Chuck Schuldiner

Charles Michael "Chuck" Schuldiner (May 13, 1967, Long Island, New York, USA - December 13, 2001) was an American musician, guitarist, vocalist, songwriter and founding member of the band Death and Control Denied. He died from complications of a brainstem glioma (cancer) on December 13, 2001.

He is considered "the father of death metal,", although he said he did not feel comfortable with the nickname: "I shouldn't take the credit for this death metal thing., because I'm just a musician, and Death is a heavy metal band.

Biography

Early years

He was born on May 13, 1967 in Long Island (New York), into a family of Jewish origin. He had two older siblings, Frank and Bethann. His family moved to Florida in 1968.

When his brother Frank died in an accident at age 16, Chuck's parents bought him an acoustic guitar at age 9 to help him cope with the loss. He received classical guitar lessons, but he didn't like them and abandoned them after less than a year. Then his parents bought him an electric guitar and from that moment on Chuck did not stop practicing day and night in his room or in the garage, limited only by school activities.

His first influences were, among others, Kiss and Billy Idol. He then became interested in the "New Wave Of British Heavy Metal" (NWOBHM) movement with bands like Venom, Angel Witch, Diamond Head, etc. and especially Iron Maiden, which was one of his favorite bands. His last influences that marked his final style were thrash metal groups from the Bay Area scene such as Slayer, Sepultura and Possessed. His mother claimed that Chuck liked all types of music except country and rap. In addition, he was a fan of jazz, progressive rock and classical music, styles that he would later implement in Death.

Apparently, he did well in school, but it bored him and he preferred to drop out, something he regretted in the future.

Musical career

He formed his first group in 1983. It was first called Mantas and then it became Death. There he played the song "Black Magic" by the American band Slayer.

In January 1986, he temporarily joined the Canadian band Slaughter as guitarist, but quickly returned to his original group.

In that period, Death underwent several changes in its lineup. Even so, with Chris Reifert, they released their first album, titled Scream Bloody Gore, in 1987. The album is considered one of the first death metal albums. Later, he released Leprosy with rhythm guitarist Rick Rozz, Terry Butler on bass (Terry did not actually play bass on the album, but Chuck himself did, who, due to their friendship, left him on credits) and Bill Andrews on drums. In 1990, Spiritual Healing was launched, where Rozz was replaced by James Murphy.

After Spiritual Healing, he stopped working with entire groups to start working with session musicians, after bad relationships between guitarists. This caused him to be considered a perfectionist within the metal community. He also fired his manager Eric Greif, but rehired him after releasing his next album.

Death would release an innovative album, Human, where you could see a band that had evolved towards a more technical and more progressive style, in which you could see Chuck's great musical abilities. Death maintained and deepened the style, as can be seen on the later albums Individual Thought Patterns, Symbolic and The Sound of Perseverance.

He played guitar in the Voodoocult project (in which other legends of the genre such as Dave Lombardo of Slayer and Mille Petrozza of Kreator participated) on the album Jesus Killing Machine.

He founded a heavy metal band called Control Denied and released The Fragile Art of Existence in 1999. Control Denied was the project that used to fulfill Chuck's need to just be the lead guitarist, in addition to composing and writing.

Unfortunately, Control Denied's second album When Man and Machines Collide "will never see the light of day", as indicated by the administrator of Death's official Facebook page to the question from a fan. "Unfortunately, there will be no second Control Denied album. It was a huge task, and Chuck told Jim Morris that if it couldn't be done the way he envisioned it, it shouldn't be done. Too many years have passed. E".

Fight against cancer

In May 1999, Schuldiner had pain in the upper part of his neck. Believing they were due to a compressed nerve, he went to the chiropractor and after acupuncture and massage therapies, an MRI exam was recommended. The examination determined that the cause of the compressed nerve was a tumor. On his birthday, May 13 of that year, he was diagnosed, probably by interpretation of the MRI, with brainstem glioma. This is a type of intracranial tumor that, due to its deep and anatomically delicate location, is not usually operated on since it does not change the patient's life prognosis. For this reason, Schuldiner begins treatment with radiotherapy. Surely because of the symptoms that Schuldiner's tumor presented, it was in the lower part of his brainstem (neck pain, pain in a nerve, which surely must have been a low cranial nerve). Unfortunately, these have a worse prognosis than brainstem gliomas. top location.

In October 1999, Schuldiner's family announced that the tumor had remitted and that Chuck was soon to recover. In January 2000, Schuldiner required surgery to remove the remains of the tumor. The operation was successful. However, the family encountered financial problems, since the total costs of the operation and treatments were around 70 thousand dollars, an amount that the family could not afford. Fundraisers and benefit concerts were organized to help pay for the treatment. The metal community realized that Chuck's life was in danger and they and his family became aware that Chuck could lose his life due to lack of funds. Meanwhile, the medical staff, after the surgery, managed to obtain a biopsy of the tumor and confirm that the diagnosis was indeed correct; Trunk glioma with its known and unfavorable prognosis.

Schuldiner continued working on his music and on Control Denied. In May 2001 the cancer returned, so Schuldiner became ill again. He was denied a surgical intervention (which he urgently needed) due to lack of financial funds. The media made reports calling on people to support him, including fellow artists on the scene. Chuck's mother, Jane Schuldiner, regarding her son's illness, recommended that everyone have health insurance, since Chuck did not have it, which showed his frustration with the country's insurance system (USA). Given the family's desperation due to the lack of financial resources to operate on Chuck, it would be necessary to analyze from a cost-benefit point of view if the operation had changed his prognosis somewhat, since the evolution of these tumors does not vary between the patients who suffer from it and It always leads to death within a few months of diagnosis.

Death

He received chemotherapy based on vincristine, a drug that was in the clinical trial phase at that time. The side effects weakened him further. In early November of that year, Schuldiner contracted pneumonia. He died at four in the afternoon on December 13, 2001, aged 34.

Beliefs

Chuck considered himself a "lover of life, animals, beer." In an interview he commented "I want to live forever if possible." He also stated that he did not write satanic songs, since he did not want people to have bad thoughts and do stupid things like self-harm. He was in favor of abortion:

"It should be legal. If I were a woman I would surely like to have the option of having a child or not. In the United States, many newborns are killed because they were unwanted. It is better to resolve it immediately when a woman finds out about the pregnancy and does not want to have a child. It is better to abort than kill a baby. That's terrible. Men cannot force women to have a child when they themselves feel they cannot.

He was known for openly opposing hard drugs, something he mentioned in several interviews and in some of his songs (such as in "Living Monstrosity", about an addicted child born to a cocaine-addicted mother).

Used equipment

Since his youth he used B.C. guitars. Rich. One of his most used models was the Stealth, which we can see in most of his photographs, although he was also seen using Jackson Warrior guitars several times. His characteristic sound, apart from his guitar and his technique, is due to his Dimarzio live used a chorus). Chuck's sound is dark and heavy, which is why he, like other death metal guitarists, used a D tuning.

Media figure

Currently he is one of the best-known figures in death metal, being highly recognized for his work in Death, the band that established him as a musician and composer.