The Genius Songwriting of Chuck Schuldiner of DEATH
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- Опубліковано 6 гру 2023
- Video diving deep into Flesh And The Power It Holds
• Metal Masterpieces - D...
Here we break down the structure of Chuck's songs. From both Death and Control Denied. We look at how the songs are structured and some of the keys he uses as well as some lyrical content
I adore his music so analyzing it and breaking it down is one of the best pleasures in life.
RIP CHUCK
Chuck was (and still is) my main inspiration while learning guitar. When I started writing my own stuff, I realized I passively tend to structure songs like him and use similar scales etc. I can honestly say if it wasn't for him, I wouldn't have this hobby I hold so dear to my heart. I mourn his death, but am also so grateful that he existed and created some of my favorite music.
Amen brother. RIP chuck 🫡🫡
Yeah, it's over 20 years, so get over it. Low-life loser.
Same for me, i'm starting to learn guitar and every times i listen to his songs i get the urge to practice more. I'm still far from sounding anything like him but in the future id like to do songs like his
I haven't listened to Death on the regular for at least a decade. More than once I've "written" a heavy riff only to immediately realize it's something Chuck wrote. Apparently his music lives rent free in my subconscious. I'm honestly okay with that 😉
See you in heaven, Chuck.
Give Watchtower a listen!! You won't regret it. Chuck Schuldiner was a huge fan of this band!!
Chuck was one of the greatest musicians I’ve ever heard. I’m a huge fan of prog rock, prog metal and power / speed metal. I don’t usually listen to death metal… but I absolutely adore Death and Control Denied. It’s hard not to think about what Chuck would have created if he didn’t leave this world so early. Awesome video!
Bilada curte death
Que aleatório kkkkkk
do nada o edu KKKKKKKKKK
Living monstronsity seems to be a lot different than his typical song structure, definitely one of my favorites songs from my favorite band
It's been a favorite of mine forever
Its basicly still the same typical Death song structure.
@@Bananenbennie your point is?
@@jessickalush3305 that its not that different as suggested
There is something that deeply fascinates, amazes and disturbs me, and that's the fact that 120 people unreflectively took the content of this commentary as truth, without first checking the structure of the song. Here is the structure of the "Living Monstrosity":
Riff 1
Riff 2 (Verse 1)
Riff 3 (Verse 2)
Riff 4 (Verse 2)
Riff 1 (Verse 3)
Bridge
Harmony Solo
Solo riff 1 // Solo 1
Solo riff 1 // Solo 2
Post Solo Riff (Verse 4)
Riff 2 (Verse 5)
Riff 3 (Verse 6)
Riff 4 (Verse 7)
Note that I may have made a few minor mistakes.
Now tell me how this structure is different, since it follows the same patterns as other Death songs.
Chuck is still the coolest guy I ever shared a joint with.
RIP, man.
Fantastic songwriter
Damn now that is a story you can take to your... Death!
Great story, did you live near him or something?
@@VARVIS_ I hung out with Death backstage at Sundance in Long Island, NY on their Spiritual Healing Tour.
Sundance was short staffed , so I acted as an impromptu security guard on stage the entire night to handle people climbing up on the stage. Spent the entire night directly next to James Murphy and Chuck. It was Surreal
@@joeylodesfuck yeah, Chuck was born in Long Island if I remember correctly
Chuck and James🤘🤘🤘 spent the night next to two of Heavy Metal's most important visionaries and personal artists! And also cool guys as well!
While he did stray away from typical death metal, which he even admitted to, hes still a massive influence and icon to most of the scene.
His influence only seems to grow daily it seems
He is death metal
The "death metal" genre was named after Chuck's band, not the other way around.
