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Trollheart · 10-06-2013, 07:25 AM

Heretic --- Morbid Angel --- 2003 (Earache)

Yeah, I'm tapping into all The Batlord's favourites for this little excusion into death metal, aren't I? His Batship raves on about these guys being "bitchin'", which I can only assume means I'm probably going to hate them, but then, this is all about pushing boundaries so let's have a shot. As most of the albums I've listened to up to now seem for reasons best left undisclosed to have been recorded in the nineties, I wanted to take something a bit more recent, a little more contemporary, and so this is Morbid Angels' seventh and most recent-album-but one to be released.

I'm a little worried to see that there are fourteen tracks on this, even moreso as the opener, "Cleansed in pestilence (Sword of Elohim)" goes right for the throat with a massive metal assault on the guitar. But that's nothing compared to the vocals of Steve Tucker, who makes Chuck Schuldiner sound like an operatic soprano! THIS is the kind of vocal I absolutely LOATHE! I can't make out a word. Not one. It's all just growling. And the music doesn't really appeal either; way too fast and not at all technical, though I'm told Trez Azagthoth is considered the most technical guitarists in death met --- oh hold on. That was a pretty fine solo. Hmm.

Okay, well to be fair I'm basing my initial and immediate dislike of this band on one track, so far, and there are (God preserve my soul!) thirteen more to go, so let's see if my opinion changes as the album progresses. I do have to say it's a very short sigh of relief though when the opener ends, and then "Enshrined by grace" is a slower, doomier sound with some heavy, hevay drumming and grinding basswork, and a churning, snarling guitar with a whole minute before I'm subjected to Tucker's gutteral growl again. Jesus! The guy could be singing his shopping list for all I know ---- Chainsaw, duck tape, rope, bodybag, bottle of milk --- it's just impossible to figure out what he's singing.

A great solo from Azagthoth lends the song a semblance of class, even if it comes across as a little indulgent, but other than that I have nothing good to say about this track. The third one is more of the same, and I really don't see any miraculous transformation about to happen here that will change my mind about this band. Problem is, everything's heavy which is fine, but to these ears it's all fairly similar and apart from the odd decent guitar solo I can't pick out anything I really like or can talk about. I know, Batlord: go do something useful, girl, like clean your makeup brushes or hang your knickers up to dry! Yeah well, you know, as I say this just is not my thing, okay?

Deep breath then: let's try to review this properly. If we can. We're now up to "Praise the strength", which I sigh to see is over five minutes long. Okay, here's a good solo from Azagthoth but it's only short, and the blinding guitar and drum assault resumes, trying to bludgeon me into submission and take advantage of me while I'm down. It can, cos I have no defence against this. If I wasn't reviewing it for the journal I would have turned this off long ago, about three seconds into track one. There's another great solo to end and then we hit "Stricken arise", the first song to feature a writing contribution from drummer Pete Sandoval --- hey, I'm trying to write something interesting here --- with the previous all having been penned by Tucker and Azagthoth.

Nah, don't see any difference in this one. Loud, crashing, manic drumming, pounding, churning guitar and a ragged, growly vocal. Same as everything else on the album to this point. Well, interesting drum solo, if you can call it that. Then, just when you think it's (blessedly) over, it picks up again for the final minute with screeching guitar, hammer drumming and a scream from Tucker. The next two tracks are both written by the axeman on his own, and "Place of many deaths" has some interesting effects in it at the start, sounds of voices crying and laughing, doomy drumbeats, a sort of high-pitched feedback on the guitar. At least this is different.

Is it an instrumental? Well, at just over four minutes I would have said no, but we're now into the second and there has been no appearance from Tucker yet. Perhaps he's gone to have a flesh sandwich and a glass of blood --- newborn, of course! Yeah, we're heading into minute three and it's still just music, so that's definitely a plus. Seems like it is an instrumental. Not half bad if a little confused. The next one is much shorter, minute and a half, and it's called "Abyssous". This is definitely an instrumental, almost laidback by Morbid Angel's standards --- hell, almost a ballad!

