Ranking the Studio Albums: Death

Join host Pete Pardo as he ranks the studio discography of American extreme metal act Death. #death

[@brooksskol1352]

Chucky was my best friend when we were 12 or 13 he and his father took me to my first Kiss show...he lost his brother to suicide early on and i always wondered how i went on to tec for 80s bands he went a whole different direction.. He is truly missed. Thanx for this episode. Brooks.

[@seaoftranquilityprog]

Great story-thanks for sharing!

[@crossroads2723]

Wow that’s awesome

[@JohnDoe-rr1fz]

Weird because his brother died in a car accident. I doubt your story

[@skaapu]

@@JohnDoe-rr1fz no response must be bs

[@Goofballhero]

@@JohnDoe-rr1fz Maybe it was an intentional car accident?

[@wfdavi]

Ranking the Studio albums: Bolt Thrower. Another band that aint got any bad album

[@saraw6446]

True - also Memoriam

[@dethronedemperor2581]

True

[@serpentheadedmask9]

Bolt thrower rules!!

[@zigotina]

One of the most boring bigger bands imo

[@Joe-yq3dc]

Perfect discography. This band never had a "St. Anger" or "Risk", nothing even close.

[@EvilVonRetee]

I agree. Maybe they had 'So Far So Good...So What!' in 'Spiritual Healing' :) Which means it's still a very solid album!

[@henrihelander7331]

@@EvilVonRetee So Far, So Good...So What! is easily the best Megadeth album with its drug infused riffs, absolutely brilliant tracks (with no weak ones in the bunch) and most feeling. Peace Sells...But Who's Buying? is also excellent. Spiritual Healing is the best Death album followed closely by Leprosy.

[@atoma8921]

@@henrihelander7331 Mary Jane is filler tbh

[@henrihelander7331]

@@atoma8921 Naah, a great track. Could have been arranged a bit better though, 1-2 too many starts and stops in the middle section. Love the feedback on Into The Lungs Of Hell, leads in Set The World Afire and just how fucking angry Mustaine sounds in Hook In Mouth.

[@sirspookybones1118]

@@henrihelander7331 I'll be honest, I really dont like So far So good at all. The other 80s albums are much better to me and even all their 2000s albums (havent heard World needs a hero and super collider full though)

[@SentientNr6]

Woow, Deep Purple, Jethro Tull & now Death? I thought I was the only one with a weird taste of music. :)

[@charlieo.possum5501]

Nothing weird about it, good is what it is!!

[@NaughtyVampireGod]

Since when is Jethro Tull wierd?

[@lxathu]

@@NaughtyVampireGod He may have meant that Woow band at the beginning of the list.

[@alessio4832]

? Fortunatly is not so strange, many people like all the hard rock and metal (not all the single bands perhaps, obviously, only the ones that are at least decent or good for every listener), or even all rock and some even other genres (like Pete - i remember a video in which he say something like "...i like jazz but i don't want to hear jazz from Sabbath..." - or me... jazz, blues, classical, prog...). And for me and many other music enthusiastics the thing is true not only from a certain age on, but from our teen... one day i discovered an early Sabbath or Purple or Judas Priest album and love it, and the next an album by Obituary or Morbid Angel or Death or Atheist etc. (and every other band/genre in the middle, plus others completely out of rock/hard/metal, as i said, Pat Metheny to say just one) and love them the same too... It's all rock and its branches and some bands are simply great.

[@alessio4832]

Actually in these cases it would be strange if the person such and such had all that CDs (plus probably many others in other places not shot in these videos, or vinyls, cassettes etc.) and all of the same genre or even style...because this would mean that they had also many poor or very poor bands/albums (it goes for every genre in every era).

[@Heavymetaleternia]

My ranking might be different on any new day, cause it‘s REALLY hard to rank Death‘s discography. Each album is awesome. All I can say is my favorite is "Human" as it perfectly combines the raw and the technical periods of the band.

[@billvrabel1502]

If Cosmic Sea doesn't make you look at metal in a slightly different manner, nothing will.

