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The number one band on this list is a band called Death. I have never heard anything by them. But I don't want to be scrabbling around on Youtube for rare or insignificant stuff, I want to go right in with their best stuff, like a newbie checking out Metallica and going straight to 'Master Of Puppets!
Any Death fans out there?
Me, here...
They were one among the first of 5 or so bands that were molding thrash style to death metal. If not predecessors, but very original and they inspired tens to hundreds of new bands who started during late 80's and early 90's with the first and/or second wave of classic death metal.
But Death showed also increasing interest in a then less liked style of progressive death metal and they went fairly psychedelic quite soon. Others who also joined the style were Pestilence and Suffocation, for some to mention. (But I think the prog death thing is actually great after all.) It tells a lot about how Death changed if you think their guitarist Paul Masvidal formed also a band called Cynic which is progressive as hell and use vocoders with vocals, have synthesizers and complicated riffs, timing etc. (Recommended to check out.)
As BER said, it's so pity and sad what happened to Chuck Schuldiner. There was a benefit tour to fund for expensive and difficult surgery to fight the cancer that Schuldiner (and Chuck Billy from Testament) had. Chuck Billy survived the operation though.
My fave album from Death is their first the Scream Bloody Gore, second album Leprosy, and probably the Exorcist's instrumental version (a Possessed cover) that was rather more their progressive era from the album Individual Thought Patterns :
https://youtu.be/FxDT3pRzou4(Photo from wikipedia: Chuck Schuldiner at right, Paul Masvidal left upper row. )
