Former DEATH members will commemorate the 20th anniversary of the passing of the band's mastermind Chuck Schuldiner by playing two special shows in Florida this month. On Saturday, December 11 and Sunday, December 12, James Murphy (guitar) and Terry Butler (bass) will perform DEATH's classic third album, "Spiritual Healing" (1990), in its entirety under the LIVING MONSTROSITY banner, while Steve DiGiorgio (bass), Bobby Koelble (guitar) and Kelly Conlon (bass) will join forces as SYMBOLIC to play songs from "Human" (1991), "Individual Thought Patterns" (1993), "Symbolic" (1995) and "The Sound Of Perseverance" (1998).
The Sunday show (December 12) will be livestreamed worldwide from the Brass Mug in Tampa, Florida.
The Brass Mug, which has been in continuous operation since 1974, has hosted many of the Florida death metal bands in their early years.
"We wanted this historic event to be at a place that also has some historical significance to the metal community," said Leo Lozano, co-producer of the show and guitarist and vocalist of SYMBOLIC.
The Sunday show at the Brass Mug is nearly sold out. Tickets can be purchased here while they last. Livestream tickets are on sale now at this location.
SYMBOLIC lineup:
* Steve DiGiorgio (DEATH; bass on "Human", "Individual Thought Patterns"; CONTROL DENIED - bass on "The Fragile Art Of Existence")
* Bobby Koelble (DEATH; guitars on "Symbolic")
* Kelly Conlon (DEATH; bass on "Symbolic")
* Dirk Verbeuren (MEGADETH, SOILWORK - drums)
* Max Phelps (EXIST; guitars and vocals)
* Leo Lozano (SYMBOLIC; guitars and vocals)
LIVING MONSTROSITY lineup:
* James Murphy (DEATH; guitars on "Spiritual Healing")
* Terry Butler (DEATH; bass on "Spiritual Healing")
* Gus Rios (GRUESOME; drums)
* Matt Harvey (GRUESOME, EXHUMED; guitar, vocals)
Originally released in 1990, "Spiritual Healing" marked a new turn in the DEATH discography, one which ushered in cleaner production, a new level of boundary pushing musicianship and songwriting skills that were previously unimaginable from a metal band. "Spiritual Healing" sets the standard for riffs, insane time changes and, of course, Schuldiner's masterful guitar solos. Reissued in 2012 as a double CD housed in super deluxe packaging featuring brand new liner notes from Murphy and Butler, Chuck's sister Beth Schuldiner and VOLBEAT frontman Michael Poulsen, Disc 1 featured a completely new remaster of the original album and Disc 2 contained 16 previously unreleased rehearsal, outtakes and studio instrumentals.
In addition to the two-disc edition, a limited-edition (2000 machine-numbered copies) triple-CD digipak was made available exclusively from Relapse.com. The third CD featured a never-before-released live set recorded in 1990 featuring the "Spiritual Healing" DEATH lineup. An iTunes deluxe edition was also released containing five additional previously unreleased pre-"Human" rehearsal tracks not available on either of the CD versions.
Schuldiner died on December 13, 2001 after a battle with pontine glioma, a rare type of brain tumor.
In recent years, DEATH's storied catalog has undergone a meticulous reissue campaign via Relapse Records.
Relapse released the first-ever fully authorized DEATH tab book, featuring 21 classic songs tabbed out for guitar from the band's entire discography. The book, which includes traditional notation as well as tablature, also comes with a digital download of all tracks.
