"I was shocked when I heard the news of Chuck's death. Immortal bassist Iscariah told me on December 15. I didn't want to believe it at first, thought it was another rumor. Until I got the confirmation from Nuclear Blast later that evening. I had to go outside to get some fresh air… Also at Nuclear Blast everybody was shocked, we did all we could to send him as much money for treatments as we could, gifts, releasing the live albums… in vain."

What did Death mean to you?
"I knew Chuck personally, because I took care of the promotion of "The Sound Of Perseverance" and the first Control Denied album in the Benelux. I met him for the first time at Dynamo Open Air, and after that at lots of gigs in the Netherlands and Belgium. He was one of the rare people who can express themselves better through their music. He was very intelligent, and always honest and firm. Death's music meant a lot to me. I've been a big fan since the "Scream Bloody Gore" album, and it only grew through time. It was an honor to me to do the promotion for this legend."

How was your contact with Chuck?
"The contact I had was good. Certainly in October 2000 when we stayed at our Boston office and we went out for around 5 days. Eating, going to bars etc. Chuck was definitely recovering and could walk again."

Did you expect this to happen?
"To be honest? No, eventually not, although unfortunately it didn't come as a complete surprise."

What meant the music of Death and Control Denied to you personally?
"Definitely Death meant a lot to me. 'Scream Bloody Gore' and 'Leprosy' transformed me into a death metal fan. Those LP's did the big job, and I'm sure that I wasn't the only one."

It isn't to be denied that we were influenced by Death. Especially on our second album 'Realm Of Ecstasy' the influences are clearly to be heard. Listen to 'And Jesus Wept', in retrospect it is quite similar to 'Living Monstrosity' of the "Spiritual Healing" album. That wasn't deliberate stealing, but Death has always been one of the big influences."

How do you look at Death's influence on the genre death metal?
"I don't want to say that Chuck invented death metal, but his influence of course has been huge. He was one of the first to sing with a grunt, and transformed heavy, brute thrash metal into something we started calling death metal. Because of his music a lot of bands started playing death metal. Chuck himself developed his music throughout the years into a kind of melodic-techno-thrash, but it stayed extreme in a certain way. He never betrayed his style. Without Death the nowadays death/thrash scene definitely would have looked different."

Did you know Chuck personally?
"A little bit. During the 'Mutilation'-demo days we wrote some letters to each other. Later I met him twice. In 1989 in Oud Gastel Death would perform together with Thanatos, but it was canceled because Chuck was having trouble with his voice. In the early 90's we visited the Amsterdam red light district with the whole band, and had a few drinks together. Chuck was a very nice guy. He wasn't a party animal, he was quite serious. Somebody who knew what he wanted and let nobody keep him from his mission."

Second album of Death, and the best (I think). Where the first ended the second took off, but with a much better production (Scott Burns). The line-up is Chuck Schuldiner with (except the vocalist) the old Massacre line-up; Rick Rozz (guitar), Terry Butler (bass) and Bill Andrews (drums). After this CD Rick Rozz was kicked out of the band and James Murphy joined as a second guitarist. The disc has been an example for many beginning death metal bands of how death metal should be sounding. The CD opens with the title track, lovely brutal. On the entire CD a lot of interesting guitar solos are to be heard, also in two voices. That is on later Death CD's clearly to be heard as well, but even better worked out. Highlights are 'Leprosy', 'Born Dead', 'Left To Die', 'Pull The Plug' and 'Open Casket'. 'Open Casket' was also on the death metal collection LP "Death… is just the beginning". The lyrics mainly are about sickness, dying, suffering, the death, cannibals. A less good thing is the sampled snare drum which has a disturing mechanical effect. When you pay attention to the drum sound it seems as if you are listening to the Roland Sound Canvas Power Drums drumset. Also the guitars are sounding quite thin, like there has been cut out a lot of mid, but that's part of death metal. It is a pitty, because it takes away the aggressiveness (burning sound in the guitar) from the music (compare Slayer's 'Reign In Blood', a lot of mid in the guitars).

After getting compelely hooked on Death after the albums 'Scream Bloody Gore' and 'Leprosy' I had to get used to the clean sound of 'Spiritual Healing'. The screaming solos of Rick Rozz were a good contrast to the technical high play of Chuck Schuldiner. On 'Spiritual Healing' James Murphy showed that he could play, but it got kind of decent in a way. Which are about all negative that is to be said about the album. Back then I stole many ideas of Chuck and co. for my own band. While my parents thought I was studying, in reality I was composing guitar riffs like Death, sneaky with the headphones on. Death always was a band that knew to combine brutal riffs, that were very cathy. Something a lot of nowadays bands never manage to do anymore. Further there's not much to be said about an album like 'Spiritual Healing'. Everybody knows it. Everybody (including myself) deep down, wants to play his guitar that well. The first three albums always will be milestones within the death metal genre. Chuck is no longer, but we will always remember him thanks to his brilliant compositions.

What do you do, when after your last release you lose (again) your entire band? Some people just would give up. Others, like Charles 'Chuck' Schuldiner, just gather a new line-up. And what kind of line-up! Sean Reinert (drums), Paul Masvidal (guitar) and as whipped cream bass beast Steve DiGiorgio. With such a line-up Human just had to be a beautiful synthesis between agression and technique, and it is. I won't go in to the the individual songs (just listen for yourself), but every death metal fan just has this album on the shelf. Not as good as the great 'Symbolic' from 1995, but a hundred thousand times better than all those Swedish and American clones that were around in the scene those days also.

