Most metal vocalists ten to experiment with various methods until sticking to a select set that will define their careers. Occasionally some vocalists will abandon harsh vocals in an attempt to win over fans or out of a need to show that they can do more than make agressive sounds on a microphone. Chuck Schuldiner is an outlier as his vocals subtly changed every album until no longer resembling what he initially set out to do. His evolution is complex and nuanced as there were no volatile changes in performance but small adaptations that were guided by multiple factors.
Influences:
Rob Halford: Ian Gillan’s screams on “Child in Time” introduced the idea of ascending in pitch in an uncontrolled manner to express catharsis. Two years later on “Highway Star” Gillan would add a lot more grit to his screams over the chugging riffs and this set the stage for singers like Rob Halford who codified this approach with more power, greater range and control. The high screams became a staple of virtuosity as many singers were incapable of copying such feats and opted for a more feral approach that sought to recapture the underlying emotion rather than the technique. The influence on Schuldiner’s style became prominent on Symbolic and The Sound of Perseverance as seen by the “Painkiller” cover, the dramatic increase in pitch and a desire to transfer his Death metal vocal technique over to a more traditional form.
Tom Araya: Singing is often used as therapy for various pulmonary and cardiac issues, proper breathing is the cornerstone of a powerful voice, therefore a respiratory therapist would be able to apply such skills towards fronting a metal band. Tom Araya who carried this wealth of knowledge into slayer combined the low gruff shouts of Cronos and James Hetfield’s controlled snarl into a domineering and theatrical semi-sung/semi-shouted growl. This was complemented by a head voice scream that was powerful and controlled like Halford but without the pitch control. This gave it a horrifying quality as creeped between notes and was more akin to a death knell than a cathartic release. Tom’s vocal style would mark a distinct shift away from tonal singing towards the abrasive sounds that defined Extreme metal.
Jeff Becerra: Any idea about technique or control was quickly thrown away as all that mattered was screaming as loud as possible. Jeff’s throat muscles are almost completely shut as he pushes the air out with every ounce of energy creating the high pitched rasp that defined early Death metal. Words are spat out at a blistering pace and Jeff only stops to gather his breath before continuing at the same pace without any respect for rhythm nor tempo, occasionally there will be some long onomatopoeia screams that vulgarly end a phrase. Jeff’s vocal influence on Chuck during his formative years is very apparent but both would diverge considerably later on.
Discography:
Early demos: Youthful energy is expressed through a very inconsistent technique that varies from song to song with the sole objective of being more vicious than anything before it without thought much towards musicality. Though the idea of the chest voice scream combined with the higher head voice screams makes its debut here, it’s more of an accidental discovery as evidenced by the lack of any form of logic regarding the screams. The base for the Death metal rasp is present here in its more abstract and primitive form and many singers would take example from these demos yet find their own direction
Scream Bloody Gore : Distinct vocal patterns emerge for the first time in Death’s history and are set in stone. Leaving behind the rapid fire approach for a more horrific performance that consists of forcing out the vowels of each word and extending them and thus making the lyrics unintelligible. Words become organized screams of agony that are created by pushing the air out through the throat as hard as possible while consonants barely attach them together as brief respites and loose connections between each scream completely destroying the words. Like Tom Araya, Chuck also incorporated high pitched screams derived from Heavy metal to dramatically end his phrases. Araya’s “Angel of Death” scream represented the next step in the style as it veered away from traditional singing to convey more terror. Schuldiner distorts the screaming style even more to the point where it can no longer be associated with a note for stronger effect. This pushes the songs away from the obvious Thrash metal leanings and fits the horror scenes described in the lyrics.
Leprosy: The disappearing influence of Thrash metal on Death metal led to bass heavy production styles and bands tuning their instruments lower in search of a more aggressive sound. While Death were not seeking to go deeper, the new advancements in their compositional style merited a bassier production style. The vocals followed suit as Chuck sang with more chest and the Heavy metal derived screams all but disappeared with a focus on the lower parts of his range to match the music. Chuck develops more control as he doesn’t push out as much except for dramatic intent. The tone is consistent and there is a greater emphasis on making strong catchy vocal rhythms. Schuldiner clenches his throat even more giving his vocals are more tormented sound despite the lower volume. Words are now longer vomited syllables but are now fully formed and almost intelligible. Chuck avoids monotony with slights variations in pitch that offer contrast without sounding like different vocalists. This builds up tension that is released during the songs’ pseudo-choruses such as “Pull the Plug”. These sections tend to consist of the song title repeated in a drawn out way that provides an anthemic quality to these songs.
Spiritual Healing: This is the first extreme change in Chuck’s voice as he fully embraces the Death metal aesthetic that was established during the period. Vocally this is marked by Chuck striving to sing as low as possible without modifying his technique. Due to the discomfort this causes for him, the amount of distortion in his rasp and it’s natural volume are significantly lowered allowing his speaking voice to completely come through. A strong filter is applied to his voice to give it an ethereal quality that allows it to float on top of the music. The rapid fire rhythms are all but gone as the emphasis is moved towards taking a percussive role that accentuates the underlying rhythms of the riffs and forms a gel during the transitions. Unlike Leprosy there are very few shifts in pitch that lead to the big screams but rather a more varied use of rhythm that leads to these parts without detracting any attention towards the stronger riffs present.
Human: At this point in time Chuck grew tired of Death metal and its shift towards extremely low growls and constant blasting. Opting for a more progressive approach to riff writing that slowly drew him back to his Heavy metal roots, Chuck abandons the lower end of his vocal range for a mid range rasp. The vocal melodies no longer operate as an additional rhythmic layer but take center stage similar to traditional metal. The introduction of choppy Thrash rhythms pushes Chuck to use heavily syncopated vocal rhythms that follow the guitar chugs. The vocals follow the guitars without much divergence and work mainly to complete the rhythmic gaps. Schuldiner’s rasp sits in a more comfortable range for him and is at its most powerful. Unlike most harsh vocalists of the time, Chuck doesn’t hide his natural voice and it comes through his rasp and that makes his vocal very unique which was important as the themes of the songs would shift to much more personal ones here.
Individual Thought Patterns: Diving even further into the progressive metal territory but without any sudden changes in music. There is no need to change the approach. Chuck perfectly conveys the anguish and anger in his lyrics. The chugging rhythms of Human are replaced with constant metre and tempo changes and Chuck provides order to the chaos following the riffs and making the transitions between riffs less jarring. This would be the last time that Schuldiner stuck to conventional Extreme metal vocals.
Symbolic: The Heavy metal influences are at their most apparent here and steer this music away from Death metal towards a Progressive/Heavy hybrid. While the vocals are the only element that tie this album to Death metal, they do follow the shift in trajectory. While still atonal, they are variations in inflection and voicing that bring the rasp within the framework of traditional vocals.
Using more of his nasal cavities and removing the chest resonance makes the rasp thinner and higher but easier to control and this is necessary for the catchy choruses that entice the listener to sing along which is one of the main appeals of Symbolic. By sacrificing power and depth which is contrary to the Death metal ethos, Chuck establishes a new methodology that complements the album’s melodic sensibilities.
The Sound of Perseverance: A huge increase in pitch places the vocal performance closer to nascent Black metal singing styles than anything derived from Death metal. Initially meant to be Control Denied’s first album, the songs were recorded with sung vocals in mind as seen by the “Bite the Pain” demo. When label obligations forced Chuck to release one last Death album, the vocal style was subsequently changed to fit within the expectations associated with the Death name. Schuldiner at this point publicly expressed that the strain of the screams were now painful and this probably pushed him towards the tonal style heard here. Chuck adapts the clean vocals into shrill screams but the wear and tear on his voice is apparent creating a half way point between an Extreme metal vocal and a heavy metal falsetto scream. The “Painkiller” cover works with Chuck’s style whereas his previous styles would sound to disconnected from the consonant riffs. Musically, The Sound of Perseverance lies in consonant territory, the dissonant riffs used on Symbolic have completely disappeared and this allowed Chuck to completely express his Heavy metal sensibilities. In essence Chuck is screaming in key and embracing the role of the Heavy metal singer to fully exploit the melodies but still keeping the edge of Extreme vocals that keeps the adrenaline flowing.
“It’s my dream to once make a traditional metal album, preferably with Ronnie James Dio on vox
but I will never do that under the name of Death.”
Control Denied: Despite not singing, Chuck still composed the vocal lines for all the songs. He shows a good tenor voice on the demos and even manages to clean up his screams. A lack of experience was evident but Tim Aymar had a fairly similar range and was able to translate Chuck’s demos into the fully realized vocals seen on The Fragile Art of Existence.
Vocalists influenced by Chuck Schuldiner:
Martin Van Drunen: Taking the timbre present on Scream Bloody Gore and leprosy, Martin discarded the fast paced rhythms in favour of an overtly emotional and dynamic delivery that follows the complex arrangements of Pestilence’s and Asphyx’s music.
Marc Grewe: Morgoth is heavily indebted to Death’s early albums and Marc’s vocal style is no exception to that. A rasp that is painfully pushed out similar replicates the atmosphere found on Leprosy.
Steffen Kummerer: Absorbing more from the second half of Death’s career, Steffen often alternates between a deep growl and a decent imitation of Chuck’s voice that adds a layer to the virtuosic segments found in Obscura’ music.
Luc Lemay: Luc takes Chuck’s timbre and adds even more distortion and grit to it and pushes it out from his diaphragm thus creating a deeper and fuller sound that doesn’t have any signs of his talking voice within him which is very effective here as Gorguts never dealt with personal issues in their lyrics.
