Some Death Metal fans get a little bit annoyed about how much attention this band gets compared to other, more unsung 80s Death Metal bands, and especially with them being given credit for creating the Death Metal sound when at least some of that credit more properly belongs to their contemporaries. Part of the reason for this is certainly that Death were very, very good at doing what they did. Their first 3 albums are still considered by many people today (and also by me) as being among the best Death Metal albums ever released, and this combined with some miraculous good timing and getting more exposure than the other Death Metal bands of their time that has ensured that their name has become legendary. Personally speaking, they were the first Death Metal band that I ever really noticed as a teenage Thrash Metal fan, and for a long time after that were the only one that I paid any real attention to.

Death have never had a stable line-up for very long and the band has been totally dissolved and a new line-up recruited numerous times. The only person to appear on all of their albums is founder member Chuck Schuldiner, and many people do consider Death to be essentially Chuck Schuldiner + others. This is definately not meant as an insult to some of those others, the calibre of which should be immediately obvious when considering some of the other projects that they have been involved with. Indeed many of them have been leaders of some very important bands in their own right, and former members of Death have appeared in a surprisingly diverse range of other bands.

Chuck formed Death under the name of Mantas in 1983, but changed both their musical direction and their name after hearing the band Possessed who were to be a major influence on their early material. They released their first demo "Death by Metal" in 1984, which was to become the first of many demos that followed. Their first album "Scream Bloody Gore" was released in 1987 and was a huge success. The sound was essentially fairly simple traditional Death Metal with gore-obsessed lyrics. As is the case with other 80s Death Metal bands, there is a Thrash Metal influence in their sound as well that is largely absent from more contemporary Death Metal bands. Chuck's vocals in particular are different from the low growl that later Death Metal bands almost always use, and some Death Metal fans may find that they take a bit of getting used to.

They were able to follow this up with an equally strong follow-up in the forms of "Leprosy". By this time, the Thrash Metal scene that had recently enjoyed an explosion in popularity had entered a phase of creative torpor from which it never really recovered. Many of the increasingly disillusioned Thrash Metal fanbase turned to Death, along with other bands from the Florida Death Metal scene such as Morbid Angel and Obituary, to provide the challenge and creativity that their own scene was starting to lack. By the late 80s, Death Metal was very much in the ascendency, with Death as it's most popular and definative band. I do think that the quality of Death's music played a large part in the increasing the popularity of Death Metal at this important time for the genre.

In the 90s, Death's music became increasingly melodic and technical. Each album sounding less Death Metal and more Progressive than before until they reached a point with their last album "Individual Thought Patterns" where they could be considered to actually be a Progressive Metal band, and not a Death Metal band anymore. Their lyrics also underwent a transformation from being typically Death Metal gore obsessed lyrics to being thought provoking and intelligent lyrics about social and psychological issues.

The quality is consistently high throughout all of Death's discography, but this evolution in the band's sound makes recommending which albums anyone who is new to the band should try very easy. If you are a Death Metal fan then I recommend starting with "Scream Bloody Gore" and working through their albums chronologically, but if you are a Death Metal fan then you probably already knew that anyway. This is one of those cases where anyone that claims to be a fan of a genre really "should" have heard a band within it and saying so isn't being a fanboy or an elitist prick. Progressive Metal fans may want to do the opposite and work backwards from "Individual Thought Patterns". Whatever type of Metal you like I would say that you owe it to yourself to hear them all.

Chuck dissolved Death for the last time in the late 90s to concentrate on his new band Control Denied. After releasing one album with this band, Chuck Schuldiner died from brain-stem cancer on December 13th, 2001. A tragic loss to the Metal world. A 2nd Control Denied album is unfinished and there are many musicians in the Metal scene who are eager to work on finishing it, but legal issues have stopped this from happening so far.

Below is a list of musicians involved with "Death" during their career.

Chuck Schuldiner - Rhythm and lead guitars, Vocals, main songwriter (1983-1999)
Kam Lee (Barney Lee)- Drums, Vocals (1983-1985)
Rick Rozz (Frederick DeLillo) - Guitars(1983-1985, 1987-1989)
Scott Carlson - Bass (1985)
Matt Olivio - Guitar (1985)
Eric Bregt - Drums (1985)
Eric (last name unknown) - Bass (1985)
John Hand - Guitar (Never played anything live or on any album) (1987)
Albert Gonzalez - Guitar (1990)
Chris Reifert - Drums (1986-1987)
Terry Butler - Bass (1987-1990)
Bill Andrews - Guitar (1987-1990)
James Murphy - Guitar (1990)
Steve DiGiorgio - Bass (1986, 1991, 1993)
Walter Trachsler - Guitar (1990)
Louie Carrisalez - Vocals (1990)
Sean Reinert - Drums (1991-1992)
Skott Carino - Bass (1991-1992)
Paul Masdival - Guitar (1990-1991)
Gene Hoglan - Drums (1993-1995)
Andy LaRocque (Anders Allhage) - Guitar (1993)
Ralph Santolla - Guitar (1993)
Craig Locicero - guitar (1993)
Kelly Conlon - Bass (1995)
Chris Williams - Drums (1996)
Bobby Koelble - Guitar (1995)
Richard Christy - Drums (1996-1999)
Scott Clendenin - Bass (1996-1999)
Shannon Hamm - Guitar (1996-1999)