I feel chucks progression from just scream bloody gore to humans is fantastic but from individual thought pattern to his final album sound of perseverance is just pure ecstasy. The amount of exotic riffs and just powerful songs just blows me away every time I listen to it. Possibly my biggest influence on my playing right now on the axe and what I’m practicing
@@ewanheycock9986 what are you trying to say too about me who's asking "what are you trying to say too?" To the guy that said "what are you trying to say"?
Funny that you should say that I was listening to symbolic on the trip from lake of Ozarks back to the st Louis area and I was thinking if Mozart did metal this is what it would sound like.
The first time I saw Death they played in a storage unit, before they had any following. They were a local band here in Altamonte Springs, FL. I didn't realize the greatness I was witnessing at the time. Miss those days.
I named my first son "chuck" because of him. I do believe he is and was a pioneer of the death style playing. He did predict the future in many ways, 1000 eyes was a good example. Thank you for carrying on his legacy
Best Death Metal Guitarists: 1. Chuck Schuldiner 2. Trey Azagtoth 3. Terrence Hobbs 4. Pat O’Brien 5. Jack Owen 6. Karl Sanders 7. Muhammed Suiçmez 8. John Gallagher 9. Mikael Åkerfeldt 10. Alexi Laiho
Death have come up to enter my top 5 bands of all time list. Im obsessed with Death right now! Ive been listening none stop to them for the last few weeks.
I must mention that Eindhoven is a city in the Netherlands my dear Shred, and yes he is the God. I think I have seen an interview where Chuck says that he had a neighbours who always bothered him while practicing in his basement or what ever. they were the evil he meant, but not totally sure about it. peace
My favorite piece on “Symbolic” is “Crystal Mountain”, yet, what are crystal mountains? Chuck - “They are synonimous for my over critical neighbours, which this song is all about. They believe they live a perfect life in a crystal mountain. Unfortunately, I live next door to this religious fanatics, who live unwordly and certainly not in the just described mountains. I’m sorry but those people are not that different from me. They have to pay taxes also and they should not be disturbed by looks like long hair. Although it’s not religious at all my neighbours are filled with hate and judge me. In this song there’s a cross changing into a sword, symbolic for the abuse of their religion. I have nothing against religion in general, but religion should not be directed against others. In “Crystal Mountain” I expressed my hate and anger towards these people. It’s easy to see that “Symbolic” contains very personal songs, i.e. “Empty Words”, every day you say things to people that later appear to be empty. It’s easy to promise mountains of gold, yet it’s hard to keep this promise. Spoken words should have a meaning and not just be hollow phrases just being said to be said. You should think about what you want to say and you have to be sure to say what you mean. I hope people can relate to this theme because it definitely is a very personal song." (Heavy oder was! 1995)
@@Mutabor1981 Thank you so much for this insight on Chuck's words about the song's meanings! Lately I've been digging his work more and more. Yesterday just bought his last 4 albums with Death. I'll be releasing an instrumental song honoring the man and his great music with my project, soon to be a live band, Damage Device. Thank You, You Rooock!🤘! www.youtube.com/@DamageDeviceBand/videos
Hey Shred, have you ever done a video on your musical background? You're so knowledgeable so I'm kinda curious on where your came from and how you learned what you know?
Yeah I’m always wondering more about this dude. At first I wasn’t sure but after watching Shred for a while I can tell he obviously knows his shit and is a cool guy I’d like to know more about.
Haven't started the video yet, but the answer is YES. Crystal Mountain was a good choice. I'm 46, and I could have seen Chuck live a few times, but I never did. Was about to go to see him on the Sound of Perseverance tour, but some shit happened that made it impossible. Never would have figured he'd die so soon... RIP
After Chuck I'm gonna say the next two are Trey Azagthoth and James Murphy (Murphy has seemed to fade from memory, but goddamn is he good). His lead work in Death, Obituary and Disincarnate is insane.
I'm 46 and was lucky enough to not only be front row death live in LA but partied with them back at the hotel on sunset Blvd definitely a highlight of my life power loyalty and respect Fresno CA
I agree James Murphy has a style sound that is recognizable right away spiritual healing was the epitomy epicness of death metal perfection! Murphy killed it in testament low as well....
Check out Atheists "Unquestionable Presence" blows anything by Death away. They started philosophical, technical, jazzy, prog death metal and never got the credit for it.
