Jeff Becerra, frontman of the pioneering death metal act POSSESSED, has offered heartfelt reflections on his friendship with the late Chuck Schuldiner and the formative years of the genre they helped shape. In a recent interview with Conexión Rock Radio, Becerra discussed the early days of death metal and the often-debated origins of the genre—particularly the roles played by his own band and Florida’s legendary DEATH.
Although POSSESSED released their influential debut Seven Churches in 1985—two years before DEATH‘s Scream Bloody Gore—Becerra doesn’t view the birth of death metal as a competition. “As you know, Chuck was a good friend,” Becerra said. “And I don’t see death metal as just being one thing or ever being perfected. I see it as a spiritual freedom… Chuck and me were very much similar on our thoughts there.”
According to Becerra, Schuldiner was deeply inspired by POSSESSED in the early days, even moving to the San Francisco Bay Area to be closer to the scene. “Chuck… moved down into the POSSESSED fan club president’s house to be nearer to us, to be nearer to me,” he recalled. “He said, ‘Listen, Jeff. I sound just like you.’ And he said, ‘Is that okay?’ And I said, ‘Hell yeah, it’s okay.’”
It was a moment that, for Becerra, symbolized the beginning of death metal as something bigger than one band. “I realized that there would be more than one death metal band… naively, I thought that POSSESSED would be the only death metal band. But then when Chuck came around, just really, really enamored… I knew it would take off.”
While POSSESSED may have laid the foundation, Becerra credits Schuldiner with helping to cement the genre’s legacy. “To put things in perspective, DEATH was probably quadruple as big as POSSESSED,” he said. “They were wildly successful… I don’t think that death metal would’ve had the staying power if it wasn’t for Chuck. And he was a good friend — a really good friend and a great guy.”
Reflecting on Schuldiner’s musical genius, Becerra remembered their early jam sessions vividly. “Chuck, he was noticeably amazing right from the get-go. Chuck was a genius in his creations,” he said. “It seemed like a normal day back then, but now that I look at it — there are no coincidences. Everything happens for a reason.”
Becerra also shared how fate seemed to shape the movement, with key players like himself, Schuldiner, and others crossing paths at just the right time. “I think that bands like POSSESSED and DEATH… it was just something that was happening,” he said. “And then, of course, you had bands like SADUS and AUTOPSY, and it just kind of snowballed from there.”
Reeder, the visionary behind Metal Addicts, has transformed his lifelong passion for metal into a thriving online community for metal aficionados. As a fervent devotee of black metal, Reeder is captivated by its dark, atmospheric, and often unorthodox soundscapes.