Instead I have been away in the cruel and lonely world of academia, finishing off my studies. These included a poetry portfolio - some of which I might post here later on - and a 12,000 word dissertation on the changing face of the global Metal culture. These included the role of women, racism, homophobia, etc.
But to recharge my place in the international blogosphere, I thought I'd publish here my thoughts on one of the most hated Death Metal albums of recent history.
Ladies and gentlemen and third gender, I give you my thoughts on Morbid Angel's Illud Divinum Insanus.
June 2016 marks the fifth anniversary of American
Death Metal band Morbid Angel’s eighth studio album Illud Divinum Insanus (Divine Crazy). This album received mixed to
lukewarm reviews from the press, but I as a fan of the band, can recall the
hefty backlash of angry fans who felt their beloved Death Metal veterans had
betrayed their musical roots and had delivered what some have gone as far as
calling: ‘mandatory suicide.’
Seeing as how it’s been five long years with no new
material since, I think it’s time to see if this album has stood the test of
time and ask: is it really that bad?
A
Brief History
Before I delve into the album I’ll just give a brief
history of the group.
Formed in Tampa in 1984, Morbid Angel is one of the
earliest Death Metal bands who pioneered the genre at the beginning of the
1990s. Along with fellow Florida bands Death, Deicide and Obituary, their use
of growled vocals, down tuned guitars, complex rhythm and string structures and
focus on blasphemous and occultist lyrical themes; gave birth to what is deemed
the most extreme Heavy Metal genre by many.
Illud
Divinum Insanus
The first thing you notice about this album is that
it’s experimental. You begin by hearing some eeriness that reminds you of cheap
b-movie horrors which the band must have used as influences, but soon you hear
some odd bass and drum programming that has lashings of Industrial music to it.
But eventually the tracks begin to drag with first
vocal driven track ‘Too Extreme’ annoying the listener with what sounds like a
DJ scratching some vinyl over some double bass pedals which you can tell aren’t
being played by human feet. Every now and again you hear some guitars reminding
you of Morbid Angel in their recent days but the song drags and goes on for too
long making you want to turn it off – not the best of starts.
Then you’re subjected to ‘Existo Vulgore’ which
sounds a little more like the band you came to listen to. Morbid Angel laid
some of the cornerstones of Death Metal so they’re not technical in nature and
instead play basic extremes of guitars and drums. This track and next one
‘Blades for Baal’ would make any keen Death Metal listener think of this
American classic act.
| David Vincent - Divinely & Utterly Crazy |
However, the biggest let down of this entire album
is vocalist David Vincent. He’s known
for his death growl vocals which have aided in making classic Morbid Angel
albums: Covenant, Altars of Madness and Blessed Are The Sick, bestsellers in the
Death Metal canon – but here it feels like he’s trying to ‘speak-growl’ not be
as brutal as possible. There are even places where he sounds like he’s rapping,
especially on track ‘I Am Morbid’ – something I can only see as an attempt at
the band formulating a new battle cry for fans at live shows. Seriously, that
track sounds like a football chant by how it opens with clapping and crowd like
yells of the word ‘morbid.’
So overall, I can sympathise with anyone who called
this album weak or terrible when they heard it. I for one had to turn it off
several times and took the best part of two days to listen through it when
writing this piece. But am I going to slag off the band and say it’s time to
call it quits after 32 years on the road? Well no, I am not. In fact I’m going
to talk about what made this album such a bad thing for the band – not the
musical failures but the fans being atrociously immature.
Experimenting
and Elitism
So what we have here in summary is an experimental
album. An experiment that’s gone horribly wrong. From how fans reacted to this
album, it does make me ask: have you never heard of a band experimenting
before? Has everyone forgotten about Thrash Metal veterans Kreator flirting with Gothic and Industrial music throughout the nineties?
However, it does appear that this is the first
experimental album from one of the major Death Metal bands – I cannot recall
others like Obituary, Cannibal Corpse or Deicide blending something radical into
their output. I think this is one thing that’s led to me distancing myself from
the genre in recent years – other such genres like Black Metal seem a bit more
open to bands taking a risky step and going on some audible adventure.
Though what angered me most about this album was how
some fans even had the nerve to create Facebook groups like ‘RIP Morbid Angel’ and go as far as
saying they’re ‘traitors’ when commenting on the songs on YouTube.
How I feel about Morbid Angel was best summed up by
YouTube blogger Ed Veter (InfidelAmsterdam) ‘Compare it with a good friend. They’ve been doing the same
thing you do and then make a choice after so many years, which you do not agree
with. Are you putting away your entire friendship just because he or she made a
decision that doesn’t really affect you?’
Please do remember all you fellow Morbid Angel fans
reading this, I despised this album as much as you, but what is most important
to a band and the culture of the music is how the fans behave and I do feel
metal is changing in attitude. But please, the next time your favourite group
makes a terrifying record like this one – just remember the band did what they
wanted to do and you can’t control all of that.
Plus, they’ll still be playing
the music you love at the live shows like I’ve seen in recent years. We just
need to understand that being so elitist about what our favourite bands do and
don’t do, makes all us metalheads look like the immature, vicious, obnoxious
people the outside world is so quick to paint us as.
 |
| Tipper Gore - Just one of many people trying to silence Metal and paint us all as stupid. Don't give in to the censors. |