And then we're back to it, as Steve Tucker carves the last slice from their roasted human captive, drains his human skull goblet and picks up the mike to launch into "God of our own divinity", at which point I almost wet my knickers, seeing this is over six minutes long! Oh dear lord no! It's back to mach 2 drumming, pulsating axework and that voice, but at least we're getting near the end, with only five tracks to go. Less than twenty minutes and I can put this behind me forever.

But what's this? A rather nice, almost but not quite introspective guitar piece? I had never expected to use that word in the same sentence as death metal, and certainly, given what I've heard of them to date, with Morbid Angel! But it takes off then into a soaring metal solo, which I have no problem with, and the longer it goes on the less I have to hear Tucker's --- oh. He's back again. How long to go now? Just over a minute. Okay. Next up is "Within thy enemy" (should that not be "thine"?) and Tucker doesn't give us a second's respite, growling like a wounded beast all over the first few seconds and then taking control of the track.

Decent rhythm to it, and I have to admit to surprise to see my fingers tapping to it, but this ain't finding its way onto my ipod any time soon: it'd massacre all my poor Marillon and Arena albums, and kick the crap out of Rod Stewart, then blame it on Stratovarius! At least the last few tracks are all around the three minute mark, and as Tucker snarls the ending to this one an acoustic guitar and piano (???) open "Memories of the past", the first of three tracks penned solo by Sandoval, and on which he plays the piano and keyboards. Piano? Keyboards? Did I read that right? Maybe there's some small shred of hope for Morbid Angel to win me over after all...

I very much like this. With a sort of Russian feel to it this instrumental track is stark and lonely, sad and despairing but something I can listen to. Finally. If all his compositions are like this then the ending of this album could be a big surprise indeed. Well, "Victorious march of reign the conqueror" (unnecessarily long and complicated title but let's not split hairs) has a very dramatic feel to it, with solid synthesiser and powerful piano, a triumphant aura and best of all, no singing! With a title like "Drum check", you probably know what to expect from the penultimate track, and indeed it's a storming drum solo, but I still prefer it to hearing Tucker sing. The final track is "Born again", which for me brings up uncomfortable associations with Black Sabbath, but this is nothing like that, starting off with a guitar riff almost out of the Trogg's "Wild thing", believe it or not, and continuing as a serious runthough on the guitar, showing what Trez Azagthoth can do, and why he is considered such a giant in his field.

TRACKLISTING

1. Cleansed in pestilence (Blade of Elohim)
2. Enshrined in grace
3. Beneath the hollow
4. Curse the flesh
5. Praise the strength
6. Stricken arise
7. Place of many deaths
8. Abyssous
9. God of our own divinity
10. Within thy enemy
11. Memories of the past
12. Victorious march of reign the conqueror
13. Drum check
14. Born again

Look, I went into this knowing that Morbid Angel were the litmus test. If I could handle them, I could handle anything. If there had been some sudden epiphany as I listened to the album and I realised I actually liked their music, I could take off this dress and throw away my stiletto boots. But I really didn't expect that would happen, and from the moment Steve Tucker opened his mouth I knew the chances of my ever listening to this band again had shrunk to virtually zero. Unlike Death, who I could take in small doses, the raucous, gutteral, unintelligible at all times vocals of the frontman made it impossible that I would ever listen to Morbid Angel again, never mind enjoy their music.

I'm sure fans of the death metal genre will rise up and say I haven't a clue what I'm talking about, that I'm a pussy and so on, and they're probably right. This kind of music isn't my cup of rose-scented tea. It never was, I never claimed it to be and it never will be. There are some bands and genres I just know to stay away from, and with good reason. Still, at least I can say I listened to one of their albums, even if I hated it.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm late for a bra fitting.

