AFTER SPENDING the last 13 years fronting Death, one of the death metal's most revered and respected outfits, guitarist/singer Chuck Schuldiner has put the band on temporary hiatus to persue another full-time musical endeavor.

"After all this time, my gut is telling me to do something fresh and different," says Schuldiner. "I've actually been talking about this for several years, ever since Individual Thought Patterns came out [in 1993]. Since then, I've had this urge to do something with a more melodic singer, but along the same musical lines as Death."

The new project, called Control Denied, features B.C. Richards, a young singer formely of Florida's Wicked Ways. Schuldiner is excited that he will no longer shoulder the singing and guitar playing duties.

"When I started Death in 1983, I did not plan to be the singer; it just worked out that way." he says . "The freedom of being just a guitar player is something that's been inside of me, dying to get out, for a long time. It will enable me to be much more expressive as a guitarist."

Schuldiner realizes that hardcore death metal fans may resist his new direction, but feels the transition will be smooth.

"The way I write is the way I write, and in that sense the new project won't be that much different from Death," he says. "The songwriting wil lcontinue in the style of Symbolic, the last Death album, but with a much more melodic and ballsy metal singer. I'm going to put the same 110% into Control Deneid that I've always put into Death.

"At some point I'll get Death back together and do another record. Hell, I've been playing that kind of music for a long tim -- it's in my blood."

--Jeff Kitts