About The New MORBID ANGEL Record

We've been a little off the radar over here in the past few days, but we'll be picking up the pace in the next few days. First of all; I want to get this off my chest before I go on with our regular posting tomfoolery.

The new Morbid Angel record has been the center of all discussions between metal nerds lately. So I thought I'd do a post to state my point once and for all about why this was a collaboratively wrong direction for the band to have chosen to pursue.

Morbid Angel is band that serves as extreme metal's truest ambassadors. The band helped create the blueprint for what today's countless number of death metal acts are following. 89's Altars of Madness and 91's Blessed Are The Sick are records that to this day are essential to introduce new listeners to the world of extreme metal. That's all set in stone.

The last record MORBID ANGEL released was back in 2003, titled "Heretic" and featured former front man Steve Tucker handling vocals and bass duties. But shortly after the release he left the band in 2004. When original front man David Vincent returned, many fans applauded his comeback and awaited a new record with hunger.

It took the band 8 years to put out a new album. Although they've been playing one song from the new material (Nevermore) while on tour since 2008. But no one saw the leap into industrial/aggrotech territory coming.

I'm all for bands experimenting with their sound, expanding, and progressing. But as a fan I also like each band for what they bring to the table. When MORBID ANGEL took a blindfolded leap of faith into being a dance metal act, they should have just said "Fuck it! We're done with MORBID ANGEL, we're going to release a record under a different name and a whole new gimmick."
That would've at least softened the blow; because then fans would fall back on MORBID ANGEL as their winning card.

But the band decided to release it under the same name that's famous for being a pioneer in the death metal genre. And then when fans started criticizing it; the band's response was, "you need to listen to it with an open mind."
I'm not saying that the album is the worst thing to happen to music since Fred Durst. But I can't see a fan of MORBID ANGEL saying, "Holly Hell, I've been waiting for this record for 8 years! It's everything I wanted!"

The first thing that popped into my head when I heard "Radikult" was this. It's almost got the same Swing chorus. Only with 10 times the cheese filling.

"Kill-A-Cop-Cop-Kill-A-Cop"

It just makes me want to hit the streets in a tuxedo and start finger snapping as I dance my way around pedestrians.

Also interesting to note is how David Vincent responded to fans' reaction. Telling Metal Hammer:

"how fucked off are you, first of all?”

“It would be very easy for us to go, ‘Hmmm, let’s take the greatest hits of Morbid Angel and make them a bit better and change a few of the little things and do very well,’ he continued. “Would it be pure artistically? Not at all, and it would cheat our fans out of the very essence of what Morbid Angel has always been. For people who have an open mind, this is going to be their favourite Morbid Angel album ever.”

I just can't see Illud Divinum Insanus being my favorite MORBID ANGEL record. But I can honestly see David Vincent and Trey Azagthoth pulling off a Jay and Silent Bob and going door to door beating up fans that don't like it.