Morbid Angel - Illud Divinum Insanus

Published June 26 2011

*=Staff's pick	Omni Potens Too Extreme Existo Vulgoré Blades For Baal I Am Morbid 10 More Dead Destructos vs. The Earth/Attack Nevermore Beauty Meets Beast Radikult Profundis - Mea Culpa

Genre	Death Metal/Techno/Industrial	David Vincent	Vocals
Tracks	11	Trey Azagthoth	Guitar
Runningtime	56 Min.	Destructhor	Guitar
Label	Season Of Mist	David Vincent	Bass
Release	06 June 2011	Tim Yeung	Drums
Country	USA	-	Keyboard
Producer	Erik Rutan
Similar artists	---

I assume that a great number of you dear readers have already noticed that this album, the long awaited return of the mighty Morbid Angel since 2003's Heretic, and the return of David Vincent into the fold - has not elicited in great reviews. I've read one favorable review - the rest are, well not as sympathetic.

This has of course to do with the fact that Morbid Angel has one of the best back catalogues in metal. Period. The first five records, Altars Of Madness, Blessed Are The Sick, Abominations Of Desolation, Covenant and Domination might be the heaviest, most excruciatingly good quintet of albums to ever come out of the death metalscene.

I can naturally sympathize with Morbid Angel wanting not to stay in the mould all the time - which they undoubtedly do not do on Illud Divinum Insanus - but there cannot be any excuses to writing really crappy songs like Omni Potens, Too Extreme, Destructos vs. The Earth/Attack, Radikult and Profundis - Mea Culpa. Had the band written good industrial metal - fine, I could have bought that - but these songs are actually sub-par as far as Morbid Angel-standards go.

The simplistic Too Extreme is by far one of the worst songs I have heard in a long time, and I must say that I am surprised that this one went over the bar. This goes for every goddamned song with a not-so death metalvibe to them.

What about the more traditional death metalsongs then? Well, at first I enjoyed (and still do in some degree) Existo Vulgoré, Blades For Baal, I Am Morbid and Nevermore, which are either showcasing the band's ability to lay down some really fast playing. But even these songs are, again put in the light of both the back catalogue and the other attempts of songs, not particularly good.

It's really sad to see a band as Morbid Angel lower themselves to writing songs that sounds like too many other death metalbands out there. Where is the gnarly production? Where is the feel of impending doom and pain? Well it's not found on Illud Divinum Insanus - a record that, so far, is the biggest disappointment of 2011. The only good thing I can say is that the band still can play the crap out of their instruments and that Vincent's voice is very enjoyable - but that's basically it.

See also review of: Kingdoms Disdained , Heretic

Performance	Originality	Production	Vocals	Songwriting
7	2	3	7	3

Summary
3 chalices of 10 - Martin