CONTROL DENIED — The Fragile Art of Existence (review)

CONTROL DENIED — The Fragile Art of Existence album cover Album · 1999 · Progressive Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
4/5 ·
Stooge
Unfortunately, this Control Denied release is the last work released by Chuck Schuldiner during his all-to-brief life. Thankfully, it was with an album that lives up to his reputation as a great metal songwriter.

Pretty much any one of these songs could have been a Death song. Most of the material could be placed on Symbolic or The Sound of Perseverance if Chuck stayed on the mike. Chuck, having grown tired of the vocalist chair, put Death to rest in favor of forming a more traditional heavy metal band. While not really breaking away from his “expected” ways of writing material, this project, with Tim Aymar on vocals, still finds a way to sound different. I’d say it’s a blend of traditional, power, and progressive metal, to be brief.

With Chuck, guitarist Shannon Hamm, bassist Steve Digiorgio, and drummer Richard Christy, you know from a technical standpoint there should be some creative playing throughout the album. Extended instrumental sections on the likes of “Expect the Unexpected” and the title track are great examples of their abilities, not to mention their evident talents within the core of the songs. The production and mix does justice to all four instrumentalists as well.

Aymar, without a doubt, is quite a talented vocalist. I’m not a big fan of some of the shreaky vocal parts he uses on occasion, but they are very much tolerable. Aymar’s voice sounds the best in songs that use his smooth mid range, such as in the verse of “What If…?” and with his harmonized vocals in “Cut Down”, but he’s in control of his voice and is brimming with confidence on each track.

If I were to choose some of my favorite tracks on the album, they would be “Breaking The Broken”, “What If…?”, and “When The Link Becomes Missing”. It’s really a hard call though with the album’s consistency.

For those that shy away from Death due to the vocals, Control Denied makes for a great substitution in your collection. An excellent release, just shy of being essential!!
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