Read more here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morbid_Angel

10-06-2013, 07:25 AM	#1921 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,971	Heretic --- Morbid Angel --- 2003 (Earache) Yeah, I'm tapping into all The Batlord's favourites for this little excusion into death metal, aren't I? His Batship raves on about these guys being "bitchin'", which I can only assume means I'm probably going to hate them, but then, this is all about pushing boundaries so let's have a shot. As most of the albums I've listened to up to now seem for reasons best left undisclosed to have been recorded in the nineties, I wanted to take something a bit more recent, a little more contemporary, and so this is Morbid Angels' seventh and most recent-album-but one to be released. I'm a little worried to see that there are fourteen tracks on this, even moreso as the opener, "Cleansed in pestilence (Sword of Elohim)" goes right for the throat with a massive metal assault on the guitar. But that's nothing compared to the vocals of Steve Tucker, who makes Chuck Schuldiner sound like an operatic soprano! THIS is the kind of vocal I absolutely LOATHE! I can't make out a word. Not one. It's all just growling. And the music doesn't really appeal either; way too fast and not at all technical, though I'm told Trez Azagthoth is considered the most technical guitarists in death met --- oh hold on. That was a pretty fine solo. Hmm. Okay, well to be fair I'm basing my initial and immediate dislike of this band on one track, so far, and there are (God preserve my soul!) thirteen more to go, so let's see if my opinion changes as the album progresses. I do have to say it's a very short sigh of relief though when the opener ends, and then "Enshrined by grace" is a slower, doomier sound with some heavy, hevay drumming and grinding basswork, and a churning, snarling guitar with a whole minute before I'm subjected to Tucker's gutteral growl again. Jesus! The guy could be singing his shopping list for all I know ---- Chainsaw, duck tape, rope, bodybag, bottle of milk --- it's just impossible to figure out what he's singing. A great solo from Azagthoth lends the song a semblance of class, even if it comes across as a little indulgent, but other than that I have nothing good to say about this track. The third one is more of the same, and I really don't see any miraculous transformation about to happen here that will change my mind about this band. Problem is, everything's heavy which is fine, but to these ears it's all fairly similar and apart from the odd decent guitar solo I can't pick out anything I really like or can talk about. I know, Batlord: go do something useful, girl, like clean your makeup brushes or hang your knickers up to dry! Yeah well, you know, as I say this just is not my thing, okay? Deep breath then: let's try to review this properly. If we can. We're now up to "Praise the strength", which I sigh to see is over five minutes long. Okay, here's a good solo from Azagthoth but it's only short, and the blinding guitar and drum assault resumes, trying to bludgeon me into submission and take advantage of me while I'm down. It can, cos I have no defence against this. If I wasn't reviewing it for the journal I would have turned this off long ago, about three seconds into track one. There's another great solo to end and then we hit "Stricken arise", the first song to feature a writing contribution from drummer Pete Sandoval --- hey, I'm trying to write something interesting here --- with the previous all having been penned by Tucker and Azagthoth. Nah, don't see any difference in this one. Loud, crashing, manic drumming, pounding, churning guitar and a ragged, growly vocal. Same as everything else on the album to this point. Well, interesting drum solo, if you can call it that. Then, just when you think it's (blessedly) over, it picks up again for the final minute with screeching guitar, hammer drumming and a scream from Tucker. The next two tracks are both written by the axeman on his own, and "Place of many deaths" has some interesting effects in it at the start, sounds of voices crying and laughing, doomy drumbeats, a sort of high-pitched feedback on the guitar. At least this is different. Is it an instrumental? Well, at just over four minutes I would have said no, but we're now into the second and there has been no appearance from Tucker yet. Perhaps he's gone to have a flesh sandwich and a glass of blood --- newborn, of course! Yeah, we're heading into minute three and it's still just music, so that's definitely a plus. Seems like it is an instrumental. Not half bad if a little confused. The next one is much shorter, minute and a half, and