[@brunovallesmunoz4757]

Commenting before watch: 1. Symbolic 2. Human 3. Scream bloody gore 4. Leprosy 5. Individual thought patterns 6. The sound of perseverance 7. Spiritual healing Thanks buddy for making this! Death is one of my favourite bands of all time!!

[@drachireidnoc6659]

The Sound of Perseverance pretty low on the list

[@WarPigs413]

Symbolic is a death metal essential album! Death’s music has always been fun to me and they NEVER get old.

[@kevinsnodgrass6222]

Human is my favorite Death album that cover art just brings you right in......

[@AndI0td763]

I remember my Dad found some of my Death albums in my room (Human was sitting on top of the pile) and he basically threw them in the trash. This type of music obviously isn’t for everyone and a lot of people just have a strange reaction to it, like a fear or just not understanding what it’s about. I tried explaining to my Dad that it’s just a different kind of music and a different way to put forth a certain kind of art. If they read into a lot of the lyrics, especially from the latter introspective period of the band, they will find that it’s actually very thoughtful music with something to say. But the heaviness and darkness and brutality puts a lot of people off from the get go, not even giving it a chance to see if there’s something deeper beneath the surface. And it’s a shame, I for one think basically any style of music has it’s merits, and Death were one of the best in their respective genre. Good music is good music. Just because it’s presented in a more harsh or aggressive way doesn’t mean the band isn’t talented or that they don’t have meaningful songs with great hooks because they absolutely do.

[@ultrahighgain412]

It blows me away...the leaps Chuck was taking with his guitar playing and compositional skills with every subsequent album. A hugely creative, innovative, and influential musician. A great loss to be sure.

[@GRKMetalHead]

Leprosy was my first introduction to Death back in 88 and it blew my mind plus I loved the LP cover.

[@blacksabbath1022]

Agree. Leprosy is my favorite followed by Spiritual Healing. Leprosy had the SBG formula but they were perfecting and refining it without losing the intensity. Open Casket may be my favorite DM song of all time.

[@sidneyeubanks2201]

Symbolic is my all time favorite Death album! The rest of the albums was great as well! R.I.P. CHUCK !

[@dannypartridge6104]

Hail to Chuck....

[@borguskorguss7082]

Finally, my favorite metal band. Love a lot of death metal, especially from the 90s that I have gotten into over the past little while, but no death metal band in my eyes no matter how many I like or love, has come to close to the catalog of records and the abundance of great songs that Death produced in their short, but stellar career. When even the weakest records in my eyes at least helped influence an entire movement, you know you got a legacy worth remembering main rule: No bad Death albums, not even one record I would classify as weak or inessential, but there are definitely ones that are stronger than others, but it's really only by a thin margin. 7) Scream Bloody Gore- maybe meat and potatoes nowadays compared to how the genre has evolved since its release, and maybe even by the standards of Death's catalog, but a record that was unlike anything at the time, even in the infant phase of extreme metal. Blood curdling screams, pounding drums, piercing guitar riffs and solos, just badass. But as a fan who got into Death's later catalog first, definitely one that I feel has aged quite a bit over the decades. Still, a monumental album, but the band had a lot to improve. 6) Spiritual Healing- as you stated, the start of Death becoming more complicated with their lyrical themes, and instrumentation, definitely more refined. A bit rough in certain spots and some tracks are better than others but it has "Living Monstrosity", the title track, "Within In the Mind" so it has its fair share of kickass classics of the band's song library. 5) Leprosy- took what Scream Bloody Gore had and made it better. Longer songs, more intricate performances, refined but still raw and angry, this along with Morbid Angel's Altars of Madness helped shape the Floridian death metal scene to come. But aside from the historical significance, just a fucking kickass release, but again lyrically, prefer the later stuff. 4) Human- From here on in, all personal preferences, as I feel these next four releases are some of the finest metal releases of the 90s. Human started this run, and it takes all the potential of Spiritual Healing and capitalizes on it. Shorter songs, more jazz influences, obviously due to Cynic being in the band at this time, but a lot of ideas put it in that for the most part succeed splendidly. 3) Individual Thought Patterns- Definitely Death's angriest album, if you read the lyrics. Takes the approach of Human and goes one step further. Some absolutely mind blowing performances, though understandable considering Andy LaRocque from King Diamond is on this release, along with drumming demigod Gene Hoglan, that's to be expected. 2) Symbolic- Had it at my number one for a long while, but that has since changed. However, the record is just, of course superb. Longer tracks return, and it's definitely Chuck at his most adventurous, both lyrically and as a guitarist. I mean what death metal album has songs about the loss of childhood innocence, losing privacy, the dangers of greed, and it's still a head banging opus. And his guitar work is just divine. 1) The Sound of Perseverance- It's not just that this album is the most complex, or the most ambitious, or the most accessible as you mention of the band's catalog, it's simply put that track by track it fucking kills. While they were originally made for his Control Denied band, I will say Chuck did a damn great job of making those tracks into Death tracks. The most different out of all the albums, but then again Death was never a band that stuck to one direction for long. Probably a very long post, but given that it's my favorite band in my favorite genre, I think it's really worth it. I love many bands, many solo artists, my tastes are growing wider and wider, but will any band overtake this one, I seriously doubt it.

