When one thinks of pioneering sounds in the death metal genre, the first band that usually (or should) come up is the Florida-based band, Death. They are back after a two year layoff and are on the eve of releasing their seventh album "The Sound of Perseverance" through Nuclear Blast on September 15th. What follows is a conversation I had with mainman/founder/guitarist/vocalist Chuck Shuldiner to delve into what has been happening since the groups "Symbolic" album and tour, the state of heavy metal and anything else that comes to mind...

Mark Skaar: Hi Chuck. How's it going?

Chuck Shuldiner: It's been going good. We're keeping busy. We've got a new album coming out in the states on September 15th-the same day as the new KISS record, which I'm real psyched about! We just did Milwaukee Metalfest about a week ago and that went really good. It was a really killer show. Mercyful Fate headlined (and) they were awesome. Seeing almost 3,000 metal fans all there for metal was a beautiful thing!

M.S.: Cool. I know alot of people who are psyched that I'm even talking to you.

C.S.: Cool. Still here and kickin!

M.S.: I know things have kind of come back around again. Death took a couple of years off and you did the Control Denied project...

C.S.: Basically I put that whole thing on hold. I finished writing for that. The writing is basically done for that record. It's going to be a crushing album. It's very, very similar to Death in the realm of that I can't change my writing style so therefore musically it's extremely parallel to what Death is about-it's aggresssive, it's melodic-it's definitely got its' brutal moments but i'm not going to be doing the vocals on it. We've got a very powerful metal singer in the realm of traditional metal with balls (Tim Aymar from Psycho Scream). He's a great singer. I'm very psyched about that. In fact, I'm talking to him right now. Even though we're doing the Death thing, we're still gonna keep in contact and keep the ball rolling on the side. But for right now, I needed to put another Death album out for myself and there's a very, very big demand for another Death album and I felt like, you know what, Control Denied is written and ready to go. It's definitely something that will not be hindered if I waited to put it out. It's gonna be as fresh as it was the days and months in which it was all written. So basically that's on hold. I decided to recruit my guitar player and bass player (Shannon Hamm and Scott McClendonin, respectively) from Control Denied into the new Death line-up which was the most logical step. When you perform with two people like that for awhile you definitely have that metallic bond going on. So it was a natural step to have them come into Death and they are really top-notch,crushing musicians, really killer. And our new drummer is also from Florida, Richard Christy, who's from Orlando. He's just dynamite. A crushing drummer-really top-notch. I think people are gonna freak out when they hear this record because I think there's been alot of bands that have turned their backs on pure metal-as I know metal to be-and I think alot of people went "corporate" on the American metal fans and I think this new Death album is completely beyond trend-free. I think this is a good time for a Death album to come out because it's everything that corporate America really is against. Luckily we're on a great label-Nuclear Blast- that has embraced the spirit of heavy metal-they believe in it and that's basically what they are and what they push so we're lucky. We gave a very dangerous album to a label that has no problem in pushing it and I think with that combination people are gonna be real surprised when they hear it and when they see it everywhere. I think the timing is crucial. I think it's just the right time for a new Death album, then (with) Control Denied, we'll put that out after the new Death comes out and we tour and all that.

M.S.: I can't wait for both!!! Let's talk about the new Death album. I understand you have eight new songs ready to go...

C.S.: Actually, we also did a cover of "Painkiller" by (Judas) Priest! It's really cool-it's gonna shock alot of people!!!

M.S.: With brutal vocals?

C.S.: No-I whipped out the traditional Halford vocals! I had a blast-Raw Halford! But, yeah, eight songs plus the bonus track. It's a very big album. The shortest song on the whole record is like, four minutes, forty five seconds. "Scavenger of Human Sorrow" is the opening track. I think when people hear it they'll know why. It's definitely over the top! That song is almost six minutes long. There's another one that's about eight minutes long, which is our "metallic epic" tune, so to speak. I didn't really set out to write a long album but the songs took their own path. I think it's kindof nice in a day and age when people are taking the safe way out writing three minute songs or less-this is an album where all the material is there for a reason. It's not for the sake of having long songs but I think it's a nice change of pace to hear an album that has actual substance. It's a very unsafe record, let's put it that way. We didn't write it to fit in with anyone or anything-that's the best way to describe it. I think that's one of the things people have come to expect from this band is that we're not followng. We want to stay ahead of things. I think by doing that and by not giving in to the trends and being a stubborn bastard you remain true to heavy metal.

M.S.: Absolutely, because we're not getting any support from anything mainstream and it is about staying "tried and true". I think the title of the new album says it all...

C.S.: That's a very big part of it. I felt this was the most important album title I have had to come up with. It took me awhile to finally get it but when it materialized I was very happy because this album is the result of staying true, being stubborn, going through Hell-it hasn't been an easy ride. Unfortunately, bands like Metallica don't make it any easier for heavy metal to survive in America. Metallica has hurt heavy metal as I know it in America because corporate America looks at what people like that are doing.......

To be continued.
More later, when I get the whole transcript ... sorry comrades