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intothewellsabyss
Dec 2, 20226 min read

Control Denied - The Fragile Art of Existence (1999)

𝐅𝐑𝐎𝐌 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐂𝐑𝐘𝐏𝐓𝐒 - 𝐂𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐁𝐑𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐏𝐀𝐒𝐓 𝐀𝐋𝐁𝐔𝐌 𝐑𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐀𝐒𝐄𝐒 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐇𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐘 𝐨𝐟 𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐃 𝐑𝐎𝐂𝐊 & 𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐕𝐘 𝐌𝐄𝐓𝐀𝐋…



I wish that I had the chance to write this the other day but due to time constraints, I was unable to do so. As Chuck Schuldiner was my biggest inspiration in the Metal world, this album is a very important release for me personally. To see this side of Chuck proved that he was most definitely not one dimensional in his musical endeavors even more so than with any release with Death. Even though his music and vocals altered slightly from one Death release to the next, “The Fragile Art of Existence” took Chuck’s music to a whole new level. And, though he may be gone, his legacy will always live on in his music. Rest In Peace Chuck Schuldiner.



On November 30, 1999, Control Denied released their only full-length studio album The Fragile Art of Existence worldwide via Nuclear Blast America.



Metal Mind Productions reissued the album on April 15, 2008 (February 11, 2008 in Europe). The release was digitally remastered and limited to 2,000 copies.



The album was again re-released in 2010 by Relapse Records, available in two-disc and three-disc editions. The three-disc edition was limited to 1,000 copies.


(The Fragile Art of Existence, Relapse Records 3 CD Edition)


This was also Chuck Schuldiner's final studio album before he succumbed to brain cancer on December 13, 2001.


“Musically speaking, the main difference were the vocals, as the song itself is an extension of what I was doing with Death. The guitars, drum and bass are very similar to Death, but the vocals are very different. Actually, these vocals are all I ever wanted to do in Death but couldn’t. I’ve had this dream of recording like that for years, and it seems like a dream come true. Tim Aymar is an amazing singer and this is the main difference. I think people will be surprised at the violence and strength of the album. Many people are expecting something like Iron Maiden, but, despite being one of my favorite bands, I didn’t want to make an Iron Maiden-like album. I wanted to make an unpredictable album, just like I did in Death, I guess. I don’t like to make predictable albums.” — Chuck to Metal-Rules.com on the differences between Control Denied’s sound & Death.
“In 1996, I met Warrel and we talked about working together, but when we started he was very busy with Nevermore and I wanted to make Control Denied a full-time band. I thought this would be very difficult to happen while Warrel was dedicated full-time to his band. I didn’t want Control Denied to be only a project, I wanted it to be a band, so I ended up choosing Tim as the lead singer. Then Steve Di Giorgio came, and I had already worked with him some time ago, and that made Control a real thing. Having Tim as an official member of the band made things easier, it put us closer, and we didn’t have to have a singer from another part of the US, who would come once in a while. It would be hard for Warrel to do all these things at the same time, and in the way we wanted.” — Chuck on rumors that Warrel Dane was slated to sing on Fragile.

(Chuck Schuldiner & Warrel Dane)

“It was chosen before I knew I was sick. In fact, I’ve had it in mind since 1995, which is really weird, kind of treacherous, because now it seems very real." — Chuck on the albums title.

(Chuck & Tim Aymar)

“I don’t think I should take the credits for this Death Metal stuff. I’m just a guy from a band, and I think Death is a Metal band. If you consider the name and the singing style, yeah, we are into it. It’s very good to receive the laurels of it, no matter what they are about, but all I hope is to have done something good for Metal. I’m a Heavy Metal fan and if I could do something to help, as a fan, that would be good. I hope that these new things cause great impact and go further, especially here in America. We really need some help around here! I hope this CD helps Metal in America, because it’s huge in Europe and we are doing badly here, I mean, the Metal scene. We’ve done a great tour with HammerFall and we shocked people. It was a real Metal tour, no bullshit, no fake Metal or Hip Hop/Metal. It was just two real Metal bands and it was really good, so I think there’s still hope.” — Chuck, when told that many consider him to be the father of Death Metal.

