December 13, 2001. The day dawns grey – and it’s about to turn black. The news breaks that Chuck Schuldiner, one of the most crucial musicians ever to inhabit the swamps of death metal, has died from a brain tumour at the age of 34.
Schuldiner’s former band, Death, were pioneers of the death metal scene, and linchpins of metal’s underground. But even after he steered the band away from their twisted, provocative beginnings into more technical and progressive areas, they never achieved the mainstream breakthrough they deserved.