[@ethangilworth7891]

Couldn’t agree more with your rankings

[@martymartin2894]

The eagle's had better songs.

[@lifeafterlatefees271]

funny because "Spiritual Healing" is my favorite. Symbolic absolutely rules, but I can't help it, I'm an absolute C.H.U.D. for those early beasts

[@alfie.6652]

Spiritual Healing was my first Death record, I loved the lyrics when I first heard it but now I find the riffs too repetitive throughout the record. Now I'm more of a technical Death fan so I would have to go with the Sound of Perseveranc.

[@rockonthestone4907]

7. Leprosy 6. Spiritual Healing 5. Symbolic 4. Scream Bloody Gore 3. Individual Thought Patterns 2. The Sound of Perserverance 1. Human They're all bloody brilliant

[@planetbarrett6055]

Well, You made the Same List as Mine.

[@THESLOWDEATHHOOKS]

Human is the best IMO it's all about Sean Reinert's drumming RIP

[@mck7646]

Groundbreaking technical death metal album and drumming. I didn't even know he passed, very sad to hear that.

[@putridabomination]

Rest In Peace Sean

[@milhouse777]

Hell yeah! Reinert, Masvidal, Giorgio, Schuldiner... they couldn't go wrong with this solid as rock lineup

[@philipdeppen3644]

I totally agree.

[@Jamie.Laszlo]

For the most part, I like their “proggy” albums best. But sometimes I am in the mood for their more "meat and potatoes" death metal albums. Like you said, there are no bad Death albums. 1. Symbolic 2. The Sound Of Perseverance 3. Individual Thought Patterns 4. Human 5. Spiritual Healing 6. Scream Bloody Gore 7. Leprosy

[@mvunit3]

Same here. It's because of Death, Cynic, Watchtower and Atheist I sought after more bands that were complex, progressive and even experimental/avant-garde. You may like this Playlist Jamie (Part II I HOPE to finish by March 2020): kzbin.info/aero/PL2DU3TBNutEdtiYql5HxhzIxzuFIPcXS9 Also, this essay on my journey through Prog Metal and its subgenres: mavearworx.weebly.com/blog/witnessing-the-birth-of-progressive-metal-part-1-of-2 - Hope you enjOy \m/

[@Questformetal]

Great ranking! lot different to my list I prefer leprosy and scream to the others but I love every death album so ranking them is always hard.

[@rockonthestone4907]

Underrated channel 🔥🔥

[@Dems-fk8sh]

Thank you for this video. I was looking for an in depth fan point of view to dig this very influential band. Thanks again !

[@sawiola55]

it's very pleasant to watch your channel ! :) such a great rotation.purple,tull and now death ! you're great ! :)

[@Dizan612]

Death Is amazing band no bad records. Killer band always 🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘

[@alvaropita3487]

Control Denied album is also great.

[@ethangilworth7891]

It’s alright. Doesn’t quite have the same edge that the last 4 albums do

[@kaosmonger73]

Pete. You've been on fire with these new ranking the albums series. I've enjoyed them all so much. So many of my favorite bands and albums. Thanks to yesterday's show I've been listening to the most recent Uriah Heep albums non stop today. All the way from Sonic Origami to the latest 2018 album. In all honesty I've never paid attention to those. How wrong I was. Fantastic and killer stuff. Different from classic Heep but high quality stuff. I'm going to need to add them to the CD collection. Thank you Sir! Support music not rumors. Hail Chuck!!

