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Born Human: The Life and Music of Death's Chuck Schuldiner
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
November 26, 2025
An absolutely exhausting history on metal legend and death metal godfather, Chuck Schuldiner. Having read the bulk of Decibel Books publications, this one is right up there with all of their other impeccably researched biographies on some of extreme metals biggest unsung heroes. At over 500 pages, there isn’t a stone left unturned here. This is a pretty incredible tribute to Chuck’s memory and lasting legacy and thoroughly researched by David E. Gehlke. It’s clear he put years of his life into putting this book together. Jam packed with rare photos and contributions from just about everyone living that ever worked with Chuck, there’s really nothing bad I can say about this book. It’s everything a diehard fan of Chuck Schuldiner could ask for. Bravo to the always reliable Decibel for publishing another fantastic book and continuing to etch into history the tales of some of heavy metal’s biggest pioneers that are generally ignored by mainstream media.
December 23, 2025
At first glance I thought this had a certain self-published look to it -- the cover art, which gives an aesthetically accurate yet strangely upbeat vibe (considering the kind of music it explores), and the awkward text formatting/margins inside. Once I got to the actual writing, however, I found it to be a very well-researched and decently-written biography. For as many pictures as the author included, it didn't feel like it was done to cover up a lack of written content -- there is a ton of information in here.
As a longtime fan, I was already aware of the rumors that Chuck could be difficult. Even still there were sections of this book that surprised me. He could be a polarizing figure, for sure. And I'm glad they kept those parts in -- if they'd glossed over the negative stuff I would have been disappointed, and the story would have been far less interesting. I was amazed he was able to accomplish as much as he did considering how often he very nearly self-sabotaged his entire career. And yet despite all of that, all the band member fall-outs, all the spiteful grandstanding and bitter vitriol in the press, all the burned bridges, the guy could bring you back in with his humanity, his dedication to the people close to him. Once we get to the last stage of his life (of which most people picking up this book are probably already aware), it's difficult not to get caught up in the emotion of Chuck as an actual person, suffering a debilitating end that no one should have to experience.
As a longtime fan, I was already aware of the rumors that Chuck could be difficult. Even still there were sections of this book that surprised me. He could be a polarizing figure, for sure. And I'm glad they kept those parts in -- if they'd glossed over the negative stuff I would have been disappointed, and the story would have been far less interesting. I was amazed he was able to accomplish as much as he did considering how often he very nearly self-sabotaged his entire career. And yet despite all of that, all the band member fall-outs, all the spiteful grandstanding and bitter vitriol in the press, all the burned bridges, the guy could bring you back in with his humanity, his dedication to the people close to him. Once we get to the last stage of his life (of which most people picking up this book are probably already aware), it's difficult not to get caught up in the emotion of Chuck as an actual person, suffering a debilitating end that no one should have to experience.
January 9, 2026
Unbelievable, so glad I picked this up. Very emotional read and thorough. Great detail and accounts of this metal legend.
March 16, 2026
As comprehensive of a look inside the life of the enigmatic Chuck Schuldiner as one could hope. This book does not skimp on details. It's also not one of those biographies that just compiles quotes from interviews. Sure there are a lot of quotes, especially from the other members of the band. Gehlke also adds plenty of details and non-quoted information. Given the lengthy bibliography, the author did quite a bit of research.
Chuck ripped a hole in the fabric of the metal spacetime continuum. He achieved massive evolution from album to album, even with very few continuous band members. However, his story is not only of triumph, but also tragedy.
I found the end of this book extremely difficult to read. I generally was reading it before bed but had to set aside time during the day to get through his battle with cancer. His family put up an admirable fight, but it is incredibly sad too.
This book is for the diehards and it absolutely delivers. If you're on the fence about it, you will not be disappointed.
Chuck ripped a hole in the fabric of the metal spacetime continuum. He achieved massive evolution from album to album, even with very few continuous band members. However, his story is not only of triumph, but also tragedy.
I found the end of this book extremely difficult to read. I generally was reading it before bed but had to set aside time during the day to get through his battle with cancer. His family put up an admirable fight, but it is incredibly sad too.