@@xxxYYZxxx most people tend to say Possessed created the name death metal
Preaching to a choir
Listening to Death for the first time, I just didn’t get it. I couldn’t understand why people liked it, it was just so different. But there was something about it that made me keep listening, the riffs enticed me. And now I love Death, his songs are some of my favorite to practice. Great analysis, rest in peace legend 🤘
Thanks bro. RIP Chuck
This is why (I think) their songs are so good - they almost never get old or boring no matter how many times you listen to them because they were written to be repeated.
First time I noticed the ABA structure in every single symbolic song my mind was utterly blown. You are the first person ive seen on the internet talk about how much Chuck loved this concept. Awesome vid
Thanks man! Cheers
The first album I owned was Individual Thought Patterns and once I noticed the pattern to his songs it made the lyrics much easier to remember. A song is more enjoyable when you can sing along. Not only do I sing along, but I also hum the music parts or do the drum sounds where I can in Chuck's songs.
Edit: I never noticed that about my favourite Iron Maiden album, Somewhere In Time, but that's very interesting now that you made me realise it.
In my opinion, Death is the only extreme metal band using traditional structure in songwriting (opposed to a riff salad). And damn that paid off in relatabiity. Also, sometimes Chuck also puts a bridge/special before the last chorus, but I can't recall song examples off the top of my mind.
Idk, some songs on the last album are pretty much riff salads with weird writing choices
@@user-xm5fo3bo3tgive examples
@@user-xm5fo3bo3tyeah chuck song structure in the later album was more experimental and progressive
@@user-xm5fo3bo3tWeeeell I think the last album is pretty good composition wise
Evil Dead has a bridge
Chuck continues to impress and inspire me till this day . Been listing to them still Leprosy .
"It is sickening, to see dreams die!
A word of advice, fates patience is growing short!"
RIP brother Chuck! The greatest of all time!
Honestly, I subscribed because you very astutely described Chuck's songwriting with that diagram. A fascinating thing I noticed is that your metaphor for the structure as almost like hearing the same song twice is that you're describing a type of fractal, particularly a self-affine fractal. These don't repeat exactly like a typical fractal but instead are prone to replicating their original pattern with additional stretches and distortions depending on how and where you look at them from.
Very interesting, that is a good point. Never heard of a a self-affine fractal, but your description of it matches Chuck's songs perfectly
I've noticed this structure for a long time. Thank you so much for giving it voice, digging in and laying it out in such detail! 👍👍
This made me realize that symbolic has the same song structure as the camera eye by rush, and like that song they're both amazing
Man I love Rush, that is seriously cool. Going yo re listen to moving pictures now 👍👍
If you're interested in Death's shift to technical metal check out "Energetic Disassembly" by Watchtower, Chuck said he was influenced by that record prior to or during the recording of Human. Worth mentioning is Candiria's "Process of Self Development" that ranges from technical thrash metal to technical death metal, jazz fusion and even hip-hop!
Wow that is awesome! Yes I will definitely check out both of those! Cheers man!!!
Got to see Candiria some 20 years ago and they lit the place up. I believe Soilent Green and Cephalic Carnage were on the same bill.
Thank you for making this video! DEATH has been apart of my life for so long and any content and facts I can learn about the band makes me enjoy them even more.
glad you enjoyed it!
Hell yeah dude, nice to see this type of content! Love the video \m/
Great video, as a huge Death fan and also a guitarist/ songwriter these are things i've definitely noticed but you explained them in a really simple and understandable way, which I definitely couldn't do. Also this made me realize why the structures of a Death song are usually way easier to remember/ learn.
cheers man!
I have always been a big fan of his way of approaching music in general whether it be riffs or lyrics... Thanks for the video great work 🙌🏻🤘🏻
Thanks man! Appreciate it, more to come
This is a really well put together video u deserve more subs
Hey bro thank you so much. That means a lot 👍👍👍 cheers homie 🫡
Well put together vid. Learned a lot. Thx man
Cheers bro! I am glad you learned some stuff!
Thanks for breaking it down. You made a great video explaining his writing process.
Thanks man 👍
The GOAT ❤🤘 great vid man
Chuck was a very smart and talented writer.
