Control Denied

Control Denied was a progressive metal band formed by death metal musician and Death co-founder Chuck Schuldiner.

History

Background

Schuldiner, in a 1993 Terrorizer interview with Borivoj Krgin, mentioned that he had entertained the possibility of ending Death and forming a more melodic band after he returned from Europe following the 1992 tour, as he was fed up with it, though he decided that he did not want to "get off track" with Death and instead put the idea "on hold". Schuldiner mentioned the general idea of teaming up with a Rob Halford-esque singer in a September 1993 interview with Guitar School and expanded on it in the Terrorizer interview, explaining that it would allow him to do "things that ... can't be totally expressed through this band". He would discuss the idea further in multiple 1995 interviews, including Guitar World, the Italian magazine Metal Shock, and the Dutch magazine Watt, mentioning Ronnie James Dio as another example of the type of singer he would like to partner with. He had already started working on Control Denied riffs by the time Death was touring in Japan for the album Symbolic, which took place in September 1995. Death drummer Gene Hoglan has stated that after the Symbolic tour, Schuldiner broke up Death as he was unhappy with Roadrunner Records, which had released the album.

Formation

B.C Richards joined the band in 1995 as vocalist, though he temporarily left the same year to focus on his band, Wicked Ways. Schuldiner attempted to get Andy LaRocque as a lead guitarist, but the lack of a label hindered it. Drummer Chris Williams also joined around this time; Williams recruited Shannon Hamm on guitar and Scott Clendenin on bass. By 1996, Richards had rejoined; the following year he had left the band again, while Clendenin was replaced by Brian Benson. The name of the album at the time was The Moment of Clarity; other tracks from the album included What If and Cut Down to Size. Psycho Scream guitarist Jim Dofka had sent Schuldiner demo material and was interested in joining Control Denied alongside his bandmate, singer Tim Aymar. However, Schuldiner had already selected Hamm as the guitarist. After a brief audition, and demo, (which included the tracks What If, Believe and Cut Down), Aymar was chosen as the new singer, while Rob Halford of Judas Priest was also in the running. Earlier, Warrel Dane of Nevermore was almost selected as the singer, though the scheduling did not work out as Dane was dedicated to Nevermore and didn't have the time. Williams left the band as he couldn't "hang around waiting" any longer and went on to form Beyond Unknown.

The Fragile Art of Existence

Schuldiner signed with the record label Nuclear Blast in 1997, though the label required that another Death album be released before a Control Denied album could be issued. This led to the release of Death's The Sound of Perseverance in 1998.

It was announced in early April 1999 that the recording of the debut album was completed by the TSOP lineup (with the addition of Aymar). However, Schuldiner let Clendenin go in April and brought on DiGiorgio. The band's debut album, The Fragile Art of Existence, was released in 1999. The Fragile Art of Existence was reissued in October 2010 by Relapse Records in a 2-disc standard format, with one hour of bonus material, and a 3-disc deluxe version, with two hours of bonus material.

When Man and Machine Collide

Schuldiner completed writing the last song for the second Control Denied album in March 2000 and signed with Hammerheart Records in December 2000.

The second album (which began to be recorded at Morrisound with Jim Morris under the initial title of When Hate Strikes Down, but which was later tentatively titled When Man and Machine Collide), was partly recorded in November 2000. According to an interview with Hamm originally done in the Tampa Metal Music Examiner, Schuldiner and Christy had completed their tracks, while Hamm recorded three of his tracks before the funds were diverted to pay for Schuldiner's medical bills. The death of Schuldiner in 2001 put the recordings on hold. Remaining band members had expressed a wish to complete and release the material. However, there existed a longstanding legal dispute over the rights of the material with Hammerheart RecordsTemplate:Refn, further postponing the completion and release of the album.

Schuldiner's mother, Jane, affirmed in January 2003 that the album would be released. Hammerheart indicated in a 2003 press release that it would release the "incomplete recordings", to which Schuldiner responded that it would be "sacrilege." Schuldiner initially announced in March 2004 that they would be uploaded and made available for free download. The following month, she indicated that rather than release the rehearsal tracks, the entire completed album should be released instead. Part of these incomplete recordings were released without authorization on the Zero Tolerance album, which was announced as the title by Karmageddon Media in March 2004. Schuldiner estate lawyer and Death manager Eric Greif settled all matters with the label by 2009, allowing for the possibility of completing the album.

On December 4, 2010, Aymar released a statement saying that plans were being made to record and release the album, stating that Jim Morris of Morrisound Studios (with whom Chuck Schuldiner recorded several albums during his career) had been in contact with Greif to begin planning and booking studio time to record the remaining parts of When Man and Machine Collide. Plans were cut short by a break-in at Morrisound in the spring of 2011 that saw much of their equipment stolen, pushing back the completion of the album. An exploratory meeting between producer Jim Morris and guitarist Shannon Hamm was held in December 2012. Greif stated in October 2016 that the recordings would not be completed. The progressive metal band Black Water Sunset released a tribute album featuring re-recorded versions of the four leaked tracks in May 2024, marking what would have been Schuldiner's birthday. Di Giorgio stated in June 2025 interview that the band is still hoping to complete the album, though Aymar's death was a setback.

Discography

• 1996 demo (1996)
• 1997 demo (1997)
• 1999 demo (1999)
• The Fragile Art of Existence (1999)
• Unreleased Themes from Control Denied (bootleg) (2004)
• The Fragile Art of Existence (reissue, two formats) (2010)

Members

Final lineup

• Chuck Schuldiner – guitars (1995–2001), vocals (1996–1997, 1999); died 2001
• Steve Di Giorgio – bass (1999–2001)
• Shannon Hamm – guitars (1996–2001)
• Tim Aymar – vocals (1997–2001); died 2023
• Richard Christy – drums (1997–2001)

Former members

• B.C. Richards – vocals (1995), 1996
• Brian Benson - bass (1997)
• Chris Williams – drums (1996–1997); died 2000
• Scott Clendenin – bass (1996–1997, 1999) ; died 2015

Line-ups

Period	Members	Studio releases
1995	B.C. Richards – vocals Chuck Schuldiner - guitar	None
ca. 1995	Chuck Schuldiner - guitar, vocals Chris Williams - drums	None
ca. 1995	Chuck Schuldiner - guitar, vocals Chris Williams - drums Shannon Hamm - guitars	None
1995-1996	Chuck Schuldiner - guitar, vocals Scott Clendenin - bass Chris Williams - drums Shannon Hamm - guitars	1996 demo
ca. April 1996	Chuck Schuldiner - guitars B.C. Richards - vocals	None
1997	Chuck Schuldiner - guitar Brian Benson - bass Chris Williams - drums Shannon Hamm - guitars	None
1997	Chuck Schuldiner - guitar Tim Aymar – vocals Scott Clendenin - bass Chris Williams - drums Shannon Hamm - guitars	1997 demo
Inactive from 1998 – 1999
April 1999	Chuck Schuldiner – guitar, vocals Scott Clendenin - bass Tim Aymar – vocals Richard Christy – drums Shannon Hamm – guitar
April 1999-2001	Chuck Schuldiner – guitar, vocals Steve Di Giorgio - bass Tim Aymar – vocals Richard Christy – drums Shannon Hamm – guitar	1999 demo The Fragile Art of Existence (1999)

External links

• Death/Control Denied official website
• Template:PAGENAMEBASE discography at Discogs