Work Begins On Long-Awaited Sophomore CONTROL DENIED Album

For the first time in twelve years, work has begun on the long-awaited second CONTROL DENIED album, to be released via Relapse Records. Guitarist Shannon Hamm and producer Jim Morris of Morrisound Recording in Tampa, Florida have been reviewing material recorded by the band before CONTROL DENIED mainman — and DEATH mastermind — Chuck Schuldiner's untimely passing.

Chuck — who died in December 2001 after a battle with pontine glioma, a rare type of brain tumor — began work on the CD, tentatively titled "When Machine And Man Collide", but never managed to finish 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 album 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 — formerly Hammerheart Records — has since issued various incomplete demo recordings as two separate low-quality albums, "Zero Tolerance" and "Zero Tolerance II".)

Chuck's mother, Jane Schuldiner, previously stated about the unfinished recordings: "[Chuck's] last masterpiece deserves more than to be released as unfinished bits of rehearsal room recordings on CD, or to be grabbed for free on the Internet. It deserves to be finished by the rest of the band and to be released on a full-length album, titled: 'When Machine And Man Collide'."

CONTROL DENIED's legendary first album, "The Fragile Art of Existence", got the deluxe reissue treatment in October 2010 through Relapse Records.

"The Fragile Art of Existence", originally released in 1999 to critical acclaim, was remastered, repackaged and features liner notes from CONTROL DENIED drummer Richard Christy, never-before-seen photographs, as well as over an hour of previously unreleased demo and rehearsal tracks.

Two versions of the "The Fragile Art of Existence" reissue were made available. The worldwide version was a two-CD set including the original album plus a bonus CD of early demo material. The second version was limited to 1,000 copies and was a three-disc set including an extra bonus disc of demo tracks, many of which have Schuldiner on vocals. The three-disc set was made available at Relapse.com exclusively.

Pictured below: Shannon Hamm and Jim Morris at Morrisound Recording in December 2012