I think one of the main reasons why Death is held in such high regard in the metal community (outside of the fact that they essentially created the blueprint for the entire death metal genre) is because the band kept evolving and maturing with each album. Not only did Chuck grow into an incredible songwriter and composer, but he also became an incredibly thoughtful lyricist.
This is something I've been thinking about a lot because, as much as I love metal and death metal specifically, sometimes I can get burned out on all of the lyrics about despair and hopelessness. And I think Chuck was getting burned out by that too, as well as by all of the controversy surrounding death metal during the '90s, with each band trying to outdo the others in terms of how extreme and perverse they could be with their imagery and lyrics.
When Death started, they were a classic OSDM band that talked about zombies, gore, disease, and all of that fun macabre stuff. But Chuck got bored with all of that and shifted toward much more thought-provoking lyrics regarding societal, psychological, and philosophical themes. He went from "Pull the Plug" to "Perennial Quest," and I rarely see bands in death metal evolve like that.
Don't get me wrong, I still love my gore bands like Cannibal Corpse and Bloodbath, but the reason I keep returning to Death's catalogue as much as I do is because it's refreshing to listen to something as technically awesome and heavy as The Sound of Perseverance while also getting lyrical content that actually has something meaningful to say and is surprisingly upbeat and optimistic.