Death To All is a collaboration of former members of Death whose objective is to celebrate, revisit and introduce the music of Death to new fans of the death metal genre. We wouldn’t be talking about Death To All if it weren’t for the late great Chuck Schuldiner whose vocal and guitar playing hadn’t helped pioneer the genre and propel it out of the underground. Chuck Schuldiner was featured on all guitar magazines in the 80s. He was getting that kind of attention. Fans are aware that Death over time evolved and Chuck began to incorporate more ‘progressive’ elements and influences into the songwriting.
Death to All features heavy hitter Gene Hoglan on drums, bassist Steve Di Giorgio, and guitarist Bobby Koelble and Max Phelps who has been tasked with respectfully standing in for Chuck Schuldiner. The question is does Death to All do justice to Death‘s legacy? Well, We Go To 11 found out and we’re going to tell you about it.
Death To All booked two nights in Portland’s Hawthorne Theatre. They didn’t do this at every stop of the Scream of Perseverance tour, but we were the fortunate to get two shows back to back. Both nights were sold out. We were present for night one where Death To All performed Death’s first album ‘Scream Bloody Gore. Amazing! I have fond memories of discovering this vicious, pummeling and potent album. It should be noted that they didn’t really perform the entire ‘Scream Bloody Gore’ album top to bottom. They opened with “Leprosy” which we know isn’t on ‘Scream Bloody Gore.’ They didn’t perform “Denial of Life” or “Sacrificial” from the album. On the ad mat it was noted that they’d closed with select cuts from ‘Leprosy’ and ‘Spiritual Healing.’ The encore was comprised of “Zombie Ritual” out of sequence but from ‘Scream Bloody Gore,’ followed by “Spiritual Healing” and the appropriate “Pull The Plug.” Night one was a pure death metal affair.
The venue was jam packed as Death to All commandeered the stage. It was already hot and shoulder to shoulder metal heads of all ages, sizes and shapes. As an ‘older’ gentleman I hung in the back. It was just safer that way and frankly the sound is much better in the back by the soundboard. There were a number of elder statesmen of metal in the crowd like myself and it was good to see, it was even better to see some of the youth acting as fanatical as we did for the music of Death. There was charisma and great energy between the band and the audience. There were minimal stops to address the crowd, there was just enough to not impact the momentum which was a huge plus.
I spent most of the set watching the rhythm section of Hoglan and Di Giorgio as they held a workshop song after song. What a fantastic performance by Death To All and I think Max Phelps did a brilliant job and was up to the challenge of stepping into the role. Not many people stepped out as the night progressed and by the end it was a sweaty, hot mess, but well worth it. We couldn’t make it to the second night, but I heard it was equally as epic.