Album: Morbid Angel – Illud Divinum Insanus
Release Date: 6/7/2011
Label: Season Mist America
This album is a mess of terrible ideas. There are so many things wrong here. I understand the need for artists to experiment with new sounds and images; metal music has a tendency to stagnate more quickly than any other genres I know. Sometimes a “different” album works. Most times they don’t, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that an album is a complete failure. Cold Lake, 34.788% Complete, and Grand Declaration of War all had their redeeming merits. Illud Divinum Insanus has none.
Oh, there is some vintage Morbid Angel hidden beneath the piles of cow flop. If you’re up to the challenge you’ll most likely enjoy a song or two, and if not a song or two, perhaps a riff here and there (if you can sit through 7+ minutes of the awful “Destructos vs The Earth/Attack”, you’ll be rewarded with 15 seconds of classic, brutal MA at its very end. What meager pleasantries.). Unfortunately the worst of this album is more than enough to eclipse any of these dimly lit moments. There’s very little to like.
People have been waiting eight years for “Letter I” to come out. That’s a very long break between recordings for such a prolific group. Extreme metal has changed greatly since 2003. Morbid Angel has always been a group to stand alongside a signature sound as heavier artists have sped past them. I suppose a change was inevitable. David, Trey, and Pete had plenty of time to throw things onto walls to see if they stuck. Whatever they threw must have had the adhesive qualities of ripe flatulence.
To explain this new sound and image would not do this album the justice is deserves/does not deserve. Don’t get me wrong, it’s very well-recorded, almost to the point of sounding too synthetic. And this might be a harsh comparison, but some of this album is like the worst from Marilyn Manson. If you don’t believe me, sample the album on Youtube; it’s posted there in its entirety. Just don’t purchase the album, for Christ’s sake.
If you’ve read enough reviews and know better than to sit through all 11 tracks, all you really need to know about “Letter I” is summarized in its 10th track, Radikult. This is the worst thing I’ve heard this year. Friday by Rebecca Black is sonorous in comparison. I haven’t been embarrassed to hear something like this in a very long time. I’m perplexed and curious as to if this is Morbid Angel’s slap in the face to its endearing legion of fanatics, or an unintentional joke. Whatever it is, David Vincent is scatting in the song, and scatting is an appropriate double-meaning for this sad, sad, potent pile.
Best track: Nevermore
Worst track: Radikult
Star Rating:
2 out of 10 stars
CLICK ALBUM TO HEAR SAMPLE:
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