Ever since Human, the record that began to win Death a wider audience, Chuck Schuldiner has displayed a progressive compositional style and a high level of technical expertise, qualities which have often gone unnoticed because of his throat-shreddingly intense vocals. Hence
Control Denied, which employs the more accessible Tim Aymar on lead vocals to increase the likelihood that Schuldiner will finally get his due in more traditional metal circles. Since all of
Control Denied's instrumentalists were in Death at one time or another, one might expect
The Fragile Art of Existence to sound like Death with a more melodic vocalist. And it definitely does from time to time, which isn't a bad thing -- Aymar is a theatrical belter who can pull off a wide range of vocal sounds, and Schuldiner's lyrics of stubborn determination are clearly audible. But Schuldiner obviously feels he has something to prove musically, and since he pulls out all the compositional stops, the record definitely has its own flavor, changing riffs, textures, tempos, and time signatures at will. It's almost certainly Schuldiner's intent to challenge and jar the listener with these abrupt transitions, and it takes a great deal of technical skill to negotiate them successfully, which the band does time and time again. But it's hard to shake the feeling that there isn't enough to latch onto here --
The Fragile Art of Existence is crammed full of good musical ideas, but there are so many in such a limited space, and so few are repeated enough to sink into the listener's memory, that the record starts to seem like a showy technical exercise rather than a precision musical assault. The vocal melodies never really develop into genuine hooks, and the songs are structured so elliptically that it's hard to discern rhyme or reason in the way their parts were assembled. The album definitely proves beyond all doubt what a tremendous instrumentalist Schuldiner is -- not to mention the rest of the band -- but no matter how many great riffs his guitar drills into the listener's head,
The Fragile Art of Existence needed greater structure and focus if it was to demonstrate his abilities as a composer. ~ Steve Huey