Death by Metal

Interviews with a handful of revolving band members and metal magazine writers and their only mentioned (and shown) manager.

Personally, went from Guns 'N Roses to Metallica to Megadeth then straight to a given audio cassette dub of whatever album Zombie Ritual was on. Probably an early one. Started me on death metal just fine and started me phasing out Peter Gabriel's Sledgehammer.

That manager was fired by Chuck Schuldiner, the founder and owner of Death. Chuck blames him for mishandling their financial funding and the manager (who is honest and telling and sits in front of his piano for some reason (possibly to differentiate himself from the leather jackets or black shirts that everyone else wears)) for having to get an advance in payment for their European tour. They blame each other.

The interviews go into: the struggles with the band and Chuck's problem with fulfilling European tour dates and winning back their fans and failing. The acceptance of his musical career from his mother while they shook the house roof from the garage. Chuck's ability to sing like he could fill in for King Diamond when King had a heart attack. Pulling the band into a more progressive death metal. And Chuck's mortality.

Would have liked if it had gone into who designed the album covers, but that credit might be in the always cigarette smelling cassette tape sleeves.

Good work and excellent documentary on very special death metal! Especially with the footage, interviews and still shots, that's a 9!

"Death by Metal" (2016) is a documentary on Chuck Schuldiner and his musical journey that started as a pre-teen and ended with his passing in 2001 at the age of 34 from a brain tumor. From 1987-1998 he released seven Death albums with a revolving door of bandmates. His career ended with an album consisting of the final members of Death and an actual singer (rather than a death growler). The new band was Control Denied. Demos were written and four songs recorded without vocals for the follow-up opus when Chuck passed from this plane (you can hear these songs on Youtube, just punch-in Control Denied WHEN MAN AND MACHINE COLLIDE).

The many people interviewed include musicians Chris Reifert, Rock Rozz DeLillo, Steve DiGiorgio, Gene Hoglan, Terry Butler, Sean Reinert, Richard Christy and Shannon Hamm, manager Eric Greif, journalist Jeff Wagner and producer Jim Morris, as well as Chuck's sister and mother. Some key musicians are noted but not interviewed, like guitarist James Murphy.

It's odd that the singer for Control Denied, Tim Aymar, isn't even mentioned, possibly due to a production decision. I guess you can't have everything, particularly with a limited runtime.

Naturally the focus is on Chuck and I like the chronological telling of his journey from album to album with snippets of corresponding songs throughout.

Like most thinkers, writers, artists & creative types, Chuck was reserved, driven by his art, preferred to create at home and avoided social drama, which would explain a couple European tours cancelled at the midpoint. The movie elaborates on these things. While all the commenters are respectful of Chuck, it's not all gushing praise. He had his curious idiosyncrasies.

In my opinion, Chuck's best piece is 1995's SYMBOLIC by Death, a stunning masterpiece.

The film runs 1 hour, 47 minutes.

GRADE: A.

No one ever mentions anything about his own perspective or what was going on in his mind. He is mostly portrayed as the bad guy throughout the whole documentary. He most likely had recordings or writings, that could be a journal or letters written by him but they didn't include any meaningful information from his side. His story was told by others, and he was described based on what others thought of him, not who he actually was. This leads to a misunderstanding of his actions and mindset. I am pretty sure most people who watched this documentary said "What did this man think he was doing?" and judged him for being so selfish or whatever. This can be considered a disrespect to one's memory. Someone's story shouldn't be told if their own perspective can't be included.

DEATH BY METAL chronicles the rise, and continual evolution of visionary death metal guitarist / lyricist / vocalist, Chuck Schuldiner and his band DEATH. We are guided through its multiple lineup changes, sudden tour detonations, and Chuck's frustration with the inflexible nature of the very genre that he helped to launch.

This documentary contains many of the musicians who were there during the band's heyday, as well as the constant challenges, leading up to Chuck's sudden, final battle with terminal illness.

Mr. Schuldiner was a unique man with so many ideas about the music he wrote and performed. Each DEATH album is also unique, showcasing his talent and diverse style.

A wonderful tribute to Chuck, his band, and his fans...