Schuldiner

December 13th, the day Charles Michael Schuldiner died at the age of 34, in 2001.

To me, his story is the most dolorous one amongst the musicians whom I listened so far...

What I am doing now is listening to his songs: the philosopher, spirit crusher, crystal mountains, voice of the soul, mentally blind and trying not to cry for his very early and sad death.

It might be meaningless to re-introduce a real musical legend here but I will give just a brief information about him.

Althought Chuck Schuldiner had never believed in the ramifications in metal music, he is considered as the creator of death metal, especially technical death metal. He was one of the first performers of death growl (brutal vocal). Schuldiner owned 3 bands in his life: Mantas, Death and Control Denied. He really opened the doors of a new understanding in metal music with his distinguishing guitar technique, brutal sound and touching lyrics. In fact, he was a poet:

Time is a thing we must accept.

The unexpected I sometimes fear.

Just when I feel there's no
       excuse for what happens,
                          things fall into place.
I know there is no way to
        avoid the pain that we must
                    go through, to find the other
                                                half that is true.
Destiny is what we all seek.
Destiny was waiting for you
                                         and me.

I believe behind confusion,
                   awaits the truth for us.
Past the obstacles we face.
I value our life and trust.
Years of questioning why
       things happen the way they
                                          do in life.
Wishing that I could turn back
                 time, so we could join our
                                                      souls.

Gifted, humility, dignity, deep thoughts are the words that connote him to me. His words about himself were "I am a lover of life, friendship and animals" during an interview.

In 1999, Schuldiner consulted a doctor about the constant pain on his neck and he diagnosed with brain cancer. The tumor had been necrotized by radiation theraphy and the rest of the malignant tissues were cleaned by a surgery. Two years later, cancer came back to Chuck and this time he had no money for surgery which was urgent for his case. His insurance company refused to pay for his surgery beacuse this was the second cancer experience of Schuldiner. He started chemotherapy sessions. At the same time, some charity campaingns were organized for him by the heavy metal community in the summer of 2001. However, he had pneumonia because of his weak immune system which was a result of the chemotherapy and passed away, in December 2001. And we cried, cried and cried...

He once said "I would like to live forever, if it was possible" in contrast to his very short but "rich" life.
I wish he would still be making great music for us all.