California. Along with Central Florida, the scene was widely regarded as a starting point of American thrash metal, crossover thrash and death metal.
Scream Bloody Gore is the debut studio album by American death metal band Death, released on May 25, 1987, by Combat Records. It is considered by many to be "the first true death metal record". Chuck Schuldiner, the band’s founder and leader, performed guitar, bass and vocals, and composed all tracks on the album.
Spiritual Healing is the third studio album by American death metal band Death, released on February 16, 1990, by Combat Records. It is the band's only album to feature both guitarist James Murphy and bassist Terry Butler and the last to feature drummer Bill Andrews.
Individual Thought Patterns is the fifth studio album by American death metal band Death, released on June 22, 1993, by Relativity Records. It is the only album by the band to feature guitarist Andy LaRocque, the first to feature drummer Gene Hoglan and the second and last to feature bassist Steve DiGiorgio. Manager Eric Greif described the album as "an angry record, angry lyrically", attributing it to his conflict with Chuck Schuldiner at the time.
Deron John Miller is an American musician and songwriter. He is best known as the former lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of the rock band CKY, which he co-founded in 1998. Other bands Miller fronts include the progressive metal band Foreign Objects, the melodic death metal band World Under Blood, the death metal band Malevolent Creation, and the alternative metal band 96 Bitter Beings.
Paul Albert Masvidal is an American musician, best known as the guitarist, singer and a founding member of the progressive metal band Cynic. He has remained a continual member in Cynic for nearly three decades and has developed numerous other projects including Æon Spoke, Onward with Love, and Masvidal. Masvidal was ranked in Loudwire's 66 Best Hard Rock + Metal Guitarists of All Time and 50 Best Metal Songwriters of All Time.
Shannon Hamm is a death metal guitarist who played in Death from 1996 until their break-up in 2001. He then joined Chuck Schuldiner's second band Control Denied, which ended with the death of Schuldiner in 2001. Before Death, he was a locally well known guitarist in the Texas underground metal scene. He was particularly good friends with "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott of Pantera and Damageplan. According to Abbott, Hamm "out shredded" Darrell in Pantera's glam metal days while Hamm was in a band named Metalstorm.
Scott Clendenin was an American musician most notable for his time spent in the bands Death and Control Denied, both of which were formed by Chuck Schuldiner. Following Schuldiner's passing, Death disbanded, which left the members to go about their own paths, with Clendenin being the only member to retire for the time being. In 2012, he came out of retirement to play for Death to All, former members of Death paying tribute to Schuldiner, as well as members of Cynic, Intronaut, Abysmal Dawn, and Exhumed. Clendenin died on March 24, 2015, with former bandmates and Death's manager Eric Greif expressing their shock and sympathy.
Oliver Michael Drake, known as Ol Drake, Old Rake or OL Drake, is an English musician, most notably the vocalist and lead guitarist of the thrash metal band Evile.
Brad Fernquist is a professional touring and studio guitarist. Fernquist is primarily known for his work with Buffalo, New York based rock band the Goo Goo Dolls. At 17 years old Fernquist began touring with regional cover bands where he was able to develop his technique and perfect his tone. Brad attended Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts for one semester but left the school after his gigging schedule started to grow.
Steffen Kummerer is a German guitarist and vocalist. He is the leader, main songwriter, vocalist, and guitarist of the death metal band Obscura, as well as the black metal band Thulcandra. Since 2012, he has been a member of the official tribute band Death to All. Kummerer's Ran custom guitar shape have become a signature shape unique to him and his band Obscura.
Mahyar Mohyeddin a.k.a. Mahyar Dean is a musician, guitarist, guitar instructor, author, and founding member of the Iranian/ American heavy metal act Angband, the first such band to be signed to a label.
Hedras David Ramos Velasquez is a Guatemalan multi-instrumentalist, specializing in guitar. Throughout his career he has opened for popular bands such as Kansas, Whitecross, Die Toten Hosen, and was chosen by Axl Rose to open for Guns N' Roses on their "Chinese Democracy" show in Guatemala.
Florida death metal is a regional scene and stylistic subdivision of death metal. Some of the most significantly pioneering and best-selling death metal acts emerged in Florida, especially in the Tampa Bay area. As a result, Tampa is unofficially known by many death metal fans as the "capital of death metal." The scene coalesced in the mid-1980s through early 1990s around the output of bands such as Death, Nasty Savage, Deicide, Monstrosity, Morbid Angel, Atheist, Obituary, and others. The producer Scott Burns and the studio Morrisound Recording were also instrumental in developing and popularizing the Florida scene. Some bands which originated outside of Florida, such as Malevolent Creation and Cannibal Corpse, relocated to the state in order to participate in this burgeoning scene. The Florida bands featured a more technical approach to the evolving death metal sound, a style which spread beyond the confines of the state, and some were instrumental in creating the progressive death metal subgenre. The death metal genre as a whole, including the Florida scene, declined in popularity in the second half of the 1990s, but many bands within the Florida scene persisted and the scene resurged in popularity in subsequent decades.
Scott Carlson is an American musician, who most notably worked as the lead vocalist and bassist of pioneering grindcore band Repulsion. Additionally, he was briefly the bassist and one of the vocalists of pioneering death metal band Death, as well as bassist of doom metal band Cathedral, bassist and vocalist of Swedish death metal band Death Breath, vocalist of Japanese doom metal band Church of Misery, bassist of hardcore punk band Septic Tank, guitarist of garage rock band The Superbees and guitarist of From Beyond.
Bobby Koelble is an American guitarist who performs in the death metal, blues, funk and jazz genres, and as a freelance studio musician. He is probably best known for his performances with the death metal band Death. The album he played on, Symbolic, was regarded by Joel McIver of British music magazine Record Collector "as close to flawless as metal gets."
