Chuck Schuldiner

Known to many as the founding father of death metal, Chuck Schuldiner's brand of heavy metal opened the doors for a genre that had only been hinted at by efforts from Slayer and Venom. Beginning Death in 1985, the first few demos that leaked out of his Florida home created a strong buzz in the underworld. By 1987 he had managed to release his first album, Scream Bloody Gore, a landmark moment in death metal. Much like Trent Reznor's Nine Inch Nails, Death was merely a name given to his efforts to create the illusion of a band. The other members continually changed, and the band was so influential that entire careers were built out of stints in his touring and recording lineups. He had a very fruitful career working in the metal underground, releasing album after album of brutal death metal as the genre grew up around him. Known for his intense, technically sound playing skills, he managed to be one of the few survivors of the genre's fading popularity during the mid-'90s.

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