DEATH – I’d have to say, without any hesitation, that Death – Live In L.A. (Death & Raw) is a scorcher of a live Death Metal album. If one wants to know where it all began with the Death Metal genre… one needs to get their ears glazed over with the power and force of Death’s original brand of Metal. A gigantic band in the history of Metal music is Death, with the late Chuck Schuldiner bringing to the forefront a Metal sound of extreme muscularity, embodied with his vocals, guitar and song writing. An unreal and unparalleled legacy of music… Death Metal Music, has Chuck Schuldiner left for us Metal fans to enjoy for generations to come.
Live In L.A. is rich with the heavy sound of Death, a top quality recording. This is not just some live album slapped and pieced together here… listening to Live In L.A. actually takes me there in my mind, to that actual Death concert back in 1998. I wish I really was at this concert, unfortunately I never did see Death live. The reality is in the listening to this excellent album of live Death songs, I can only marvel at how Chuck Schuldiner can pull me into the music he and Death are playing. This Live In L.A. album needs to be brought up for it’s credibility as a live album and for it’s powerful listen into Old School Death Metal.
When the topic of “most important” Metal bands comes my way, I most certainly consider Death to be in the equation. To incorporate lyrical themes of gore as well as social reality, in the way Chuck Schuldiner had accomplished, was only magnified to a profound level, by the extremely heavy sound of Death’s music. Chuck Schuldiner and Death figured most prominently in the formation of the Death Metal genre, still, putting genres aside, the legacy of Chuck Schuldiner and Death have also figured equally prominent in the history of Metal Music too… in my Metal opinion.
If I can recruit just a few readers to check out this live Death album, then I have done my Metal deed for the day. The heavy grooves are there, just waiting to be savored and heard on Live In L.A. (Death & Raw). Veteran Death fans know. New fans and younger generations should at least know, that Chuck Schuldiner and his band Death defined a genre. You won’t read that in any mainstream Pop Rock magazine.
* Live In L.A. was recorded on December 5, 1998, in of course, L.A., at Whiskey A Go-Go. This was one of 24 tour dates on The Sound Of Perseverance 1998 America Tour.
* Death – Live In L.A. (Death & Raw) was released on October 16, 2001 on Nuclear Blast Records.
* For those new to this legendary band known as DEATH, Chuck Schuldiner passed away on December 13, 2001, at age 34.
DEATH as they appeared on Live In L.A. (Death & Raw):
Chuck Schuldiner – vocals & guitar
Richard Christy – drums
Scott Clendenin – bass
Shannon Hamm – guitar
Track Listing For DEATH- LIVE IN L.A. (Death & Raw):
Intro / The Philosopher
Spirit Crusher
Trapped In A Corner
Scavenger Of Human Sorrow
Crystal Mountain
Flesh And The Power It Holds
Zero Tolerance
Zombie Ritual
Suicide Machine
Together As One
Empty Words
Symbolic
Pull The Plug
Rest In Peace, Chuck Schuldiner, your music lives on.
Stone.
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