Death - Scream Bloody Gore (1987)

Back in 1983 when the bulk of us were toddlers, infants or semen in our dad's nut sacs, a high school kid by the name of Chuck "Evil" Schuldiner formed a band named Mantas with his friends Rick Rozz and Kam Lee. A year later we would re-name his band, Death. Death was only a simple and to the point name to reflect the horror film-based lyrical content of the music he intended to create. Little did he know that this name and album would become a catalyst for an entirely new genre of metal in itself... Death Metal.

'Scream Bloody Gore,' the bands debut album was released in the summer of 1987 through Combat Records and featured the line-up of Chuck on vocals, bass and guitar as well as Chris Reifert on drums (John Hand was credited in the booklet for rhythm guitar, although he did not actually play on the album).

Comprised of heavily distorted downtuned creepy, bludgeoning, heavy as fuck riffs, frantic technical solos, hard pounding drums and throat lacerating growls and screams of insane measure; Scream Bloody Gore (as well as the bands 2nd and 3rd outputs) has always been my most favored era of Death, despite the fact that music theory fuck-o's might tell you differently. The lyrics are lifted directly from classic gore/slasher films and sickened even further. Some big shots might bitch and say these lyrics are of complete immaturity and ridiculous value, but then they are completely overlooking the fact that they were wrote by a twenty year old musician who was passionate about horror movies.

"Decapitated head licking your cunt, Sucking all the blood from your stump, Intestinal guts taking their hold, Leaving you dead, stiff and cold..."

The production is ugly and underground and it fits the music perfectly as it shows the true spirit of the 80's (and early 90's) before recording equipment made everything sound crystal clear and perfect. Forget the fact that you can barely hear the bass or that the drums are overshadowed by the guitars, this recording is brutal beyond reason, even if its not the fastest played or most guttural vocal performance ever. I absolutely love this album!

The album in my opinion features some of most classic death metal songs ever with the ultra catchy 'Zombie Ritual' or the hard hitting 'Mutilation' & 'Sacrificial' as well the title track, which is quite simply the most brutal thing conceived in music at the time. Although as a whole I find very little fault with this recording and at just thirty seven minutes its a quick and engaging lesson in what true death metal is all about.

Chuck Schuldiner was often considered the 'Godfather of Death Metal,' although he modestly told people, "I don’t think I should take the credits for this death metal stuff. I’m just a guy from a band, and I think Death is a metal band."

In case you didn't know, nine years ago today Chuck passed away as he lost his battle with cancer after a two and half year struggle. Today is the day to play your Death records LOUD, hold the horns high, drink a beer and salute one of the most important humans to ever pick up an instrument and get his frustrations out playing fast, heavy, deafening angry music, which we all know and love. Thank you, Chuck, hope you're resting well.