CONTROL DENIED: 'The Fragile Art Of Existence' To Be Reissued

"The Fragile Art of Existence", the debut album from late DEATH mastermind Chuck Schuldiner's CONTROL DENIED project, will be reissued on February 11 via Poland's Metal Mind Productions (April 15 in the U.S. via MVD). The remastered limited-edition digipack title (limited to 2,000 copies) will be made available on golden disc, digitally remastered using 24-bit technology.

According to a press release, "There are several reasons for CONTROL DENIED to be taken much more seriously than just a side-project. One of them is certainly the name of the group's founder — Chuck Schuldiner to this day remains an icon of death metal music, leaving behind a true legacy of amazing albums and memorable songs. CONTROL DENIED was his final and most personal creation — a natural continuation of the ideas gathered in DEATH's three last albums — 'Individual Thought Patterns', 'Symbolic' and 'The Sound of Perseverance'. Although musically the group ventured away from death metal into a bit lighter style, the progressive edge remained untouched — the band's debut (and, as it was soon to be revealed, only) album, 'The Fragile Art of Existence' is still one of Schuldiner's most fruitful efforts, showcasing mature, structured musicianship and amazing songwriting skills."

Guido Heijnens, owner of the now-defunct Dutch record label Hammerheart Records (which was "resurrected" for a short while under the Karmageddon Media banner) has been involved in a legal dispute with the Schuldiner family regarding the fate of the unreleased second CONTROL DENIED album.

Chuck — who passed away in December 2001 after a battle with pontine glioma, a rare type of brain tumor — began work on CONTROL DENIED's sophomore effort (tentatively titled "When Machine and Man Collide") in 2001 but never managed to complete the effort before his health quickly deteriorated in the months leading up to his tragic death. The remaining members of the group — bassist Steve DiGiorgio, vocalist Tim Aymar, guitarist Shannon Hamm, and drummer Richard Christy — subsequently announced their desire to complete the CD and release it in Chuck's memory, but legal hassles between Schuldiner's family and Hammerheart Records (to whom Chuck was signed at the time of his death) put the entire project on hold (Karmageddon Media has since issued various incomplete demo recordings as two separate low-quality albums, "Zero Tolerance" and "Zero Tolerance II").

DEATH's classic 1995 album "Symbolic" will be reissued on April 1 via Roadrunner Records. The remastered LP will include the original album tracks plus several previously unreleased, ultra-rare, mostly instrumental demo recordings that were completed in early 1994 with the lineup of Chuck Schuldiner (guitar),Gene Hoglan (drums) and Steve DiGiorgio (bass). The package will also come with brand new liner notes written by longtime metal journalist Don Kaye.