Only if you're talking about riffs
@@alphaenemyplus8376 His Solo´s arent exactly technical but extremly unique and soulful. His Lyrics are also very deep and philosophical, dont know what you mean ;P!
@@Machenist song structure and composition.
Great video, keep up the good work.
You can actually kinda get the pattern of the structure he uses in the songs when you start playing along with it! Chuck is like my biggest inspiration and he's one of the reasons I picked up guitar as a hobby and currently I'm trying to learn some Death songs and I started to realize that almost every song I picked up had a very similar structure, and it's really interesting! Nice to find a video finally explaining it!
Cheers man!
Your content is good, Subscribed 🤘
great video bro! Awesome!
just about my fav metal band ever...great vid
I’m learning songs from every death album and i’m fascinated how Chuck evolved is his music overtime. The way he’s able to create melodies that are memorable with relatable lyrics is why Death is one of my favorites. Symbolic is a prime example
Rip Chuck
Having learned and played many songs from Symbolic, I also noticed this pattern; and I also noticed the greatness of all those individual riffs that are just too catchy to forget them
Great videos man, I'm glad I found ur channel u have good taste, u have a new sub!
Thanks so much bro!
this amazes i literally just noticed it couple days ago especially in songs such as scavenger of human sorrow or without judgement which have one of the most brutal death riffs in section 3 in my opinion and i always catch myself counting riffs until section 3
I love the template, firsthalf/solo/first half again fucking mint
I figured out the structure the hard way trying to figure out the guitar parts in the 90s. Great content here brother.
Thanks my man! What was it like hearing Death come out in the 90s?
@@VARVIS_ We didnt realize how good we had it as far as good metal. Its aweome to see his legacy lives on, I went and saw Death with Steve D and them a while back and it was the most packed show I went to in a while. Chuck was so ahead of his time.
Thank you!!! It's gonna be a very intresting vídeo!
You are most welcome sir!
This is also why I love The sound of Perseverance and Symbolic the most, it does sound like basic song layouts but seems its Technical Death metal it is the most intense and atmospheric music you can listen to, every song always have small variations and extra details, Chuck is one of the best composers ever, every Death album is perfection and every line up he had was unique to its own and rememberable, Best Extreme/Death Metal band and one of the Best bands of all time. Long Live Chuck Schuldiner
I have to agree with everything you said here man!
He's a great riff writer, but God no, he's a terrible composer. His songwriting mechanics were really bad. The riffs are interchangeable between songs. They're not even remotely complimentary. That should not happen. Great riffs, but they would have been better if they were written into songs with better songwriting chops.
I truly agree that "it's important to remain a fan". I believe that was the key that Chuck continued to make amazing records. Now I compose songs and play guitars, but I'm primarily a Metal fan, so I'm glad to know that he said like that.
In terms of his songwriting, when I first noticed his typical composition, I remember it was surprising because it still sounds complex though the structure is not so complex when compared with other "technical" bands. Chuck is a genius, and I respect him so much.
R.I.P. Chuck Schuldiner.
RIP CHUCK
I think that one of the main things in Death songs (and most of great memorable prog rock/ prog metal/ prog death metal songs, which in some sense is highlighted here) is that you hear great hooks/riffs that don't repeat for some pretty long time, but the band makes you to anticipate these parts for this long time and then feeds your hunger for these great parts, but still manages to make them sound not as standard verses and/or choruses because of melodies/solos between them which make songs diverse enough
Awesome video, man. I never thought about how he structured his songs from the point of view you laid out. Now I'm going to think about it when I listen to his albums. For me personally Human is my favorite era of Death and my favorite era of Chuck as a guitarist. I listen to it almost every day driving to work lol. I think Chuck playing with the guys from Cynic and creating that album broaden his guitar skills and made him a better musician, composer, and songwriter. Compared to playing straight forward sludgy death metal like he did with the first 3 albums. Chuck always surrounded himself with the best musicians too. As a drummer, Sean Reinert inspired me to play more challenging drum parts and push myself. While Chuck always made think more outside the box when it comes to playing guitar.
