Album Review - Morbid Angel - Illud Divinum Insanus

So I'm guessing some of you may have heard the rumours doing the rounds about how Morbid Angel have gone all "experimental" on us, right? You have heard that for their first album in 8 years and their first album with original frontman Dave Vincent for 16 years, they have brought in some outside influences in an attempt to make something even more extreme than death metal and you are sitting there thinking "It will be ok, it's still Morbid Angel for Gods sake"?

I know this because I was in the same position too. And dear reader, now I have heard this new release Illud Divinum Insanus I feel I must share my concerns with you before you also take the time to listen to it.

Right from the off things are a bit worrying. The album beings with a very lazy intro that tries to be symphonic and grandiose but ends up sounding like some Mortiis cast off from 15 years ago, all cheap sounding keyboards backed with the occasional drumbeat from new drummer Tim Yeung or growl from Dave Vincent.

So after the dodgy intro you will be hoping for something utterly crushing and brain melting from the returning death metal heroes right? Sadly the only thing being crushed here (and for the majority of the album) will be your hopes and dreams.

Instead of some ripping death metal we get Too Extreme! a half baked industrial track with Dave Vincent's vocals being far too loud in the mix. I can't really begin to sum up how entirely awful this track is, the drums sound plastic and are repetitive to a level of extreme irritation, the guitars (yes there are some hidden in the atrocious production) are reduced to chugging away in the background and there is some sort of sample running through the music that sounds like they nicked it from Breathe by The Prodigy. It's a mess and the only thing that's "too extreme" about this song is how extremely shit it is.

Although in saying all that there is a nice five-second keyboard break about two minutes into the song. It's not very impressive but at least it shuts the goddamn drumming up for a few seconds.

Now it's a very concerning sign when by the end of the first song on the album you are utterly dreading what will be coming next. Thankfully what follows is Existo Vulgoré which is a death metal track. Not a great death metal track, not even a pretty good one, but a death metal track all the same. The main problem again is that Vincent's vocals are horrifically loud in the mix, in fact EVERYTHING is really loud in the mix but Dave clearly snuck back into the studio at night and turned his vocals up to 11.

Blades Of Baal does improve things a bit but even then suffers at the hands of the production. Check out the blast beat section just after the 2.00 mark, what do you hear there apart from drums? Bugger all is the correct answer. I'm not sure Trey is even attempting to play any chords or notes on his guitar at that point, just clamping his hand over the fret-board and slamming his other hand on the strings in a desperate but failed attempt to be heard. There is what could be the a decent solo section later in the song but it seems to be cut off before it even gets going.

There are many people out there who are comparing this to the infamous St Anger by Metallica, now I would like to say that they are wrong but both albums share a couple of hallmarks. The first is the ear-splitting, headache inducing production, where everything is so loud you find it hard to discern what is actually happening and the second is the fact that both albums are directionless and meandering. Morbid Angel have always prided themselves on having an ideology behind their music (just read any interview with Trey or David for evidence of that). But this album shows no interweaving threads running through the music, just a lot of (mostly bad) ideas flung together in an effort to get the bloody thing finished.

I Am Morbid starts off with a sampled crowd chant of "Morbid, Morbid" before bringing in some woeful groove metal riff that even Soulfly would be wary of. Now if you like that style of chugging groove then fair play, you might find some enjoyment in this song. I however normally hate it with a passion and I certainly hate it all the more when it's being played some of the guys who wrote Lord Of All Fevers And Plagues.

Also that rotten chorus... "I'm morbid, morbid, Wont be thwarted, While celebrating morbid victories" I mean come on Dave, what does that even mean? Also, stop singing like Max Cavalera, it's embarrassing.

Sadly 10 More Dead ushers in more Cavalera singing, more crap groove riffs (slightly reminiscent of the bands own Domination era, but seeing as that was a very average album anyway I'm not getting too excited). The song picks up speed for a couple of minutes and turns into a decent death metal track but then the "Jump Da Fuck Up" style riffs come back and I start to lose interest fast.

And by the time bland industrial rip off Destructos Vs The Stupid Song Name finishes I'm about ready to hunt down Dave Vincent ask him to forcibly insert the CD into a very uncomfortable body cavity. I'm fairly certain that the blame for all this dance/industrial nonsense can be laid squarely as his door, but again getting back to the St Anger analogy, why didn't Trey or either of the hired hands have the balls to stand up and say "Uhhhh excuse me, Mr Vincent sir? Please don't leave the band again or anything but shouldn't you be saving this for a side project so we can play some, you know, heavy metal or something?"

I'll be honest, by the time I get to this stage of the album, I'm losing any will to care about anything other than stopping myself from doing some injury to my person or others around me in an attempt to drown out the awfulness coming from the stereo.

Nevermore and the following track Beauty Meets Beast almost arrest these urges but still fall short of being enthralling. They are probably my favourite songs on the album but really that's kind of like saying I prefer being kicked in the balls to being stabbed in the face, common sense more than any sort of genuine enjoyment.

Sadly after the band doing something to sooth the rage growing inside me, along comes Radikult. This song is pathetic, it's insulting, it's worrying, it's inexcusable, and it's the enemy of metal music as far as I'm concerned. And I'm not being factious when I say that. Just think of all the moving, wonderful moments heavy metal has produced, think of Dio singing "I see a Rainbow rising", think of Halford screaming "You're possessing me" or of Dickinson telling us that "The sands of time for me are running loooowww". Think of any of those amazing moments that make your heart soar, then think of David Vincent whispering "Kill a cop, cop, kill a cop kill a, kill a, kill a cop". Are you sickened by this release yet?

If somehow you're not then the shite industrial closing track Profundis - Mea Culpa will do the trick.

To summarise, this album is almost a complete waste of time. Four half decent songs alongside seven songs which range from pretty bad to appalling does not a decent album make. I can't think of any way in which to recommend this album to you, I wouldn't even bother illegally downloading the thing just to laugh at it. It's honesty not worth any of your time and effort.

I can only hope that for their next release Pete Sandoval recovers from his back injury and returns behind the kit along with the band regaining some semblance of what the words Morbid Angel mean to their fans. I don't hold out much hope sadly.

Written by Stuart
Monday, June 6, 2011
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I can understand the loss of inspiration, however that LP was a proof that Morbid Angel do... · Read more ·

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