DEATH

Founded in 1983 by Chuck Schuldiner under the original name of Mantas in Orlando, Florida.Death was among the more widely known, early pioneers of the death metal sound along with California's Possessed. In the late 80s, the band was both a part of and integral in defining the death metal scene which gained international recognition with the release of albums by a number of area acts.

Together with Kam Lee (Barney Kamalani Lee), and Rick Rozz (Frederick DeLillo), Schuldiner started to compose songs that were released on several rehearsal tapes in 1984.These tapes, along with the Death by Metal demo, circulated through the tape-trader world, quickly establishing the band's name. In 1984, Schuldiner dissolved Mantas and quickly started a new band under the name Death. Tim Aymar, in an article written in December 2010, states that Chuck Schuldiner renamed the band Death in order to turn his experience of the death of his brother Frank years earlier into "something positive".Its members included the same Rick Rozz and Kam Lee. Another demo was released, called Reign of Terror.

In 1985, the Infernal Death tape was recorded and released. Rick Rozz was out of the band by early 1985. Kam Lee played with Scott Carlson and Matt Olivo, bassist and guitarist respectively, of the band Repulsion for a short time. However, Kam had some "personal problems" that caused him to be ejected from the band. Olivo and Carlson left soon afterward. Schuldiner moved to the San Francisco Bay Area and recruited DRI drummer Eric Brecht, then recorded the Back from the Dead demo. However, Chuck was not happy with this incarnation of Death and moved back to Florida without a band. In 1986, Schuldiner got an invitation from early Canadian thrash band Slaughter to play on their album, which he accepted, moving to Canada. However, this only lasted two weeks, and he returned to the States. He returned to Florida, then moved back to the San Francisco Bay Area again, where he joined with 17-year-old drummer Chris Reifert. They recorded the Mutilation demo, which led to a deal with Combat Records, owned by Important Distribution (later becoming Relativity, and subsequently Sony), that enabled them to record the first LP.

Scream Bloody Gore was released in 1987, widely considered a genre template for death metal. Schuldiner briefly had a second guitar player, John Hand, but Hand did not appear on the album (though his photo did). By this time Schuldiner had moved back to Florida, splitting with Reifert who had elected to remain in California, where he went on to form Autopsy. There, Schuldiner teamed up with former bandmate Rick Rozz and two members of Rozz's band Massacre, Terry Butler and Bill Andrews.

Musicians

Final lineup

Chuck Schuldiner – guitar (1983–2001), lead vocals (1984–2001), bass (1987–1988) (deceased)

Shannon Hamm – guitar (1996–2001)

Scott Clendenin – bass (1996–2001) (deceased on March 24 2015)

Richard Christy – drums (1996–2001)

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Previous musicians

Guitarists

Rick Rozz (1983–1985, 1987–1989)

Matt Olivo (1985)

Paul Masvidal (1989, 1990, 1991–1992)

Albert Gonzalez (1990)

James Murphy (1989–1990)

Andy LaRocque (1993)

Ralph Santolla (1993)

Bobby Koelble (1995)

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Bassists

Dave Tett (1984)

Scott Carlson (1985; also vocals)

Erik Meade (1985)

Terry Butler (1987–1990)

Steve DiGiorgio (1986, 1991, 1993–1994 (on the Symbolic demos), 1997–1998 (only on The Sound of Perseverance demos))

Kelly Conlon (1995)

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Drummers

Kam Lee (1983–1985) vocals (1983–1984)

Eric Brecht (1985)

Chris Reifert (1986–1987)

Bill Andrews (1987–1990)

Sean Reinert (1991–1992)

Gene Hoglan (1993–1995)

Richard Christy (1996-2001)

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Live musicians

Skott Carino - bass (1991–1992)

Ralph Santolla - guitar (1994)

Craig Locicero - guitar (1993)

Brian Benson - bass (1995)

DiscographY

• Scream Bloody Gore (1987)
• Leprosy (1988)
• Spiritual Healing (1990)
• Human (1991)
• Individual Thought Patterns (1993)
• Symbolic (1995)
• The Sound of Perseverance (1998)