Control Denied

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American progressive metal band

title: "Control Denied" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1995-establishments-in-florida", "heavy-metal-musical-groups-from-florida", "musical-groups-established-in-1995", "musical-groups-disestablished-in-2001", "musical-groups-from-orlando,-florida", "musical-quintets-from-florida"] description: "American progressive metal band" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Control_Denied" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary American progressive metal band ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox musical artist"]

FieldValue
nameControl Denied
originFlorida, United States
captionControl Denied
genreProgressive metal
labelNuclear Blast, Hammerheart, Relapse
years_active1995–1997
1999–2001
::

| name = Control Denied | origin = Florida, United States | image = | caption = Control Denied | genre = Progressive metal | label = Nuclear Blast, Hammerheart, Relapse | years_active = 1995–1997 1999–2001

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 after he returned from Europe following the 1992 tour, he had entertained the possibility of ending Death and forming a more melodic band, with a different singer, similar to Sortilege's Christian Augustin. Schuldiner felt that he was limited vocally, saying that it was "something that can't be done" with Death and that forming another band would allow him to do "things that ... can't be totally expressed through this band". He ultimately 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. 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. 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.

Drummer Chris Williams joined around this time and recruited Shannon Hamm on guitar and Scott Clendenin on bass. Schuldiner praised Williams' drumming in the Death fan newsletter, The Metal Crusade, highlighting his "high energy progressive drumming" and "insane double bass techniques." Schuldiner attempted to get Andy LaRocque as a lead guitarist, but the lack of a label's financial backing hindered it. He asked Death guitarist Bobby Koelble to join, though he declined.

Schuldiner had worked on Control Denied riffs by the time Death was touring in Japan for the Symbolic album, which took place in September 1995.

Early years

By 1996, Richards had rejoined. Richards had left the band again the following year. Clendenin was replaced by Brian Benson by the spring of 1997; he had played in Death on their Symbolic tours. 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 considered for the position. 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

Main article: 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. Schuldiner played with Hamm and Clendenin on the album, in addition to drummer Richard Christy.

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 Europe in November 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 finished writing 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 Records, 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 a June 2025 interview that the band is still hoping to complete the album, though Aymar's death in 2023 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

Former members

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

Timeline

ImageSize = width:900 height:auto barincrement:18 PlotArea = left:100 bottom:180 top:10 right:20 Alignbars = justify DateFormat = mm/dd/yyyy Period = from:01/01/1995 till:12/13/2001 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyy Legend = orientation:vertical position:bottom columns:4 ScaleMajor = increment:2 start:1995 ScaleMinor = increment:1 start:1996

Colors = id:Vocals value:red legend:Vocals id:Guitar value:green legend:Guitars id:Bass value:blue legend:Bass id:Drums value:orange legend:Drums id:Studio value:black legend:Studio_albums id:other value:gray(0.5) legend:Demos

LineData = at:11/30/1999 color:black layer:back at:01/01/1996 color:other layer:back at:07/01/1996 color:other layer:back at:07/01/1997 color:other layer:back

BarData = bar:BC text:"B.C. Richards" bar:Tim text:"Tim Aymar" bar:Chuck text:"Chuck Schuldiner" bar:Shannon text:"Shannon Hamm" bar:Scott text:"Scott Clendenin" bar:Brian text:"Brian Benson" bar:Steve text:"Steve DiGiorgio" bar:Chris text:"Chris Williams" bar:Richard text:"Richard Christy"