One interesting thing about most Death songs is, that they seem to be recorded without a metronome. The BMP vary from bar to bar if you would try to map the song in a DAW.
Didnt notice that! that is very cool
Not to mention the BPM shifts massively between riffs often
Yes, that's because he didn't write songs, he wrote riffs and slapped them together.
@@VARVIS_it's not cool, he wrote great riffs and slapped them together in a formulaic way. You're ball washing way too hard here. Chuck was a shit songwriter, but still wrote great riffs. He had no clue how to make them work together so he didn't bother trying, he just did it. And look, so many years later people still playing mental Twister trying to justify his terrible songwriting. It's literally he wrote riffs and slapped them together in this formula you describe. You can take any three riffs from any three Death songs and slap them together and you'll get the same result. It's not genius.
@@alphaenemyplus8376 OK 👍👍
It's more freeform than Death but Gorguts on Obscura used a similar ABA structure for most of the songs, Nostalgia is an example that really demonstrates it. Having the structure really helps ground you as a listener, since the riffs have so much dissonance your ear picks up more of the groove the second time around.
I love the way and im still amazed at what Chuck and the other members were able to continue putting out quality material on every album, from their riffs, bridge parts with Harmonic Minor solos from Chuck im always thinking to myself when i listen to his work "how the hell did he come up with so many great songs! And lyrically aswell he had some gore, some real life issues like on Spiritual, then the deep album Human just so many great things came from this band and the intrical part in the band frontman Chuck Schuldiner! #LetTheMetalFlow
Learned Lack of Comprehension today, his solo in that shifts between two harmonic minor scales a fifth apart. Really good shit
Loved this guys music and guitar playing as a teenager. Didnt have internet at home back in my metal days didnt know much about him, still dont but will watch this video
Loved this
The best to ever do it. RIP Chuck Schuldiner.
I feel the wanting with Bite The Pain. The opening riff leaves me wanting every time i hear it,.. and it's ONLY at the beginning!
Death is my favorite band of all time. None of their songs ever get old
100% bro
I’m glad I had a smoking weed buddy who introduced me to the best bands while he was fishing good stuff on Napster. Death was one of these genius bands. I wasn’t into computers yet. As a musician, I was stunned by the originality, the skills and complexity of the music
my old band clown corpse & my previous band before that wrote in this same format through he 90's up until 2012 as I was a big death fan so I picked up on this same formula,great video btw & nice to see others also had the same vision on chucks music
GREAT VIDEO !! 👏👏👏
thank you man!
Having a strong substantial verse riff also makes the lyrics more memorable
Because more attention is drawn to the verse as a whole
i actually noticed that and it made learning the songs very easy for me, cause you can really just learn the parts seperatly and then just put them back together
Hahahah same that is how I noticed it as well.
This is an incredible analysis. Never something I've thought about while listening to extreme metal, but damn, Nile and Karl Sanders was definitely inspired by Chuck's methods. So much of Nile's music is incredibly complex, but it's always got a hook or some catchy riff (esp. Annihilation of the Wicked).
Interesting analysis. Although I would argue that part 5 of Symbolic most would consider as chorus. Even in the booklets on various Death albums these parts of the songs which includes the title of the track are reffered as choruses. And that's quite interesting - on Scream Bloody Gore most of the songs contain a chorus played 3 times. Makes it more of traditional rock structure: verse/chorus/verse/chorus/solo/chorus. That's the typical formula on SBG. But after SBG Death actually never ever played any chorus more than two times.. sometimes even only one time (Living Monstrosity). And thats quite remarkable cause Chuck usually wrote very strong, catchy choruses (Empty Words, Suicide Machine, Spirit Crusher, Within the mind, Mentally blind, Leprosy...). But you can always hear them just twice :)
great post man! One hundred percent spot on. You could def argue that section 5 is the chorus, but I was using it as a general template, but yes you are correct!
