Death

Over the course of more than a decade and increasingly accomplished albums, Chuck Schuldiner, the architect behind the ubiquitous Death, became a bona fide heavy metal icon. Now widely recognized as the father of death metal (if a single candidate must be chosen, his résumé is about as good as it gets), Schuldiner's singular drive and ruthless creative vision guaranteed that Death would ever represent the cutting edge of the style's development. Indeed, while the savagely raw aggression contained in Death's first three albums proved crucial to spearheading the first generation...