PlotData= width:11 textcolor:black align:left anchor:from shift:(11,-4) bar:BC from:01/01/1995 till:06/01/1995 color:Vocals bar:BC from:01/01/1996 till:06/01/1996 color:Vocals bar:Chuck from:01/01/1995 till:06/01/1997 color:Guitar bar:Chuck from:01/01/1999 till:end color:Guitar bar:Chuck from:05/01/1996 till:06/30/1997 color:Vocals width:3 bar:Chuck from:05/01/1999 till:06/30/1999 color:Vocals width:3 bar:Tim from:01/30/1997 till:06/30/1997 color:Vocals bar:Tim from:04/01/1999 till:end color:Vocals bar:Shannon from:03/01/1995 till:06/30/1997 color:Guitar bar:Shannon from:01/01/1999 till:end color:Guitar bar:Scott from:03/01/1995 till:03/30/1997 color:Bass bar:Brian from:04/01/1997 till:06/01/1997 color:Bass bar:Scott from:01/01/1999 till:04/30/1999 color:Bass bar:Steve from:05/30/1999 till:end color:Bass bar:Chris from:01/01/1995 till:06/30/1997 color:Drums bar:Richard from:06/30/1999 till:end color:drums

Line-ups

::data[format=table] | Period | Members | Studio releases | 1995 | None | ca. 1995 | None | ca. 1995 | None | 1995-1996 | 1996 demo | ca. April 1996 | None | Spring 1997 | None | 1997 | 1997 demo | Inactive from 1998 – 1999 | ?-April 1999 | April 1999-2001 | 1999 demo The Fragile Art of Existence (1999) | |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ::