This book is for the diehards and it absolutely delivers. If you're on the fence about it, you will not be disappointed.
March 18, 2026
Wonderful book full of photos from the Schuldiner family and backstage and personal moments from band members. The author left no stone unturned and really painted a clear picture of flawed and beautiful a person chuck was. Everything from actual quotes from the metal legend himself and interviews and words from literally all living and some decesed. I honestly was teary eyed at the end when Chuck finally succumbed to his cancer. A great read for any metal fan and fan of his music. It gave me a renewed sense of inspiration from Chucks musical legacy. I especially loved how much I leaned of his childhood and relationships. I hope someday that the last Control Denied record gets worked out and released. RiP, Chuck. Let the metal flow.
October 31, 2026
"Born Human: The Life and Music of Death's Chuck Schuldiner" is a labour of love, the kind that leaves fingerprints all over your heart and a lump in your throat you can't quite swallow. Chuck Schuldiner's music was a labour of love, too, he threw his entire life into it, with the kind of reckless, all-consuming devotion that makes the rest of us look like we're merely passing the time until the next paycheque. He refused to get a proper job, refused to build some respectable career, because what the fuck was the point? Music was the only thing that mattered. Everything else was just a distraction from the one thing that made him feel alive.
David E. Gehlke and Ian Christe take us through every last detail of Chuck's life, from the childhood obsession with Kiss to the adolescent revelation of Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, and the rest of that magnificent metal army that stormed through the eighties. But what really floored me was the authors' brutal, almost disarming honesty. They don't turn Chuck into some immaculate metal deity, some saintly figure who floated above the grubby realities of the music business. They show us the whole man: brilliant, passionate, stubborn, occasionally abrasive, and capable of being downright merciless toward fellow musicians and record-label suits. And that's precisely what makes this book so damn moving. The truth gives the man a... pulse.
The final chapters are an absolute gut punch. Reading about Chuck's battle against the disease that ultimately took him away is painful in that uniquely awful way that comes from recognising something you've seen before, something that has already left scars somewhere in your own life. There's no theatrical tragedy here, no convenient Hollywood ending. Just a human being fighting for his life, and the unbearable knowledge that sometimes even the strongest will, the fiercest spirit, and the most extraordinary talent aren't enough to save us. I turned those pages knowing what was coming, wishing, with every fibre of my still juvenile being, that somehow the universe might change its mind.
Now, I've never been particularly devoted to death metal or extreme metal in general. Death, however, were a different animal altogether. I remember hearing "Scream Bloody Gore" when it first came out and thinking, "Fuck me sideways, what is this?" Back then, I was more interested in Ratt, Motley Crue, and the hairspray-drenched excesses of the glam-metal circus... well, I still am, tbh. Chuck's early records sounded like some subterranean creature clawing its way out of the earth, and I wasn't quite ready to follow it down there. But then Death began to evolve, to mutate, to transcend the very genre they'd helped create. Their music became more progressive, more intricate, more ambitious, until "The Sound of Perseverance" was released and practically blew the doors off the whole damn house. I mean, take away the growls and grunts, and you've got something that could have wandered into an entirely different musical universe. And that's where my own preferences come into play: I've always gravitated toward clean vocals, toward that particular emotional connection that comes when a human voice isn't buried beneath the wreckage. Which is why, for me, Chuck's finest achievement remains Control Denied's "The Fragile Art of Existence". There, finally, was the music I'd been waiting to hear from him... the same breathtaking musicianship, the same restless imagination... with a voice that could soar above the storm rather than... emerge from its depths.
And now there's the tantalising prospect of "When Man and Machine Collide", the second Control Denied album, already composed, arranged, and demoed before Chuck's death. According to the book, Shannon Hamm is working to bring it into the world. The thought of hearing that music is both exciting and heartbreaking. Another piece of Chuck's mind, another fragment of that extraordinary creative fire, waiting to be released into the world long after its creator has gone.
Me? I'm waiting.
Oh, of course, five stars.