it's called "Abyssous". This is definitely an instrumental, almost laidback by Morbid Angel's standards --- hell, almost a ballad! And then we're back to it, as Steve Tucker carves the last slice from their roasted human captive, drains his human skull goblet and picks up the mike to launch into "God of our own divinity", at which point I almost wet my knickers, seeing this is over six minutes long! Oh dear lord no! It's back to mach 2 drumming, pulsating axework and that voice, but at least we're getting near the end, with only five tracks to go. Less than twenty minutes and I can put this behind me forever. But what's this? A rather nice, almost but not quite introspective guitar piece? I had never expected to use that word in the same sentence as death metal, and certainly, given what I've heard of them to date, with Morbid Angel! But it takes off then into a soaring metal solo, which I have no problem with, and the longer it goes on the less I have to hear Tucker's --- oh. He's back again. How long to go now? Just over a minute. Okay. Next up is "Within thy enemy" (should that not be "thine"?) and Tucker doesn't give us a second's respite, growling like a wounded beast all over the first few seconds and then taking control of the track. Decent rhythm to it, and I have to admit to surprise to see my fingers tapping to it, but this ain't finding its way onto my ipod any time soon: it'd massacre all my poor Marillon and Arena albums, and kick the crap out of Rod Stewart, then blame it on Stratovarius! At least the last few tracks are all around the three minute mark, and as Tucker snarls the ending to this one an acoustic guitar and piano (???) open "Memories of the past", the first of three tracks penned solo by Sandoval, and on which he plays the piano and keyboards. Piano? Keyboards? Did I read that right? Maybe there's some small shred of hope for Morbid Angel to win me over after all... I very much like this. With a sort of Russian feel to it this instrumental track is stark and lonely, sad and despairing but something I can listen to. Finally. If all his compositions are like this then the ending of this album could be a big surprise indeed. Well, "Victorious march of reign the conqueror" (unnecessarily long and complicated title but let's not split hairs) has a very dramatic feel to it, with solid synthesiser and powerful piano, a triumphant aura and best of all, no singing! With a title like "Drum check", you probably know what to expect from the penultimate track, and indeed it's a storming drum solo, but I still prefer it to hearing Tucker sing. The final track is "Born again", which for me brings up uncomfortable associations with Black Sabbath, but this is nothing like that, starting off with a guitar riff almost out of the Trogg's "Wild thing", believe it or not, and continuing as a serious runthough on the guitar, showing what Trez Azagthoth can do, and why he is considered such a giant in his field. TRACKLISTING 1. Cleansed in pestilence (Blade of Elohim) 2. Enshrined in grace 3. Beneath the hollow 4. Curse the flesh 5. Praise the strength 6. Stricken arise 7. Place of many deaths 8. Abyssous 9. God of our own divinity 10. Within thy enemy 11. Memories of the past 12. Victorious march of reign the conqueror 13. Drum check 14. Born again Look, I went into this knowing that Morbid Angel were the litmus test. If I could handle them, I could handle anything. If there had been some sudden epiphany as I listened to the album and I realised I actually liked their music, I could take off this dress and throw away my stiletto boots. But I really didn't expect that would happen, and from the moment Steve Tucker opened his mouth I knew the chances of my ever listening to this band again had shrunk to virtually zero. Unlike Death, who I could take in small doses, the raucous, gutteral, unintelligible at all times vocals of the frontman made it impossible that I would ever listen to Morbid Angel again, never mind enjoy their music. I'm sure fans of the death metal genre will rise up and say I haven't a clue what I'm talking about, that I'm a pussy and so on, and they're probably right. This kind of music isn't my cup of rose-scented tea. It never was, I never claimed it to be and it never will be. There are some bands and genres I just know to stay away from, and with good reason. Still, at least I can say I listened to one of their albums, even if I hated it. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm late for a bra fitting. Read more here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morbid_Angel __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018 Last edited by Trollheart; 10-25-2013 at 12:00 PM.