I've always seen it as ABA where A is basically a minisong that starts with the main riff and ends with the chorus and in the B section you just go crazy. You can throw in an intro or outro section if you want to. The genius of this structure is, since the sections are quite long, you can add in so many different riffs and transitions, go to so many different places, but the song still has a cohesive structure and doesn't endup sounding like riff salad.
I think time will prove him to be one of the best songwriters and artists out of Florida
One of the best or one of a famouse?
It wasn't until "The Sound of Preserverance" that I noticed that pattern. I thought of it as an "ABCAB" pattern.
Death needs more recognition each and every single musician in that band were so unique and skilled and chuck his skillset and his intelligence was something else
100% my brother
Great analysis, man!
Sub'd ;-)
Much appreciated!
sick video
I love the infusions of tasty mini-solos here and there, like immediately after a chorus for example (Overactive Imagination comes to mind, LOVE that song/part) or in the brigde (Crystal Mountain right?)... I think some songs even starts off with a solo iirc
Zero Tolerance is one of my favorite songs off the Symbolic record, but the thing that always bumped me out is that my favorite part only repeats once in the whole song ("There will be zero tolerance, for the creator of our own intentions..."). But then one time I realized it makes me appreciate and enjoy that part even more.
Love Death forever - RIP Chuck 🖤
I agree. It's one of the reasons why their songs are so great. It makes those parts more special, gives them a bigger impact, keeps them from getting old. I've noticed a lot of my favorite Death riffs are sometimes never repeated and usually pretty short. One example is ~2:30-3:12 in Genetic Reconstruction. That's probably one of my favorite parts in their whole discography. The one at 3:30 in Story To Tell is really memorable too.
You should check out the band Watchtower!! Chuck Schuldiner was a HUGE fan of this band and you can literally hear where he drew inspiration from them. Especially on later Death and Control Denied material.
Cool! Ill check them out right now! thanks for the rec man
I grew up listening to both Death and Watchtower. If you can get past the vocals they are incredible
Symbolic is such a masterpiece.
Absolute work of art man.
Very interresting!
RRIP Chuck.
I'm a Thrash Metal Fan since 1986.
Death Metal was never my thing but Leprosy" and "Scream bloody gore" are masterpieces.
I like Death. I am not into learning everything about each member, but their music has left good impression on me.
I hope they've been good boys, because their music and lyrics are quite meaningful.
Rest in peace genius
X3 things: Damn Dude! Excellent job breaking that down! #2). "Flesh, and the Power it holds" is my FAVORITE Death song. As a Metal Guitarist myself, it is ESSENTIAL every one of us Respects and learns from chucks legacy! It's GAURENTED progress! #3). I want that guys job....just stand there and make sure the monitors don't get knocked over, or smashed N' shit. Lol ....just jamin' out! Long Live the 6-String! 🤘🏻 R.I.P Chuck!
RIP CHCUK, thanks for watching my guy
Scream bloody gore blew my mind when it came out.. Ended up painting the album cover on the back of my denim cutoff lol.. Still got the original vinyl somewhere 🤘
died today 21 years ago! RIP Chuck
RIP
See Through Dreams has a good example of the transition from solo/bridge back to the verse, except that now it feels like it is capping or upping the solo.
Feast & Famine by Foo Fighters has a very interesting structure.
Long time Schuldiner fan here…
Jazz song structure is the key terminology to understanding his music.
That approach paid off very well on his most bass guitar driven albums that had DiGiorgio on them.
There is no jazz in Death. It's all prog and Iron Maiden.
@@snod7598 what do you think influenced prog rock?
All American music traces back to the blues; and so, there you have it.
Try listening to Rush’s song, “La Villa Strangiato” sometime. Peart always freely admitted to his jazz influences.