David E. Gehlke and Ian Christe take us through every last detail of Chuck's life, from the childhood obsession with Kiss to the adolescent revelation of Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, and the rest of that magnificent metal army that stormed through the eighties. But what really floored me was the authors' brutal, almost disarming honesty. They don't turn Chuck into some immaculate metal deity, some saintly figure who floated above the grubby realities of the music business. They show us the whole man: brilliant, passionate, stubborn, occasionally abrasive, and capable of being downright merciless toward fellow musicians and record-label suits. And that's precisely what makes this book so damn moving. The truth gives the man a... pulse.
The final chapters are an absolute gut punch. Reading about Chuck's battle against the disease that ultimately took him away is painful in that uniquely awful way that comes from recognising something you've seen before, something that has already left scars somewhere in your own life. There's no theatrical tragedy here, no convenient Hollywood ending. Just a human being fighting for his life, and the unbearable knowledge that sometimes even the strongest will, the fiercest spirit, and the most extraordinary talent aren't enough to save us. I turned those pages knowing what was coming, wishing, with every fibre of my still juvenile being, that somehow the universe might change its mind.
Now, I've never been particularly devoted to death metal or extreme metal in general. Death, however, were a different animal altogether. I remember hearing "Scream Bloody Gore" when it first came out and thinking, "Fuck me sideways, what is this?" Back then, I was more interested in Ratt, Motley Crue, and the hairspray-drenched excesses of the glam-metal circus... well, I still am, tbh. Chuck's early records sounded like some subterranean creature clawing its way out of the earth, and I wasn't quite ready to follow it down there. But then Death began to evolve, to mutate, to transcend the very genre they'd helped create. Their music became more progressive, more intricate, more ambitious, until "The Sound of Perseverance" was released and practically blew the doors off the whole damn house. I mean, take away the growls and grunts, and you've got something that could have wandered into an entirely different musical universe. And that's where my own preferences come into play: I've always gravitated toward clean vocals, toward that particular emotional connection that comes when a human voice isn't buried beneath the wreckage. Which is why, for me, Chuck's finest achievement remains Control Denied's "The Fragile Art of Existence". There, finally, was the music I'd been waiting to hear from him... the same breathtaking musicianship, the same restless imagination... with a voice that could soar above the storm rather than... emerge from its depths.
And now there's the tantalising prospect of "When Man and Machine Collide", the second Control Denied album, already composed, arranged, and demoed before Chuck's death. According to the book, Shannon Hamm is working to bring it into the world. The thought of hearing that music is both exciting and heartbreaking. Another piece of Chuck's mind, another fragment of that extraordinary creative fire, waiting to be released into the world long after its creator has gone.
Me? I'm waiting.
Oh, of course, five stars.
September 20, 2026
Una maravilla de libro para los fans de Chuck, aunque bastante triste también.
April 11, 2026
Essential reading for all fans of Death and Control Denied. I read this over two nights as it was incredibly difficult to put down. Full of illuminating stories of how the albums were recorded, background on lyrics and song meanings, the early death metal scene, band drama, Chuck’s struggles with the industry. The chapters about his brother Frank and the closing chapters in particular were unspeakably sad. It’s a more balanced read than expected - no one wants to speak ill of the dead,
but a work of hagiography focusing only on the positive wouldn’t have been honest. Chuck could definitely be difficult to work with but by 1996 or 97 it seemed he had mellowed out considerably and finally had a lineup he clicked with.
but a work of hagiography focusing only on the positive wouldn’t have been honest. Chuck could definitely be difficult to work with but by 1996 or 97 it seemed he had mellowed out considerably and finally had a lineup he clicked with.
March 27, 2026
This book was a very comprehensive, emotional look at the life of Chuck Schuldiner. The author combed through 100s of existing interviews and and performed new interviews with all of the pivotal people in Chuck’s life, including family, childhood friends, penpals, and band mates, and uses the information to craft the most thorough history of chuck and death in existence. This books fills in a ton of blanks and is a must read for any fan of chuck, death, or metal.
June 8, 2026
This is an incredibly well researched biography about a very complex and insanely talented man.
October 22, 2026
This book was amazing! It really tells you a lot more about Chuck and what he was like. I knew some of the story beforehand but getting to those last few chapters was really emotional for me. I wish I could have met him. He really seemed to care for his fans.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews