Karmageddon, at it again
Chuck Schuldiner
Zero Tolerance II
Karmageddon
The second in what Karmageddon promises to be a series of releases. The most noticeable thing is that Zero Tolerance II is pure white. The CD itself is pure white with nothing on it identifying what it is other than the words Karmageddon on the front. On the back is Karmageddon again, with a number. I find all of this ironically sad. Karmageddon + Pure White = Their zero tolerance policy on all of Chuck Schuldiners works, labors, loves. Even the liner notes are the same as on Zero Tolerance I. Karmageddon doesnt even bother to say anything new, relevant, or remotely interesting, theyve simply regurgitated whats already been said. Why they havent released a Control Denied album, rants against the Schuldiner family, and a chest thumping paragraph about their rights as a label. They do quote Chuck himself, with his famous line not to support rumors and to let the metal flow. Karmageddon did a huge, disrespectful service to the buyer of this CD. I find it of utmost importance to number 1, proof read the liner notes for spelling errors. They didnt, the errors are the same as on Zero Tolerance I. And 2, it wouldve been nice to have something new stated about this release; however, all thats changed is the track listing on the back, and the color. From Black on Zero Tolerance I, to white for this one. Given all that, and the title to this series, the irony is a bit too much.
With a long session spent at Emptywords.org, I think I can try to be a little more helpful than the record label has been with the liner notes.
Tracks 1-5 are the Death by Metal demo, from 1984. The Lineup is as follows:
Chuck Schuldiner-guitar/vocals
Kam Lee-drums/vocals
Rick Rozz-guitar
From Emptywords.org The first official recording emerges in the underground: the rehearsal tape "Death By Metal", which is recorded in the garage of Chuck's mom on Rick's Panasonic tape recorder. Chuck is 17.
Legions of Doom has a familiar structure to it, and great groove. Fair sounding, just like the jam or rehearsal tape that it is. Evil Dead shows off a young Chucks developing picking style. 1984 stuff, and the vocals are quite good. Because no one else was doing shit like this then, with the enthusiastic attitude Look what I can do! Beyond the Holy Grave is early speed influenced death metal with crude vocals. Some higher pitched screams here and there, and an early insane Chuck solo. Power of Darkness, horrid sounding is all I can say, and low volume levels are the key to get anything out of these demos. Death by Metal, again, horrid sounding, and rightly so, being 23+ years old.
From Emptywords.org In October the 5 track "Reign Of Terror" demo is recorded in Florida. December 30-show with Nasty Savage in Ruby's Pub/Tampa. The show is taped by John & Mark from Guillotine Magazine. Later this is sold as the only official Death live recording through Guillotine and by the band. Lineup is the same as the Death by Metal demo.
Corpse grinder is truly rotten sounding, both audibly and musically. Vocals are just this side of not right, both demented and echoing. Matched with fast scales and basic heavy use of fast kick drum. A solo that is half wah pedal, and speed scales. Summon to Die is a little more open in its structure, with a menacing result. Zombie has a slow picking style intro, heavy rhythm tones, making this a guitarists show off piece. The passionate enthusiasm is the end result. Witch of Hell, Reign of Terror and Slaughterhouse are basically very similar, with vocals that are quite loud, along with the guitar tones. Most of these songs are well under the 3 minute mark.
A question from a fan for Jane Schuldiner asks whether the demos will ever be released, or any other bonus songs. This is her response: There are unreleased songs that Chuck wrote, I discovered them while going through Chuck's personal papers. Many people ask me about the demos. Chuck had said at one time that he did not want them released, he may have changed his mind later on, but there was not that chance. I am sorry to say that fans writing me frequently telling me there are demos of very poor quality on the internet for sale, so be very careful of ordering them that way. Too bad I didnt read that before now.
The remaining songs, 12-19, are called Bonus songs by Karmageddon. These are what many fans have asked for over the years, and thats more live material. These were recorded at the Live After Dark Club in Houston Texas, from the Spiritual Healing tour in 1990.
Line up for the Spiritual Healing tour:
Terry Butler
Bill Andrews
Chuck Schuldiner
James Murphy
I cant tell whether James Murphy is really on these live songs or not, since Albert Gonzalez replaced Murphy at some point during this tour, then Albert is replaced by Paul Masvidal. I cant hear any stage conversation, or fans yelling, to say whos the second guitarist.
This is obviously an extremely small club, and oddly enough, the crowd noise is captured pretty clearly. It sucks that it was obviously a smaller turnout. Some chants of Chuck or Death can be heard, but not too many. One dude yells in the back Chuck is God.
Living Monstrosity & Pull The Plug are basically the warm-ups, since Zombie Ritual does sound great, and the band is more aggressive on. Sound quality while at best okay, is easily forgettable for that song. Altering the Future and Left to Die are flawlessly executed. Spiritual Healing starts off badly, since someone spit on Chucks guitar. Offstage! Who ever spit on my fucking guitar can fucking rot in hell right now. If you want to spit, come up here and spit in my fucking face, dont be a fucking sissy. To the rest of you, you fucking rule, dont take it the wrong way. This sort of overshadows the last two songs, Defensive Personalities and Mutilation. Chuck says that Mutilation is a love song, a ballad. The overall sound quality of the live songs is extremely crackly and brittle sounding. So clear that it needs levels tweaked a bit to add bass, drums sound booming on the toms & snares. You cant hear the bass, and Chucks vocals sound very crudely recorded.
Brutal Truth: Death by Metal sounds far better than the Reign in Terror demo. They might be both from 84, but the back of the CD does say that Reign in Terror is from 85. Either way, this is what many fans have been craving, all on one CD. The live stuff needs some tweaking in the audio department so its somewhat comfortable on the ears.
I wont devalue any of these songs any further by giving them a star rating. Up to you whether you want to pursue buying it, but I can tell you this: this is the last one Ill buy. Karmageddon is truly raping Chucks legacy. And the foolish fans that buy these releases, myself included. Hey, it even cost me more money than a comparable CD. This feels wrong, for many reasons I'm not able to articulate very well.
If MOM Schuldiner would give her blessing on any of these, I think I would be much happier than I am.
