Eight years after Morbid Angel's last effort, the indifferently received Heretic, the godfathers of death metal have finally returned with a follow up - Illud Divinum Insanus, the first featuring David Vincent since 1995's Domination. To briefly recap on the legacy of this band, the first three Morbid Angel albums are timeless masterpieces, phenomenal works sound just as fresh and twisted today as they did back in the day, for any music follower. Even though I'd been listening to a lot of extreme metal before I got into Morbid Angel, and thus been desensitized to the "evilness" of music to a certain extent, the feeling of hearing Altars of Madness for the first time was an unforgettable, almost unsurpassable experience.
When David Vincent (who did vocals/bass on the first four records) re-entered the Morbid fold back in 2004, expectations were understandably high, and judging by the awesome performance at Wacken 2006, with Erik Rutan as the second guitar player, there was a lot of hope for another classic. This, however, was followed by more tours, more stagnancy, and more confusion for the fans. What was taking so long? For a band that averaged an album every three years, regardless of change in band members, concern was justified. However, a new song, Nevermore, surfaced in the setlist in 2008, which helped to appease impatient followers. Finally, the band entered the studio last year to record, without longtime drummer Pete Sandoval (citing a back problem), replaced by the more than competent Tim Yeung, whose impressive CV include Divine Heresy, Nile, Hate Eternal and Vital Remains. Despite the series of delays, things were looking up - Eric Rutan was lending a hand with production, a good omen if any, given his good rapport with the band, and with his faultless work in the studio with Goatwhore and Cannibal Corpse.
Before any music was actually heard, eyebrows were really raised when the song titles emerged, names of juvenile simplicity and banality, a clear contrast from the themes of the classic albums. In an interview back in 1997, following the release of Formulas Fatal to the Flesh, Azagthoth stated that one of his regrets with Domination were the Vincents lyrics - that "they didn't really mean anything". He clearly has changed his perspective since on what exactly constitutes "meaningful" lyrics - there are some pretty laughable examples, as you'll read below. This, therefore dampened expectations, but not nearly enough, since the music was something else...
The album begins with a brooding instrumental, which instantly evokes memories of Doomsday Celebrations from the Blessed Are The Sick album. But the frailties appear when some shoddy industrial and gothic influences pervade the song, and set the tone for the rest of the album.
Lets get the bad points out of the way first. Radikult is embarrassingly bad, featuring some key reasons which let this album down badly - boring guitars, dance beat, tasteless industrial influences, and Vincent's awful, chanting vocals. Essentially, a Marilyn Manson B-side.. Profundis - Mea Culpa is another forgettable song, and Destructos Vs. The Earth/Attack will inspire a similarly distainful reaction. As I mentioned, the lyric writing leaves something to be desired. "We are the new religion...no religion!" might've sounded badass in Chapel of Ghouls", but it just comes across as lame here. Nevermore is full of the usual chest-beating pseudo-macho garb, which again feels tired. Beauty Meets Beast is something else though - "Oh beautiful child/Come to me moist/I’m the great connoisseur" - need I say more?.
The band (read - Vincent) might be trying new ideas, but it just comes across as platitudinous. Destructos Vs. The Earth/Attack can be considered a microcosm for half of the album - it has some alright parts to it, but they are drowned by the dross that surrounds it. In short, lacking all the vitality, aggression, creativity and sheer wow factor that elevated Morbid Angel to the apotheosis of extreme music.
Not wishing to dwell on the weaknesses, there are some ok bits on this record. The aforementioned Nevermore, is an enjoyable effort, as is Existo Vulgaré, both with scything riffage and twinkling hints of genius in Trey's lava solos. 10 More Dead has some genuinely cool grooves in it, but is again stained by the lame chorus with such pointless lyrics "10 more dead, the bodies piling higher, and higher". Yet, there are no riffs here that come close to licking the boots of Rapture, Maze of Torment or Rebel Lands. but there were a few moments when the hairs on the back of my neck gave a vague tingling sensation.
Notably, one of the albums picks, Blades for Baal, was written by Destructor, who joined the band in 2008. This has real death metal ferocity, and Tim Yeung's performance, like the rest of the album, is faultless. If you consider that on the non-Rutan albums, there was only one song written by the second guitarist Richard Brunelle (a minute long instrumental, the divine Desolate Ways), it's notable that Azagthoth has allowed the young Norwegian to write a few on this record - is this simply because Trey has run out of ideas?
Azagthoth has clearly both ceded a lot of creative control to Vincent, and lost interest in the death metal scene, with a notable percentage of the tracks on the album being the input of the latter. In addition, the mix gives too much prominance to the vocals, and not enough to the guitars. The vast majority of press surrounding Illud has been conducted by Vincent, when let's not forget, this is Azagthoth's band. He looks jaded and apathetic in all of the press shoots, whereas Vincent is full of gusto and pride in his work, yet far from the frontman we knew in the 90's - clad in PVC and with a Kiss badge on his jacket, he's looking disturbingly like Nikki Sixx these days. The contrast with Autopsy, making their comeback after a sixteen year absence with a killer new album, is stark.
Vincent claims that you'll like this album as much as the others if you are open minded - even if you take this album out of the context of Morbid Angel, and the huge burden of expectations that go with it, so much of this album is just ordinary, so the argument that just because the band have adopted new, non-death metal influences is invalid. Some critics have claimed that this is another example of Morbid Angel's intransigent attitude - they have, after all, gone against the entire fanbase by creating this album. Perhaps this should be applauded...if the music was of high quality.
Fans (well, former fans) have been joking that "Ignominious" would be a more appropriate album title (given it also follows the MA tradition of alphabetically-ordered releases), which isn't too far from the truth. This album isn't a complete abomination - a few songs save it from being so - but it will nonetheless be filed under "fallen from grace", next to St. Anger, Cold Lake and Risk.
4/10
Highlights: "Blades for Baal", "Nevermore".
