A Review of the Album Called "Scream Bloody Gore" by the Death Metal Band Called Death Released in 1987

Chuck Schuldiner (1967-2001) was the front man and founder of the Tampa Florida band Death. What some you may not know is how did this influential man begin his career and eventually establish himself as one of the best US born guitarists? The first album that he wrote is the one called Scream Bloody Gore which was released in 1987. One word of warning though: most of the song titles might make some people feel queasy in their stomach. As of 2020, this article will pretty much be a review of this debut album plus some brief commentary about the influence of Chuck Schuldiner.

An Analysis of the Album called "Scream Bloody Gore"

We would be missing an important piece to the puzzle if we did not discuss and review the debut album of this great band called Scream Bloody Gore. "Zombie Ritual" has a really nice exotic riff and is the first song I ever heard from this album. Denial of Life features the sort of screams that we have never heard from him before. In this decade that was common because even Chuck Billy did that kind of vocal style early in the career of Testament. The final analysis is that Chuck Schuldiner started his career with a debut album that had lyrical content that may leave some fans wanting to stay away from the music but he developed the band’s style using more melody and eventually jazz influences which strengthened his position among the greatest guitarists of all time. In terms of the first analysis of his career through this article if we had to say where he ranks among the best guitarists of all time, he probably should be at least in the Top 15 greatest of all time. Listening to the debut album of Florida based death metal band called Death even in 2021, Scream Bloody Gore shows that Schuldiner was not only destined for greatness but he would end up influencing the rise of other death metal bands such as Avulsed which would come onto the scene in 1991 and that band would take the heaviness even further.

In his 34 years on this planet that we call Earth, he dazzled us with his creative, intricate melodies and superb guitar work. He was responsible for the creation of seven studio albums and the several demos. MTV incorrectly categorized him as a guitarist that played grindcore and death metal. Actually, I’ve heard enough of his work to know that he actually played an early form of melodic death metal after the first two albums. Schuldiner responded to the claims that he was the godfather of death metal saying: “In my opinion Venom was the first to have that brutal vocal styles, tuned low, that initial brutal aggression. But maybe I’ve kept it going to what death metal is today,” (Wiederhorn, 2017).

To say that Scream Bloody Gore was a revolutionary release when it first came out in May 1987 may be open to debate. Loudwire Magazine contributor Jon Wiederhorn whom we addressed earlier describes this album as a release that has blast beats and simple riffing. I wouldn’t say that the riffing is simple but it is brutal and heavy as heck for that time period. The song called "Mutilation" has Chuck’s voice kind of drowned out in the music but in this early time period the death metal sound was pretty primitive. Scream Bloody Gore is still a darn good release by perhaps the greatest American death metal band of all time but the great thing is that this band would get even better as their career progressed.

The brilliance of the one and only Chuck Schuldiner pretty much guaranteed that the band Death would be around for a while. To say that this debut from the band Death has simple riffing would be inaccurate. The first song Infernal Death has those growls from Chuck Schuldiner as you know that this is going to be a death metal album. Stylistically this debut is very much like Leprosy which would come out soon after this one. In those days, bands would release albums really soon. It was pretty common standard practice for bands to release a new album every year or two. The drumming on this album is not double bass, but rather the old 1980s raw style that you would hear on death metal albums of the period.

This is how guitarist Chuck Schuldiner started his career, releasing a very raw and brutal death metal album that was one of the defining works of the period.

Reference

Wiederhorn, J. (2017, December 13). 16 YEARS AGO: DEATH FOUNDER + DEATH METAL PIONEER CHUCK SCHULDINER DIES.