Control Denied Background:

The band started in 1996 as Schuldiner wanted to create a more melodic style than was possible with Death. The project was interrupted by Death's release The Sound of Perseverance in 1998, but finally the debut album The Fragile Art of Existence was released in 1999. A second album, tentatively titled When Man and Machine Collide, was partly recorded, but the death of Schuldiner in 2001 put the recordings on hold. Remaining band members had expressed a wish to complete and release the material, though Eric Greif (R.I.P.) stated that the recordings would not be completed.



However, there existed a longstanding legal dispute over the rights of the material with Karmageddon Media, further postponing the completion and release of the album. Part of these incomplete recordings were released without authorization in the Zero Tolerance two-part bootlegs of Schuldiner's B-sides and unreleased tracks. However, Schuldiner estate lawyer Eric Greif settled all matters with the label by December 2009, allowing for the possibility of completing the album.



On December 4, 2010, vocalist Tim Aymar released a statement saying that plans are being made to record and release the album, stating that Jim Morris of Morrisound Recording Studios (with whom Chuck Schuldiner recorded several albums during his career) had been in contact with Greif to begin planning and booking studio time to record the remaining parts of When Man and Machine Collide. Plans were cut short by a break-in at Morrisound in the spring of 2011 that saw much of their equipment stolen, pushing back the completion of the album. In January 2014, Greif stated that there had been little progress towards the completion of the album other than an exploratory meeting between producer Jim Morris and guitarist Shannon Hamm. By 2016, Greif stated that the album would never be completed.



Critical Reception of Fragile Art:

In a review for AllMusic, Jason Hundey wrote;

“Sadly, the news that Death's Chuck Schuldiner, the best extreme metal guitarist in America, was hospitalized and diagnosed with cancer in the brain both shocked and humanized the metal industry. Overshadowing Chuck's most recent successes including the career-defining album, Sound of Perseverance, which appears as an eerie specter that copiously reminds us of how our subconscious strangely discerns more than one can even imagine about oneself. This crisis so lessens the impact of a monumental release like Control Denied that it nearly renders it insignificant in light of life's true reality. Why does news of Chuck's disease make one sad? A fitting response would be that the life of a wonderfully brilliant artist hangs in the air.
Control Denied might be the final musical epitaph of one of music's most extraordinary modern guitarists. Combining the progressive musical prowess of the last few Death albums with Tim Aymar's Dickinson/Halford styled vocals creates a Power/Progressive Metal hybrid the likes of which, the industry have never experienced. Powerful, brilliant, and subversively catchy, Control Denied have a unique and lofty vision, the likes of which have not been seen since, well...Schuldiner's last musical output! Looking to tear down the conventional walls of the tired power metal genre, Control Denied raises the stakes of the music to a fresh level. With Death's drummer and guitarist, bassist Steve Digiorgio, Aymar and Schuldiner serving as the mythical line-up, they are poised to conquer the Metal world. Florida's favorite son, shines as usual with his trademark high pitched, emotionally aching solos, (free jazz meets metal guitar God, maybe?) but one shouldn't ignore Digiorgio's finest hour behind the bass.
Simply put, he is a skilled technician who adds a progressive bite to songs like What If... and a galloping throb to When the Link Becomes Missing. However, this is not your run of the mill Hammerfall power metal, no there is something far more elaborate here. Whether it is the Nevermore vibe on the title track or the shuttering first 30 seconds of Consumed, Control Denied are charting new territory. Buy this album not for the remarkable music and compounded energy it contains, and not because it surpasses Sound of Perseverance (which it does not), but because it shows the uncanny ability of life imitating art. Why were songs such as Expect the Unexpected, Believe, and The Fragile Art of Existence penned, only one man knows?

Note: The reviews shared here are for historical reference. The views and opinions expressed within are not always supported (in full or in part) by Into the Wells. — E.N. Wells



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