CONTROL DENIED: Unfinished Album To See Light Of Day

Holland's Hammerheart Records have announced plans to release the unfinished sophomore album from CONTROL DENIED over the objections of Jane Schuldiner, mother of late CONTROL DENIED/DEATH frontman Chuck Schuldiner.

Chuck, who passed away in December 2001 after a battle with pontine glioma, a rare type of brain tumor, began work on the album (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.

The following is an official press release from Guido Heijnens, Hammerheart Records' co-founder, announcing the company's plans to release the CONTROL DENIED album in its unfinished form:

"As of today we are announcing a release on CD by Chuck Schuldiner's CONTROL DENIED.

"It will feature incomplete, unfinished recordings which were meant for the new album, which unfortunately was never finished, at least up until the moment of this press-statement.

"We have requested to get the master tapes on these recordings, but Chuck's family do not wish to communicate or talk with us anymore, let alone send us the master tapes (which are 75% finished) that should have been with us long ago.

"Probably there will be a lot of talk and discussions appearing, which we can understand obviously, but a fact is that we signed a contract with Chuck that he was very happy about, paid the full advance in 2000, have been asking for a solution during 2002 and 2003, but in all honesty we never really got a reply.

"The only honest and valid reason why the 'real' album by CONTROL DENIED is still not released is very simple: the legal heritors of Chuck (= his family) refuse to do anything concerning this release, if they will claim differently it is time for them to prove us wrong, we have been waiting for 18 months. I think they should stop fooling around with the record-label and the fans, the time to act in honesty is now or never!!! We are not lying, not cheating and in no way disrespectful, if someone disagrees he will need to prove us wrong, it is in the hands of Chuck's family.

"Possible release date is: spring 2004.

"Now let us see on a few topics guided by Jane Schuldiner's statement (from September 7th 2003) on the website EMPTY WORDS, because I have many questions on this. (check: www.emptywords.org/NEWS.htm),the quotes are direct from Jane Schuldiner.

" - 'Since I was attacked by Guido through his attorneys...'

"This is very strange, which attorney attacked the Schuldiners before September??? Not ours.

" – 'I am surprised he would make false comments of his own.'

"Which ones ??? Details please, support music, not rumours!!!

" – 'Chuck's sister and I received... record those messages.'

"I indeed had the chance to speak with Jane a lot of times (during the first half of 2002),and it were nice conversations, with Bethan I only spoke three times, with a total time of 30 minutes I think. The third conversation Bethan took the phone and said I should never call again. Until today I still do not know why??? Can anyone tell me???

" – 'After saying the same thing... what that position is and why.'

"In all honesty I do not know what their position is on Chuck's work. They never explained this to me, so what is the position of the Schuldiner family and what does Chuck's will actually say?

" – 'There is no need for any more contact with Guido, that is why we each have attorneys.'

"We were asking for months for a legal contact on these matters, and we never until November 17th received anything ever from an attorney related to the Schuldiners. After announcing to spread this press-release we received a letter from their attorney within days. Need I say more ?

" - 'We wanted as much... last promises to Chuck to fulfill.'

"What are those promises, no one ever told me what Chuck said in his testament or his will ??? Easy to claim you are fulfilling Chuck's last promises, but no one knows what these look like, right? And releasing the album a.s.a.p must be a joke, since the family received the master tapes from Jim Morris [at Morrisound Studios in tampa] already in December 2001 and since then they have not even called the studio once, nor did any of the other musicians involved ever got an invitation to finish the album.

"Six quotes that I would like to see answered in a justified/honest way, not claiming something without any proof, making us look like the unwilling party in this conflict."