Chuck Schuldiner left a revolutionary legacy, the man redefining the genre time and time again before his way-too-premature passing in 2001. Even though he probably could have continued to write, rejuvenate and succeed with Death, Schuldiner's ambition saw him forming a new band in Control Denied and taking on unique challenges, musical and otherwise. The Fragile Art Of Existence was a welcomed and critically acclaimed tour de force upon its release in '99, and now Relapse has re-issued this revelatory record and packaged it with demos from '97 and '99 as well as demos from '96 on the special edition that's limited to 1000 copies.

Revisiting The Fragile Art Of Existence is like jumping on a pendulum and swinging really quickly to the left (especially on album highlight 'When The Link Becomes Missing'), the record surely not fading in relevance, importance or technique in the almost twelve years since its first issue. The demos are a victory for fans, the '97/'99 versions more professional sounding than, like, 80 percent of records released in their finished form while the '96 demos are endearing in their commitment to excellence and execution despite truly being initial visions in the forming stage. Great booklet too, with a cool essay by Richard Christy.

Rating: 9