Former DEATH and MASSACRE guitarist Frederick "Rick Rozz" DeLillo says he holds no regrets about missing out on DEATH's landmark 1987 debut album "Scream Bloody Gore" — even though he wrote material that ended up on the record uncredited.
Speaking with Łukasz Dunaj of Poland's Noise Magazine, Rozz addressed his absence from the classic lineup that recorded the album, which came together after Chuck Schuldiner returned to Florida without a band. "No regrets, man. I wrote a couple of riffs and songs on that that I wasn't credited for. But no — no regrets, man. I thought it was great," Rozz said, noting that his choice to reunite with Schuldiner for the "Scream Bloody Gore" tour and the following "Leprosy" album, alongside drummer Bill Andrews and bassist Terry Butler, would make little sense if he'd truly resented being left off the record. He drew a direct line to the present: LEFT TO DIE, his current band, is "touring in a van again in 2026, so it's the same thing, 35 years later plus."
Rozz also pushed back on suggestions that his relationship with Schuldiner soured before the album sessions. "It wasn't harsh. I never said any bad things about Chuck when he went and did his own thing, and then we got back together," he said, admitting only to "minor little skirmishes" typical of young bandmates.
LEFT TO DIE unites Rozz with Butler (also ex-MASSACRE, currently in OBITUARY) and GRUESOME founders Matt Harvey (EXHUMED) and Gus Rios (ex-MALEVOLENT CREATION). The band released its debut album, "Initium Mortis," on July 17 via Relapse Records. The record reworks material from DEATH's earliest days, including songs originally written for Schuldiner's pre-DEATH project MANTAS, which also featured Rozz and vocalist/drummer Kam Lee.
Rozz credited Harvey with driving the project, saying the guitarist combed through decades-old rehearsal demos — recorded, he said, "on a jam box... outside the garage, with a towel over it" — to piece together a modern-sounding tracklist. "That guy is a fricking machine," Rozz said of Harvey.
"Initium Mortis" is out now on CD, LP, cassette and digital formats, featuring 10 tracks including "Legion Of Doom," "Archangel" and "Slaughterhouse."
DEATH, founded by Schuldiner in 1984 in Altamonte Springs, Florida, is widely regarded as a pioneering force in death metal. Schuldiner died on December 13, 2001, following a battle with a rare brain tumor.