Death Metal
USA

Released 17th of July, 2026

The supergroup made of performers of a veritable who’s who of classic death metal honour the earliest offerings of the late, great statesman, Mr Chuck Schuldiner himself.

TRIBUTE. In the metal world, at the moment, that word is loaded with many implications.
Tribute albums are great… if you like the artist being honoured.
Tribute bands are also great, like those you’ll happily spend around a tenner to see… if you like the artist being honoured.
But, if a big name band reforms with less than three quarters of the lineup, the term becomes, at best, sardonic (Cavalera Conspiracy re-recording/touring Max era Sepultura), and at worst derogatory (Pantera’s recent resurgence).
So, it comes to the question of where does the band LEFT TO DIE. and their debut album, INTIUM MORTIS lie within the tribute sphere.

Ten Cover versions of rare demo tracks from the earliest days of Chuck Schuldiner’s career. Including, not only his band DEATH, but those of the earlier band MANTAS as well.

First, let us break this down. The four people behind this album hail from a list of bands that is both impressive and essential listening for any diehard death metal fan, let alone any fan of the band Death itself. Two of which had the chance to join the revolving door of people who had the chance to play in DEATH. One of those two (current Massacre guitarist, RICK ROZZ), played during those formative demo days in both MANTAS and DEATH (1984-1986), and later on Leprosy, the second album from 1988

Some, an annoyingly loud minority of the internet, will scoff that only one member does not constitute a band worthy of carrying such a legacy. To which, I say to those, bore off, this is not for you and we don’t care. The rest of us can enjoy a carefully curated collection of songs that never made LP status.

It was from the Leprosy album being played, in full by RICK, one time DEATH and current Obituary bassist TERRY BUTLER, MATT HARVEY of Exhumed and Gruesome, and fellow Gruesome drummer, GUS RIOS.
To be fair LEFT TO DIE is the brainchild of MATT. GRUESOME are a band playing original songs in a 1986-89 death metal style, and a one off session with LEFT TO DIE playing Leprosy in its entirety led us to the here and now.

INITIUM MORTIS is an amazing album. A tribute album, where all the tracks are chosen from the demos that never made it past the dotted line of the recording contract. From the opening siege of LEGION OF DOOM to the closing notes of DEATH BY METAL, it is painfully obvious that this was an album made ensuring competence, respect and love was paramount.

Within the ten tracks on the album, five of them are originally MANTAS tracks, the band CHUCK SHULDINER joined prior to DEATH becoming a band, and the other five being DEATH songs, the band CHUCK FORMED after MANTAS.
All are expertly recreated with solid production, and retains the soul and passion of the originals. A few have been covered by others, a few made it to the odd DEATH show here and there, and a couple of the song titles have been adopted as band names, and that shows the reach the music made and the impact it had on the metal world.

Having these songs restored and archived in this manner is in the true meaning of tribute, and what a tribute it is. Twenty six minutes of raw, period precise classic death metal given fresh life.

There are Death metal fans who weren’t old enough during the tape trading days. Hell, a lot were not even born, and some who were around couldn’t click with the ‘nth generation cassettes floating around, and this is where LEFT TO DIE and the album INITIUM MORTIS are and is an important piece of recording.

An album worth at least one listen. If anything else but to remember and honour one of the most influential people in the death, progressive and modern metal sphere generally.
Also, an album made thanks to the devotion and dedication of four people that worked their hardest to make it happen.

INITIUM MORTIS is out now via Relapse Records on all streaming sites.

Also available on digital and physical formats through the LEFT TO DIE Bandcamp (HERE).