References

Notes

References

  1. Borivoj Krgin. (1993). "Individual Thought Patterns". [[Terrorizer (magazine).
  2. Jeff Kitts. (September 1993). "Dead Again". Guitar School.
  3. Jeff Kitts. (April 1995). "At Death's Door". [[Guitar World]].
  4. Francesca Fabi. (October 1995). "Death, Symbol of Perfection". Metal Shock.
  5. Robert Heeg. (April 1995). "Het keurmerk uit Florida".
  6. (April 12, 2018). "GENE HOGLAN Says CHUCK SCHULDINER Was 'Always Uncomfortable' With Being Called 'Godfather Of Death Metal'". [[Blabbermouth.net]].
  7. (1995). "In Control And there's no denying it!". The Metal Crusade.
  8. Perry Grayson. (May 2002). "Precious Memories of Chuck Schuldiner". [[Metal Maniacs]].
  9. Dennis Gulbey. (Spring 1997). "Death No More! Control Denied is Here!!". Sentinel Steel.
  10. Andrew Daly. (June 11, 2025). ""I went to Chuck Schuldiner's house and auditioned. I'm sure I played some of it wrong, but I guess it was close enough!" How Bobby Koelble brought his jazz chops to Death – and made one of the greatest metal albums of all time". [[Guitar World]].
  11. Dennis Gulbey. (Spring 1997). "Death No More! Control Denied is Here!!". Sentinel Steel.
  12. "Metal To The Masses Tour - 1995". Empty Words.
  13. Jeff Kitts. (April 1996). "Fuzz Box". Guitar School.
  14. Laurent Ramadier. (2008). "A Tribute To Chuck Schuldiner". SNAKEPIT MAGAZINE # 10.
  15. Håkon Grav. (October 1999). "Control Denied".
  16. (October 13, 2013). "Interview with Tim Aymar of Control Denied (2011)". The Metal Magdalene.
  17. Damian Smoklo. (December 2001). "Tim Aymar On His Mettle". True Metal/Mettle.
  18. Jim Raggi. (March 1999). "Chuck Schuldiner: guitar player first". Lamentations of the Flame Princess.
  19. Jackie Smit. (November 7, 2005). "A Transcendent Endeavor". [[Chronicles of Chaos (webzine).
  20. (December 2010). "Tim Aymar Speaks Out". Empty Words.
  21. "Empty Words - Bands".
  22. Kikuras, Al. (Summer 1998). "Off the Beaten Path". Unchain The Underground.
  23. (April 21, 1999). "There have been some shake-ups in the personnel of Death/Control Denied. Due to this, the record may be delayed. Scott is out of the band. I (Paula/Nuclear Blast) am confirming that Steve D (as in Giorgio) is in the band now. The record is delayed as I'm (Paula) hearing Chuck is having Steve rerecord all of Scott's parts.". Empty Words.
  24. Jeff Wagner. (January 2000). "Talk About Perseverance". Metal Maniacs.
  25. (November 4, 1999). "Available right now in Europe...... The Fragile Art Of Existence". Empty Words.
  26. (November 18, 2010). "CONTROL DENIED: 'The Fragile Art of Existence' Reissue Streaming Online". [[Blabbermouth.net]].
  27. "Monday March 13 2000". Empty Words.
  28. "Friday December 1 2000". Empty Words.
  29. Robbie Woning. (March 2002). "Memories of Chuck". Aardschok.
  30. (January 18, 2010). "Ex-DEATH Guitarist: CHUCK SCHULDINER 'Was My Best Friend, My Brother'". [[Blabbermouth.net]].
  31. (January 12, 2020). "Interview mit Guido Heijnens von Hammerheart Records". Metal1.info.
  32. (February 24, 2003). "CHUCK SCHULDINER's Estate Involved In Legal Dispute With HAMMERHEART RECORDS". [[Blabbermouth.net]].
  33. (January 21, 2003). "JANE SCHULDINER: New CONTROL DENIED Album Will 'Definitely' Be Released". [[Blabbermouth.net]].
  34. (November 24, 2003). "CONTROL DENIED: Unfinished Album To See Light Of Day". [[Blabbermouth.net]].
  35. (November 24, 2003). "CHUCK SCHULDINER's Mother Says Plan To Release Incomplete CONTROL DENIED Album Is 'Sacrilege'". [[Blabbermouth.net]].
  36. (March 3, 2004). "CHUCK SCHULDINER's Mother: CONTROL DENIED Album To Made Available For Free Download". [[Blabbermouth.net]].
  37. (April 4, 2004). "JANE SCHULDINER: CHUCK's Last Masterpiece Deserves To Be Heard". [[Blabbermouth.net]].
  38. Alex Henderson. "Zero Tolerance Review by Alex Henderson". [[AllMusic]].
  39. (March 5, 2004). "CHUCK SCHULDINER's 'Zero Tolerance' Due At The End Of The Month". [[Blabbermouth.net]].
  40. Albert Mudrian. (October 31, 2021). "R.I.P. Eric Greif (1962-2021) (Death manager)". [[Decibel (magazine).
  41. "Interview parue également dans le Metallian 75 de janvier 2013 (en version éditée)". NoiseWeb.
  42. (January 25, 2024). "CONTROL DENIED Frontman Issues Update On Long-Awaited Second Album". [[Blabbermouth.net]].
  43. (April 13, 2011). "Legendary Recording Studio MORRISOUND Burglarized". [[Blabbermouth.net]].
  44. (December 17, 2012). "Work Begins On Long-Awaited Sophomore CONTROL DENIED Album". [[Blabbermouth.net]].
  45. Alix Vallecillo. (October 10, 2016). "Death's manager Eric Grief (sic) shuts down possibility of releasing new Control Denied album". Metal Insider.
  46. Reeder. (May 13, 2024). "BLACK WATER SUNSET Release Complete Recreation Of Lost CONTROL DENIED (CHUCK SHULDINER) (sic) Demos". Metal Addicts.
  47. (June 29, 2025). "Will Second CONTROL DENIED Album Ever See Light Of Day? 'We Haven't Stopped Thinking About It', Says STEVE DIGIORGIO". [[Blabbermouth.net]].
  48. Perry Grayson. (April 2002). "Precious Memories Of Chuck Schuldiner". Empty Words.
  49. (1995). "Metal Greetings!". The Metal Crusade.
  50. Kerry Vick. (October 1999). "Tim Aymar and The New Breed of Metal". EmptyWords.org.

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1995-establishments-in-floridaheavy-metal-musical-groups-from-floridamusical-groups-established-in-1995musical-groups-disestablished-in-2001musical-groups-from-orlando,-floridamusical-quintets-from-florida