[@hishamm80]

If Chuck is back from the dead and reformed Death again, imagine how many people would watch their reunion shows !!!!

[@mvunit3]

And . . . many of us would like to have heard his "melodic voice" that apparently many were astounded at.

[@JonnyJungle77]

Great job Pete, this has been my favorite ranking video that I've watched so far! Here's my list: Tied for first: Scream Bloody Gore, Leprosy, Spiritual Healing, Human, Individual Thought Patterns, and Symbolic 2nd place: The Art of Perseverence Death and Rush are among the few bands whose body of work I consistently enjoyed throughout their evolution. I'd put Carcass in that category too. Cool to see you give first place to Symbolic which was the first Death album I bought and heard.

[@710carioca]

I can not wait for the Yes ranking! Cheers!

[@rememberbeginning]

Great Video Pete! Mine goes: 1-SYMBOLIC 2-INDIVIDUAL THOUGHT PATTERNS 3-SOUND OF PERSEVERANCE 4-HUMAN 5-SPIRITUAL HEALING 6-LEPROSY AND LAST- scream bloody gore. Symbolic is my most played. Love that album! Would have been cool to hang out Chuck...and Gene...and James and Andy, etc.....fan for Life!

[@captainbeyond7469]

Love King Diamond, never heard these guys I’ll check them out.

[@gordonorante509]

Solid! Very nice Pete!

[@brandonconwell6089]

P. this is the most interesting ranking of the albums you've done I'm so happy I love chuck shoulder

[@charlieo.possum5501]

...makes a good pot roast

[@ChrisRileyMusicUK]

Excellent ranking video. I kind of dropped out after Human as I was kind of thrashed out by 94, but I look forward to getting acquainted with the albums after that. A very passionate ranking! Great to see. Chuck was one of the greats of Rock and this video is a fitting tribute to his genius.

[@derekwilliams1660]

Hey,I_just got into Death,cool band ,my favorite album is "Leprosy" .

[@andrewruotimusic4866]

Great video! Perfect to watch leading up to the show at Gramercy theatre this Friday. Are you going? Lots of great albums Always loved Individual Thought Patterns. As a bass player my favorite living metal bassist is DiGiorgio

[@samgamgeeterminator]

I just heard them today. Really awesome sounds!

[@johngerstner2030]

We echoed zombie ritual in sync🤣 just recently discovered your channel and I have been binging it

[@Intermentor]

1. Leprosy 2. Symbolic 3. Spiritual healing 4. Scream bloody gore 5. Individual thought patterns 6. Human 7. The sound of perseverance My list is a little bit different, but as you said all the albums are good.

[@a1k0rn17]

My favorite is Human, as it has both proggy elements and that old school vibe, absolute blast

[@petergriffin1446]

Heres mine: I'm more of a progressive and tech death guy 1. The Sound Of Perseverance 2. Symbolic 3. Spiritual Healing 4. Human 5. ITP 6. Scream Bloody Gore 7. Leprosy

[@SuperStrik9]

Incredible band. Glad you're making this list. My top 3 are 1. Human 2. Spiritual Healing 3. Symbolic. RIP Chuck.

[@luciusblackwood2640]

That documentary on them on Prime is really excellent. Made me go after some albums for sure. Now you've got me wanting to get the rest of them!

[@EvilVonRetee]

Thanks Pete for this ranking! Death is one of my alltime faves and Symbolic is a clear numero uno for me too. Lent it from my friend back in '95-96 and was totally blown away! Had to buy it for myself immediately. Songs are all killers, no fillers.

[@johnx1769]

Nice ranking Pete! Here's mine: 7. Spiritual Healing 6. Scream Bloody Gore 5. The Sound of Perseverance 4. Leprosy 3. Individual Thought Patterns 2. Symbolic 1. Human

[@devonm301]

I need to he sober to rank their albums because right now I would rank them all at number 1!!

