In a new interview with Altars Of Metal, Gene Hoglan and Steve DiGiorgio spoke about their involvement with DEATH TO ALL (DTA) — which features former members of DEATH celebrating the life and music of Chuck Schuldiner. The current lineup of DEATH TO ALL includes Hoglan (also of DARK ANGEL and DETHKLOK),DiGiorgio (also of TESTAMENT) on bass and Bobby Koelble on guitar. Max Phelps (CYNIC),who has been touring with DEATH TO ALL, is once again handling the vocal and second-guitar duties. Hoglan was the drummer on the DEATH albums “Individual Thought Patterns” (1993) and “Symbolic” (1995),DiGiorgio was the bassist on 1991’s “Human” as well as “Individual Thought Patterns”, and Koelble was the guitarist on “Symbolic”. Asked if DEATH TO ALL has ever considered writing and recording all-new original music, Steve said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “No. What do you think, Gene?” Hoglan then chimed in: “I agree with Steve. People have asked [us that before], and it’s kind of… First of all, we probably wouldn’t have the time to be able to put things like that together. But also, we are here to represent DEATH with the name DEATH TO ALL. But for us to write music or something like that, it doesn’t make a ton of logical sense. ‘Cause if we were to write songs — I’ve said it before — it’s like, do [we call it] ‘music inspired by DEATH‘? And then there’s already DEATH riffs, so if our riffs sound similar to other riffs that are already written… It’s not a very complicated situation, but it is just a situation that if we never try to visit it, it’s gonna be okay. You get DEATH music, you get two hours of DEATH music, Chuck‘s music, our music, all this together most nights. And if that isn’t enough for people, then, wow, we got some issues. But I think it’s well represented every night. We always have great sound. Our performances are always killer, and we do run the entire gamut of the catalog. We play songs from every record. That’s our own mandate.”
Gene and Steve previously addressed the possibility of all-new original DEATH TO ALL music last December during an interview with Robb Chavez of Robbs MetalWorks. Hoglan said at the time: “I can’t really see how that could happen, because we’ve got some of the coolest death metal, or metal, around to be able to play from. But even just from a flat-out, trying to look at the actual option of that, from the logistical standpoint, what would we write? Would it be ‘music inspired by DEATH‘? Would that be the name of the album? I don’t know. But I’m not sure how much we’ve ever purposely… Flat out, I don’t think any of us have the time to do that, really.
Steve chimed in: “We’re all doing so much [other stuff]. We’re super busy. With the level of talent in this band, it could go 15 different ways. To tell you the truth, we’ve never talked about it. We’ve been asked about it, so we have to kind of improvise an answer because… No, but I mean there’s no real need for it right now. We treat this as what it is, and we don’t wanna dilute it any by doing something that’s too similar or… I don’t know. We’re all very, very full-time, busy, busy musicians doing stuff. So this is just a live gig, and we’ll leave it like that.”
Last fall, DEATH TO ALL completed touring North America as part of “Symbolic Healing”, a month-long celebration of two of DEATH‘s landmark albums: “Spiritual Healing” (1990) and “Symbolic” (1995).
DEATH TO ALL celebrated “Scream Bloody Gore” (1987) and “The Sound Of Perseverance” (1998) across North America in 2024.
Along with the dual album celebration, each night on the fall 2025 tour showcased classics from DEATH‘s catalog. The tour featured special guests GORGUTS and PHOBOPHILIC.
Founded in 1984 by Chuck Schuldiner under the original name of MANTAS in Altamonte Springs, Florida, DEATH was among the more widely known early pioneers of the death metal sound, along with California’s POSSESSED. Inspired by NASTY SAVAGE, DEATH was among the first bands in the Florida death metal scene. In the late ’80s, the band was both a part of and integral in defining the death metal scene which gained international recognition with the release of albums by a number of area acts.
DEATH TO ALL operates as a tribute band to the original DEATH, which dissolved in 2001 following Schuldiner‘s passing.
“Born Human: The Life And Music Of Death’s Chuck Schuldiner”, the fully authorized biography of the legendary DEATH frontman, was released last November via Decibel Books.
“Born Human”, authored by accomplished journalist David E. Gehlke (“The Scott Burns Sessions: A Life In Death Metal 1987-1997”, “Turned Inside Out: The Official Story Of Obituary”),features exclusive interviews, contributions, stunning new Ed Repka cover art and previously unreleased, hand-selected photographs from those who knew Chuck best. “Born Human” brings life to the dramatic story of the man who blazed an iconic path in metal music, laying the foundation for generations to come.
Fans can order their copy now at store.decibelmagazine.com.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source blabbermouth.net ’
