The album Scream Bloody Gore is a landmark in death metal by the band Death.
Released by Combat Records on 25 May 1987, Scream Bloody Gore was Death's debut studio album. Chuck Schuldiner, the band's founder and creative leader, performed guitar, bass and vocals and composed all of the album's tracks. Its harsh vocals, heavily distorted riffs, rapid drumming and graphic themes helped establish the sound and imagery associated with early death metal.
The album is often called the first true death metal record, although the claim is debated. Possessed's 1985 album Seven Churches is also frequently cited as an early or pioneering death metal release. Many commentators describe Seven Churches as a transition from thrash, while viewing Scream Bloody Gore as a clearer statement of the genre's core style.
Death continued developing technically ambitious extreme metal on later albums such as Leprosy, Human and Symbolic. That evolution is why Scream Bloody Gore can sound comparatively raw today while still being treated as a foundational recording.