[@gabrielbacca381]

Long-awaited review !! Excellent ! thanks for doing this. I have my own list, as follows: 1. Symbolic ************* [love child of the following two albums] 2. Spiritual healing 3. The sound of perseverance 4. Leprosy 5. Human 6. Individual thought patterns 7. Scream bloody gore.

[@daveytrain6494]

Much respect to Chuck. What a talent. Hoping the vocal style grows on me. I like melodic vocals and often that style is difficult for me after a few songs.

[@GMHG777]

Dave try Control Denied - The Fragile Art of Existence, it’s sort of Death w/o the death vocals. It was the direction Chuck was headed in musically following the last Death release. On Chucks vocals and death metal vocals in general, I empathize because it took me a long while to come around to them, but once I did I actual prefer most harsh vocals to clean these days which is pretty weird I admit l !

[@mvunit3]

Back in the day, it took a year or 2 to get into Death Metal because of the vocals. I was a Progressive Rocker since 1977 as a 14 year old, and then became a Metalhead in 1980. As Metal started to become more aggressive, I LOVED that they were not only exceptional musicians, but that they made the brutality a bit more complex, technical. That appealed to me, so I guess I _had to_ get into the vocals by default :p. I guess it was Sepultura "Beneath the Remains" that finally clicked. I'm very used to it now, and I also like the exchange of clean/melodic singing with the "cookie monster" vocals (find the pioneers of those bands like; Edge of Sanity "Crimson" album, Extol, Gardenian, Soilwork, Opeth and Scar Symmetry). But the straight-up grunting/cookie vocals are enjoyable for me as well. Take your time with the music/vocals, just absorb it for what it is. Be sure to see the Death Documentary "Death by Metal" as well \m/.

[@darrylamaki2470]

great video...Love Death first met Evil Chuck when he sent me his Mantas demos.RIP...

[@Atari2600_Dude]

I did my list before seeing the video and our top 4 where the same. Would love to see ranking the studio albums on some other unique metal bands like king diamond, mercyful fate, celtic frost and coroner.

[@erikberg5363]

One of my favourite bands ever! Love every album and it's super hard to rank them as I hate placing anything at the bottom but here goes: 1. Human 2. Symbolic 3. The Sound of Perseverance 4. Individual Thought Patterns 5. Leprosy 6. Scream Bloody Gore 7. Spiritual Healing Thanks for the quality content as always Pete!

[@zandig666]

All of them is my favorite !!! Too bad i missed the scene as i thought tnwobhm died in '85 but proto death was there for us !!

[@gregoryvigneault1824]

I agree with your top pick, 1000 Eyes is my favourite Death song the brutal riffing and technicality and melodic sections fit together perfectly friggin awesome.

[@acelogan5591]

Gongratulations Pete, this is a very special video of your own. One of your best! Very substantive analysis ! And yet not even 24 thousands views.. Artistic poverty

[@danzemacabre8899]

Dave Mustaine and Chuk Shuldiner, two guys very comfortable in their own musical abilities, that they were never intimidated or afraid to go out and hire the very best musicians they could get a hold of. All about the music.

[@michaelpurnell5203]

Great ranking my man. Personally I’d swap TSOP and ITP and SBG with Leprosy, but these are very small changes. I love what you do Pete, all these vids are great

[@trevcnor6314]

Symbolic is one of those albums that make the little hairs on the back of my neck stand to attention! Great pick Pete!

[@sirspookybones1118]

You could put any of these albums anywhere in a list and people would still agree

[@garycreswell9107]

Chuck was a great talent. Truly one of the best guitarist in death metal.

[@GMHG777]

One of my all time fave bands Pete !!!! So hard to rank them, they are all pretty amazing for me tbh.! But here we go... 1 Human 2 Symbolic 3 Leprosy 4 Sound of Perseverance 5 Individual Thought Patterns 6 Scream Bloody Gore 7 Spiritual Healing If some of you like any of this material, you should check out Chucks project Control Denied where he started writing even more technical progressive metal with a clean singer, it’s an amazing album and shows the lofty direction Chuck was headed with his musical explorations,, he was truly a genius no question about it RIP Chuck !!!

[@aliens_exist_23]

Great episode! 👍 Would love to see a Slayer ranking the albums.