Chuck is one of my favorite musicians ever. He opened the door to truly brutal, but controlled, metal. He took what the the thrash bands of the 80s did and rose it to another level and opened the door for future artists to take it even farther. I would consider Death’s prime (Human, Symbolic etc.) as more progressive or even melodic death metal and not true Death Metal though. Chuck Forever 🤘
Death songs also prove how important bass is in metal, especially live shows. Helps make the chord progressions feel more comfortable and comprehend-able if you can’t hear the notes under the heavy distortion(we’ve all been there I think)
I was a 14 year old freshman in high school. I went to the local record store to buy a new metal album. Talked to the guy at the counter. He said check out the new release by band called DEATH. So I picked up the cassette tape, yes I was in high school in the 80s, and saw the picture of the robed skeleton sitting on the throne raising a challis. I knew instantly that was the album for me, I was hooked just by the cover artwork. Scream Bloody Gore is still my favorite DEATH release of all time. Can't top Regurgitated guts or Mutilation.
He is the GOAT for me for sure. There are people with more technical chops and deeper understanding of theory, people who have made unique and great music, but whenever I go back to Death, I notice new things, new nuance, from the songs I've heard hundreds of times. And the way he repeatedly found people who could do things he couldn't and had them add their touches to his compositions, giving the different albums completely different vibes while maintaining that Death undertone is great.
Stop it. Chuck is one of my heroes but there are quite a few guitarists better than him. For the genre, maybe, but overall, no. He's definitely not better than Nuno Bettencourt, Dave Mustaine, Steve Vai, Alexi Laiho, John Petrucci, John 5, Joe Satriani, Eddie Van Halen, Prince, Randy Rhoads, & Dimebag.
I remember in the late 80s hearing the Death albums Leprosy and spiritual healing. My Idol used to be James Heitfeld before that. Chuck Schuldner became my new guitar hero riff maker.
Yes he was and he is. I wasn’t newb in music culture and was familiar with guitar music and some metal genres but when one guy from college gave me a cassette with Symbolic album and I listened it for a first time…I’ve got a culture shock, that tape changed my world so much. I still remember all riffs from this album. And two years later one friend opened to me a Cynic band with their In Focus album, where i found something completely new and interesting in track named Textures. Listening it again and again I found it to be a secret door to the world of fusion metal music. And it was so hard to find any tapes in our country at those days, as soon as worldwide web was expensive, very slow and just unexplored yet.
I used to cover this song years ago in my band. So much fun. Chuck was so good at vocal patterns that are fun to scream while playing guitar. The best Death Metal guitarist for sure. The emotion he played with (especially the solos) is above everyone else in the genre.
Here's some fun info. Prior to his involvement in Death, Richard Christy live here in Missouri (Springfield to be precise) and played in my buddy's band Public Assassin. They were fucking amazing. This was early 90s. Also, spoke with Bobby Koelble who played on Symbolic. Chuck never learned any theory. He was entirely self taught by ear. He never communicated in any sort of technical musical jargon.
@@HeatherRichardson-g3p Richard quit professional music to become part of the Howard Stern Show around 20 years ago, where he still works. He lives in NYC.
Yeah most of the time when I listen to death, I tend to only listen to the older albums over the latest ones. It’s not that I don’t like it, it’s actually amazing music. But there was definitely a difference and I guess I just can’t let go of the energy that those first 4 albums had.
DYING FETUS and OBSCURA seem to be pushing the progressive envelope. I love DEATH. If one's journey end's with them, That's cool, but there are some great bands keeping it moving on.
Chuck is among my favorites of all time, so ofcourse I'm going to be bias and say he's the best Death Metal Guitarist and writer. He would not be scared to keep a complicated/exotic scales and then simplify it with a crunchy riff and on top of that do non-masturbatory solos.
Arguably one of the best guitar players in death metal for sure, I hated metal until I heard death and chucks riffs basically taught me how to play metal.
The album 'death Live in L.A.' it was written in the album that Chuck had been sick with a flu in some performances, possibly also this one, but specifically live in L.A. you can see and hear he is giving his soul to play the songs but in this footage you can really hear how is voice is really sore from vocalizing it almost seems like he needs to clear his throat after each verse. Still he's killer
All my homies hate cancer. I love chuck so fucking much i wish he was still here with us. I really wonder what he would be doing musically and i know it would be mind blowing.
