undefined

When fans talk about Death and its late founder, pioneering singer/guitarist/songwriter Chuck Schuldiner, they focus on any number of things: Chuck's insane, tortured, growling vocals, widely imitated to this day; his tuned-down, brutally heavy guitar sound; his intricate and technical style of playing, which grew in complexity by leaps and bounds on every album; and his obsessive quest for the highest musical standards, which often completely scrambled the Death lineup from one record to the next. While his songwriting skills are discussed as well, the first time listener to any of Death's seven studio albums may be surprised to learn just how accessible and yes, catchy, his tunes were. And there may be no finer example of this, no more perfect combination of his progressive style of playing and his interest in memorable songs, along with his trademark brutality, than the sixth studio offering from the band, 1995 s Symbolic. Don Kaye Over the course of more than a decade, Chuck Schuldiner, has been widely recognized as the her of death metal. Chuck Schuldiner's singular drive and ruthless creative vision guaranteed that Death would retain a pole position at the forefront of the style's development. While the savagely raw aggression of Symbolic proved crucial to spearheading the first generation of death, and subsequently grindcore bands, the astounding musicianship and increasingly sophisticated songwriting found on the effort may have influenced even more groups exploring the limits of extreme metal's progressive outposts. Throughout their career, Death sold over 500,000 albums in the U.S. One can only imagine the progression Chuck Schuldiner's vision might have brought to the genre had he not been afflicted with a rare form of brain cancer in 1999. Despite two years of struggle, including one hopeful period over most of 2000 when it appeared that the cancer had been beaten, he passed on December 13, 2001. His legacy left genre defining albums and a host of new, progressive metal artists who found inspiration in his music. Roadrunner Records presents Death s sonic masterpiece, Symbolic, remastered for the first time with 5 previously unreleased bonus tracks. The release of Symbolic marks the relaunch of Roadrunner's remasters series which has included classic catalog titles from Fear Factory, Nailbomb, Cynic, King Diamond, and many more.