[@PesterFester1966]

Human will always be my fav... It's there most influential and setting the blueprint for Tech Death.

What do you think about Control Denied? Please do King Diamond next. Stay Heavy! 😜🤘

[@garycooper8130]

love your stuff.you got me listening to ''yes' for the first time ever! what have i missed?!!! anyway pal.you know them videos of people going through there entire blu ray collection for like 3 hours? you should do one going through all the stuff behind you.have you heard of earache records?

[@ziggylayneable]

Extremely surprising that you would pick"Death". I have always championed them, and always told people what an incredible guitar player Chuck Schuldiner was,and people didn't believe me what a good vocalist he was until he covered "Judas Priest-Painkiller"(that shut a lot of mouths that's when it came to his vocals). I've had the opportunity to meet him one time, with James Murphy at an indoor"Metal-Fest". He was very accommodating and kind and even let me buy him five or six beers that night. He was also kind enough to use a copper sharpie marker, and to put his signature(without my name, which was done on purpose) on every single "Death" release that had ever been released. So every single death album that I own on CD has Chuck's name on the CD Itself..,

[@sunshinecoolwater3960]

I was hoping this was the punk band, but I'll check this metal band out.

[@paulfun8720]

I just listened to "Individual Thought Patterns" and all I can say is I don't get how Pete can dig this but has no interest in punk. This is obviously way more influenced by punk than metal.

[@marcribaudo1965]

Spiritual Healing is my second favorite. James Murphy phenomenal player. Symbolic definitely is number one. Asside from a few albums I'd put in a different order their all great like you said. It's like Testament, I love them all but I'm all over with their career as well. Cheers 🤘🏼

[@jamiecunningham1565]

Love em all............but Holy Shit!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Symbolic ALL DAY!!!!!

[@EternalChampion435]

Hell ya some death metal, great video Pete

[@j.resihead1835]

This is difficult Pete! 1. Individual Thought Patterns 2. Symbolic 3. Human 4.Spiritual Healing 5. The Sound Of Perseverance 6. Leprosy 7. Scream Bloody Gore The order could change at any time depending on my mood that day. I'm so happy that you did the Death catalogue 🙂. Great video man

[@Primal-Dude]

I love your taste in metal. You come from the older generation of rock/metal yet still listen to and have respect for more extreme genres of metal.

[@Phillisteum]

Ahah loved the analogy of Steve DiGiorgio with Jaco! Only someone with such a broad musical appreciation like yourself could do justice to Steve's chops by comparing with one of the bass players that revolutionised bass playing, the great Jaco Pastorious! The perfect analogy!

[@jazzandrocknroll3235]

Great ranking Pete! Ironically, Spiritual Healing is my number one, any album with BOTH Chuck and James Murphy on guitar is the ultimate death metal album.

[@SuperStrik9]

Spiritual Healing will always have a special place in my heart as it was the first death metal album I heard. Chuck and James were an incredible guitar duo.

[@jazzandrocknroll3235]

SuperStrik9 Agreed

[@corpusc]

prob my fave too. altho Leprosy was about neck and neck with it IMO.

[@tshsichs]

7 Scream Bloody Gore 6 Leprosy 5 Individual Thought Patterns 4 Human 3 The Sound Of Perseverence 2 Spiritual Healing 1 Symbolic

[@tonybp]

Human is not only my favorite Death album, but one of my favorite albums overall. Man, what a masterpiece, RIP Sean.

[@drewfireset2]

I had the honor to meet Chuck and Gene Hoglan in 1994! We had some talk and those guys are so cool! It was amazing! Great personalities! I watched Death live twice! Heavy crunching killer gigs! It's a big loss when Chuck died so early! I felt that I lost a friend and we all lost him who liked his work! RIP Chuck! Will never forget you!🎸🎸🎸🎸

[@davidburns6284]

Nice list. The last 4 Death albums are all masterpieces. You could really rank those in any order and I'd be satisfied.