"Crystal mountain" never get's old. I can listen to it any time. Just a perfect composition. Anyway, to answer your question Shred, he very well could be, I just can't never put anyone over Tony Iommi. Just one example, Take a listen to Sabbath bloody Sabbath again, consider that composition, tuning & crunch was created in 1973, when no one else was doing it. There was no blue print. Chuck on the other hand had all sorts of blue prints, he built a unique style like Tony Iommi, but he did have Tony Iommi's music to base his ideas off of. Because of that, Tony Iommi still in at #1
Uh Eindhoven Germany!?!? The enthusiasm for Chucks amazing playing is playing geographical tricks on you Shred. You mean the The Netherlands of course. Saw Chuck live both in Eindhoven at the Dynamo Open Air fest and at De Noorderlicht. Amazing player. Check out the work he did with Mille from Kreator.
As I understand, the lyrics are about a neighbor Chuck had that were holier than thou religious folk. They believed they lived in a crystal mountain (ie perfect home), but inside crystal mountain, evil (judgmental) takes it's form.
Oh without a doubt. I tried introducing Death to my friends when I was 14 yrs old and all they could comment on was the growly voice and said they couldn't understand what he was saying. I just shook my head and realized Northern Wisconsin was a pretty tough place for a true metal head in the mid to late 80's. Once metal became popular in the 90's there was a brief time when Chuck received part of his due then eventually God forbid he sing with clean vocals! Folks forgot the true spirit of metal once it was popular to listen. The ties to classical music and metal are so clear. Chuck gave us some of the evilist chord progressions mixed with complex melodies and even song structure and tempo changes that brought such a dramatic tension and release to the music. I love hearing people react to piano covers and finely are willing to hear some of what he gave us.
He's my all time favourite i didn't get into his music until after he passed, symbolic and the sound of perseverance are my favourite albums .i got a tattoo of him on my ribs i was in agony the whole time, so worth it
Being the lead and only singer, being able to melt faces on guitar PLUS sounding almost the same live as he/they did on record is unbelievable. Also, he made Scream Bloody Gore basically by himself so yeah. He's a 🐐
Personally my favorite in the ways of best Death Metal guitarists go all the way back to Trey Azagthoth of Morbid Angel, but Chuck has his place well embedded in history either way.
What can I say about Death and Chuck…!!! Amazing album work and amazing live performances where everything was played as if you were listening to the album. Always on the spot. There are a lot more complicated Death songs but crystal mountain gives you a good idea of Death’s music
I just learned how to play this song, took me 3 good weeks to nail it. Mind u i work fulltime and powerlift so i dont habe 8 hrs a day to practice but i did it finally. Fucking love this song. GIMME CHUCK OR GIVE ME DEATH... Also, for a different band to check out for pappa shred is edge of sanity swedish band founded by Dan swano, hes another one of those amazing melodic death composer and song writer on similar level as our God Mr, schuldiner.
The only reason I would say he isn't is because of Alexi Laiho, but Chuck is a VERY close second. Honestly one of the better guitarists I've heard no matter the genre.
I'm almost positive there are a few interviews where Chuck says he tries his best to stay away from religious topics and all that. That was the reason i think the band name logo changed from the upside down cross to the sickle. After watching this video though what you said kinda makes sense. Chuck was and still is the man, I listen to Symbolic, The Sound of Perseverance, Individual Thought Patterns, daily. He was and still is a huge inspiration on my guitar playing. The man is definitely missed by fans, friends and family to this day and beyond.
I read somewhere that Crystal Mountain was about a Born Again Christian couple that lived near Chuck. That they were not practicing what they preached. I could be wrong, but that's what I read.
I remember buying a Death cassette tape years ago. Purchased a used Valvestate 8100 from a friend recently. It's amazing to see how much Chuck did with that amp, incredible video!
Chuck at least brought elements to the genre others do not even think about. Almost all bands at this time came up with something new. This era was very creative. Death seems to be the heart of all that pushing the boundaries and opening the doors for new influences approach what finally leads to a variety of different under-genres within the Scene.
wow sick you did this video. Chuck is insanely under rated not just in the metal community but in the music world. His artistic creations are absolutely genius