@DyarContreras look I know Americans are always looking to get brownie points, but prog was not influenced by the blues and it's not American lmao. Prog comes from late 60s English psychedelia.
@@snod7598 are you in an argumentative mood?
Or do you actually want to have a discussion with me?
@@snod7598 also, nice try at moving the goalposts, lol 😂
I BELIVE IT IS 21YEARS TODAY THAT WE LOST CHUCK RIP
already 22 years, we miss you Chuck!
The philosopher of Death Metal
For shure Chuck was a guitar and songwriting god. Will listen to Death till i go. Good analysis vid, thx!
Thank you sir!
I noticed pretty early on that he used this formula. Going through 3-4 riffs with a breakdown after what feels like a chorus and then repeating the whole progression in the second half.
It all really came together on Sound of perseverance.
Great video!
Glad you enjoyed it brother 👍👍
Im still saddened by his passing. I can remember the day he died. Theres control denied songs left unreleased. Individual is my favorite album.
LOVED this video! So interesting.
Any chance that you'll do one for Megadeth?
Thanks bro! Yes I have one on Rust In Peace planned, but I have a few songs I want to get through first. Namely Spirit Crusher, 2112 by Rush and Happiness By the Killowatt by Alexisonfire
More megadeth is coming though!
@@VARVIS_ Man, any analysis of Death or Megadeth would be amazing! There's almost no analysis of Megadeth on youtube what-so-ever so I think it will be popular.
Awesome video! I'm going to completely copy your style and make my own videos about this
Love it go for it brother 👍👍
Song structure is obviously genius but also his solos, guitar sound and riff style on last two albums are way different than other death metal bands. And then there is also Voice of the Soul or Perennial Quest outro that shows his more emotional side. His style sounds for me like progressive melodic death metal.
I suggest Piggy of Voivod, Killing Technology and Dimension Hatross song writting styles. Some neat stuff going on there!
I would check out some Deeds of Flesh for a band that has similar structure, particularly in their earlier albums. They're also extremely technical.
Would love to see you analyze the writing style of Gojira
Thats a good idea.....
Chuck was a Genius!!
Rush and Mercyful Fate also might have been influences in this field - both has very interesting and quite unusual song structures. Of course these two also influenced Iron Maiden...
The flames that burn brightest burn fastest. If there's an afterlife, when I get there, first thing I'm doing is going to go see the Chuck & Randy Rhoads duo gig going on up there.
RIP Chuck
I will probably get flamed for this - I say this not to troll as like many in these comments, Chuck's riffs were HUGELY influential on me. I absolutely love his riffs so much and his solos are awesome. A HUGE influence on my playing and writing. BUT, I wouldnt go as far as saying genius songwriter for the reason you demonstrate early in the video - eventually I noticed all of Death's songs pretty much follow that same structure and once I saw that I couldn't unsee it. I still love Chuck and love his riffs and again he's a huge influence, but the structure and songwriting is pretty formulaic, which isnt really a problem - the riffs are so good it's fine! It's just not exactly adventurous.
Cool vídeo!!!
Thank you my man!
I like how he changed his singing voice staring with Symbolic.
excellent video and analysis, the only criticism I would bring up is that you repeat takes in the same edit, such as in 9:40 and 9:46. extremely picky but I noticed right away. other than that these videos are awesome dude, Death is one of my favorite bands apart from SOAD
For a very different and controversial perspective on this topic, check out Scale It Back Archive's '5 Times Chuck Schuldiner Couldn’t Write a Song'.
Symbolic is BY FAR my favorite Death album. I really got into them over the last year. I always liked them but never fell in love til digging into their discography recently.
Very nice video! The audio from your DAW when you were showing the sections was too low though, it was annoying.
Yes, I just wanted to make sure my voice was clear. Overdid it. I plan to remake this video in a few months with more info and more explanations, esp about lyrics so stay tuned