[@mvunit3]

Hmm, what more could I add Pete \m/ . . . I'd say Venom, Possessed and Death were the big 3 for its beginnings. Funny, "Spiritual Healing" was the album that the band started to speak to me (and last year finally sat down to really absorb), and got it on Lp a few months after it debuted. I couldn't get into the band "lyrically" for the previous albums, loved the brutality of the music, but I, like eventually Schuldiner had revealed in interviews that he was growing out of it. I wasn't into the gory lyrics, and was searching for bands with topical subject matter, which made me an unusual Death Metal fan. Though "Carcass" for their 1st 3 albums made that very unique, that's as far as I went with it. "Individual Thought Patterns" became my fave, not as fast as "Human", but this is where he added those odd-time sigs, tempo-changes and the outstanding poly-rhythms that made the band standout from the rest of Death Metal for me (as far as extreme metal; Atheist and Cynic's 1 album at that time "Focus" too). But saying that; ITP, Human and Symbolic are great in every way you described Pete, but after all these years listening to those 3 albums, I can honestly say, that EVERY track from those albums are perfection. The chopping blades of those riffs, including Sean Reinert and Gene "the Atomic Clock" Hoglan are the epitome of what I love about extreme metal, yet were progressing it forward for that time. Eric Grief on his Fb page only a few years ago, shared some of Chuck's "CD Wallets", and lo and behold there were Watchtower, Atheist, Shadow Gallery, and I believe Fates Warning CD's, it all shows in his Recordings post-Human. Especially for Chuck's Prog Metal band "Control Denied". I still do listen to "Sound of Perseverance", but I don't know what it is, I still gravitate to the previous 3, and those band members. If you haven't Pete (and anyone reading this), you MUST see the Death Documentary; "Death by Metal". Chuck was a hard man to figure out, but he knew what he wanted, and had exceptional musicians along the way. It's because of Death, Cynic, Watchtower and Atheist that I have been on a quest for complex Metal ever since (along with the melodic, progressive and experimental/avant-garde). It's ironic that you compare Steve Digiorgio as the "Jaco Pastorius" of Death Metal (and the various Metal, Thrash & Prog Metal bands he's been in), as I have always said that "Lars K. Norberg" in *Spiral Architect* is, as if Jaco was in a Math Metal band (not "Mathcore" folks ;). Steve is just as distinguishable as Geddy Lee, great tone and style. Got to see Death on their last show in the states at the Whiskey in Hollywood for SoP, which they taped for VHS/DVD, and you can see me at times on the floor at the Right of the stage. Also my friends in the Prog/Thrash Metal band "Prototype" opened for them (which you can find footage here on KZbin). - Awesome ranking and words for some of my most favorite albums in my collection, thanks again Pete! Rest in Peace Chuck Schuldiner, and Sean Reinert, a HUGE loss and what a terrible January 2020 to lose Neil Peart as well :'(. For anyone checking out Death for the 1st time, also checkout the history of "Cynic", and how they also progressed Death Metal/Extreme Metal into brand new territory: kzbin.info/aero/PL2DU3TBNutEew7yCSN434yZfr_Tv51qBi

[@stevenvalenti3722]

Wow! Pete I didn't know you was into that heavy stuff. Death was a very talented group. Chuck was a really great guitarist. But I wasn't into them in the beginning. But I got into them on the great! Sound of Perseverance album. I did know of them. but I was into other groups back then. 🙂\m/

[@pedromelolouzada2003]

My Ranking: 7. Spiritual Healing 6. Scream Bloody Gore 5. Individual Thought Patterns 4. Leprosy 3. The Sound of Perseverance 2. Human 1. Symbolic

[@samsara107]

I only got the last 4 albums, because they fit my musical taste most. They are very much on par for me. But I also got the one Control Denied album, which is actually a Death album with just another vocalist and a tiny bit of a power metal edge to it. I like that one quite a lot as well.