Somewhere in the corner of my wardrobe, that tatter still has to be, worn to a thread and grey with the cover of Death's fifth album 'Individual Thought Patterns' on it. Once I even used the shirt in the forrest when I had…. Well, I won't go into that. Anyway it was cooked washed, but after that the band pic on the back was so worn that only Chuck was recognizable. A pitty, because with this album the late mr. Schuldiner had formed quite a line-up. Bass virtuoso Steve DiGiorgio, who showed his skill on his four snare instrument with Sadus and Testament as well, drum icon Gene Hoglan, with also Devin Townsend, Old Man's Child and Testament on his CV, and last but not least Andy LaRocque, well known from my personal favorites King Diamond. With such an all star line-up you would expect 'Individual…' to be a total hit, but actually it's not quite. The album isn't bad -on the contrary!- but it's remarkable that most consider either an older, or a newer album as their Death favorite. Amazingly I still see people walking in the same shirt I have -less worn though and without any stains of questionable origin.

I still remember it very clearly. In '95 I bought the new Death, and I literally played it red hot, almost until I could bake eggs on it. Yet 'Symbolic' didn't have the impact like the milestones 'Scream Bloody Gore' and 'Leprosy' had, but the perfect balance between melody and aggression, the enormous amount of super riffs and the unbelievable drumwork of Gene Hoglan made this disc truly addictive. Chuck Schuldiner suceeded to lift his band, after the somewhat disappointing 'Individual Thought Patterns', to a higher level. Nowadays the disc is allowed in the player every now and then. I can still roar along every word, the first riff of the title song got something nostalgic and the live-classic 'Crystal Mountain' reminds me of the many times I saw Chuck with Death perform. I become sad as the closing song 'Perennial Quest' fizzles out; the beautiful acoustic ending reminds us once more that the frontman/guitarist died way too soon….

When someone leaves this sucking earth, it's a human reaction of the heirs to cherish every little and big achievement of the deceased. All metalheads are without any doubt heirs of Chuck Schuldiner and all his records are special milestones in the heavy metal history. The Death testament 'The Sound Of Perseverance' still sounds like a great album after 4 years, like we expected otherwise. I have to admit that it was at least a year ago that I played this killer disk… which actually shouldn't have happened. What a killer CD! The drums! The technique! The sphere!!! Of course you look at every Death album differently at this sad time. Especially the lyrics (the titles alone) get inevitable another, stronger meaning. Titles like 'Bite The Pain', 'To Forgive', and of course the fantastic Priest-cover and album closer 'Painkiller' have an even greater impact. A great artist has gone, it sounds cheesy as hell, but it's the damned truth. Fortunately Chuck got the respect he deserved from the metal world before he died as well, and that makes the sympathy now (and during his illness) all over the world so real. The amazing wave of sympathies that fall to Chuck is so typical for the close metal world. There's a lot to be said about Chuck Schuldiner, and I'm sure it will be (by others) as well… But the most important??? Without extoling … Chuck's spirit is alive!!!

I have to admit that it's very strange for me to write a review from an album that I can dream in the meantime. For those who don't know Control Denied? Crawl in a deep hole of shame and never come out again. Control Denied is Chuck Schuldiner's only considerable project outside his career with Death. I still can remember very well that I got the album 2 years ago. Like everybody else, the expectations were very high. Chuck Schuldiner on guitar accompanied by Shannon Hamm (Death), Steve DiGiorgio (my favorite metal bass player of all time, Death, Iced Earth,Testament, Sadus), Richard Christy (Death, Iced Earth) and the new for me unknown singer Tim Aymar being responsible for the vocals. Of course Control Denied can be compared to the newer Death in a way, works like 'Symbolic' and 'The Sound Of Perseverance', but with different vocals. No screams like we were used to from Chuck but crystal clear vocals, Tim Aymar sings in tune but sounds very aggressive and angry at times. The album contains 8 varied tracks, all filled with amazing solos, from Shannon as well as Chuck, and of course the very talented and technical parts of Steve DiGiorgio and Richard Christy. Yet Control Denied sounds a lot darker than Death and in a way I had to get used to this album and it took some time to grow, but now I can truly say that this album from Chuck as well can be seen as a classic. After this release Control Denied left Nuclear Blast and signed with our own Dutch label Hammerheart for a second album, and the band started working on their new untitled work. Chuck was recovering and all looked bright, yet just a few months after the start of the recordings fate struck again and Chuck became ill once more, and more serious than before. The recordings were postponed and Chuck concentrated on his recovery. Like we all know now, in vain… Good new however is that Tim Aymar and Steve DiGiorgio confirmed that they want to finish the album no matter what, to honor Chuck. When and how still is unknown but the other band members will do all it takes to get this album done. Personally I want to say that I feel very honored to have been able to work for Chuck in Europe by organizing and controling the European tributes. My experiences are very positive and I'm grateful for all the support and love I got the past months from the press, the venues, Hammerheart, the bands and all others that cooperated unselfish for Chuck's recovery. And let's not forget that Chuck's spirit will never die, thanks Chuck for changing all our lives forever, we will never forget you.