The Fragile Art of Existence

Whenever I think of the Death and Control Denied lineups I can't help to worship the excellent musicianship and creative visions behind one of the masters and innovators of death metal Chuck Schuldiner. There is no Death without Chuck Schuldiner and the progression from outstanding albums such as "Human", "Individual Thought Patterns", "Symbolic" and to "The Sound of Perseverance" is absolutely impressive. Control Denied's only released album "The Fragile Art of Existence" seems to borrow a few of the musical ideas off of "The Sound of Perseverance" with the lineups on both albums being almost similar. The only distinct difference that "The Fragile Art of Existence" has is that the death metal approach is almost non-existent and that Chuck is trying to do the complete opposite from his signature death metal sound. Therefore, through Control Denied Chuck is showing us his passion for other genres of metal notably power and progressive.

Now onto the album itself, overall this album was a thoroughly enjoyable listen and the instrumentation was impeccable. All of the guitar riffs are quite addictive and Chuck shows all of his devout fans that he is able to execute some of the beautiful and heartfelt guitar solos just like his work on Death. The other high points of the album include the drumming performance of Richard Christy, showing the metal world his creativity and unique style. Tim Aymar is another great addition to the lineup while pulling off his strong vocal range and ability to add to the overall feel of the album. The only drawback of this album is that it felt as though it was a little rushed to be released. If much more time were spent on this album than it would be close to considered a masterpiece in my opinion and wouldn't nearly be as overlooked as the other legendary Death masterpieces. Understandably Control Denied could never be as huge as Death due to the fact that Death were one of the bands first bands to invent death metal.

Another small drawback is the fact that there seems too much going on at once on this album and it is quite difficult to focus on one aspect of the instrumentation at times. The concept of doing less means more would definitely apply to this album. Despite all of this, I gave this album a very high rating because the ideas and musicianship are at perhaps the highest level metal has to offer. It is an album that is most certain to please the fans of Chuck and to add to his legacy as being one of metal's most brilliant and outstanding musicians. Also "The Fragile Art of Existence" gets better and better after each listen and is not meant to have the same expectations as Death. Personal favorite tracks would have to be Expect the Unexpected and Believe even though every track was solid in my opinion. The only two questions that I continue to ask are if "The Fragile Art of Existence" will become more of a lost treasure over the years and will Control Denied's unfinished second album 'When Man and Machine Collide' ever get completed and released?