[@Gookrak]

My favorite three from them is Scream bloody gore / Leprosy / Spritual healing (in any order :D), but I agree on the songs you named being exquisite! You mentioned Atheist, well done :D

[@acelogan5591]

CHUCK SCHULDINER is one of the BEST ARTISTS in the Metal history! He is a REAL music GENIUS! One of the best 10 songwriters in metal ever! One of the best music creators, one of the best lyricist and one of the best quitar player! And despite all that he is so underrated.. The ART is usually underrate by the metal fans. And never forget the Control Denied album, progresive metal, another great artwork. RIP Chuck

[@James-uf3mh]

Pete I have watched other rankings yours are the best your love of music seems to be as immense and diverse as mine keep up the work chuckrip I think genes last name was misspelled on an album did you catch that I love leprosy stay away from armiddilos

[@James-uf3mh]

The animal look it up

[@yoiamhere4737]

Impressive CD collection!!!

[@msmithforcain]

I was shocked with this one. I didn't think it could happen but this is the exact opposite of my rankings. As Pete goes through it I kept waiting for some anomaly but it kept going.

[@Tyldenfilm]

Pete. Been watching a lot of your vids lately. Great stuff! Really entertaining. But now, with the rating of Death, are you mad? "Human" on fourth place? Completely bonkers. Anyway, keep up the good work! :D

[@MastodonComicsMusic]

I always preferred their first 3 albums. I like the rawness of them. I'm the same on Sepultura's catalog as well as bands like Metallica and Slayer. But that's just me. Another great list Pete.

[@Goofballhero]

Sepultura’s 2nd-5th album are metal masterpieces. Especially Arise and Beneath the Remains.

[@mirkojuricic8400]

Greetings from Croatia! Would you like to rank the albums from two very underrated bands such as Fates Warning and Savatage?

[@inrockwetrust73]

Totally agree with your #1 choice. Symbolic is so great. I discovered Death in 1990 when I was 16 with Leprosy as the first album I got on cassette. went back and got Scream Bloody Gore and was hooked ever since. Got the chance to see Death live and even got to meet Chuck. He was really cool and down to earth and nice enough to put up with my fan girl nerdiness lol. A moment I will never, ever forget.

[@rileygraham1506]

I was never really a death metal guy before . But Chuck was an amazing musician and an influence to me and many others. Such a big loss in the metal scene when he died. I love Death. Hard for me to pick a favourite album. I love ITP and Symbolic. Cheers from Canada 🤘🤘

[@devildozer]

Hey Pete, hows about a King Diamond ranking video...please!!

[@trentlyman2071]

1. Symbolic 2. Sound of Perseverance 3. Spiritual Healing 4. Human 5. Leprosy 6. Scream Bloody Gore 7. Individual Thought Patterns This was a hard list to make but this is what I have come to terms with.

[@megaslayer9279]

Can you rank the bolt thrower albums ??

[@mjnation7876]

Death Metal isn’t really my thing but I love Death. Individual Thought Patterns is my favorite album from them. Mentally Blind is probably one of my favorite Death songs.

[@skallagrimr_kveldulfsson]

Great video, if I was asked to recommend a band to someone who wants to get into death metal, I would definitely recommend Death because they have both the brutality and the sophistication. It's so sad that Chuck Schuldiner passed away. He would have created much more amazing music ...

[@agenthunk5070]

if you love Death like I do, can you do a review on Control Denied the fragile art of existence?

[@seaoftranquilityprog]

I like the album quite a lot, but, no point in reviewing a 25 year old album at this point. Most folks who are into Death surely know it and own it.

[@Schnoal74]

1. Scream Bloody Gore 2. Leprosy 3. Spiritual Healing

[@putridabomination]

Fantastic band All I need in my collection studio album wise is Spiritual Healing, Human and Individual Thought Patterns. And Control Denied.

[@jameshuseby9931]

Get picks Pete I like it that your always a little different when you rank em death albums are so had to rank i love em all

[@blrblr1]

Here is my ranking. 1. Individual thought patterns 2. Symbolic 3. Scream bloody gore (yes, it was 1st Death album I heard and also 1st death metal album I ever heard, so for me it has special place). 4. Human 5. Sound of perservence 6. Spiritual Healing 7. Leprosy And of course. All of these are 10/10... just some are 11... there is no bad Death album!

[@patrickmohan2220]

Any chance of a Venom video Pete?

[@sadusattack2628]

I was going to go see Death live for the first time on The Sound of Perseverance tour but I had to work the next day and ended up not going. I figured I would just see them on their next tour. Then Chuck got brain cancer and I never got to see them live.