Building On the Old, Introducing the New – 95%*

Morbid Angel is a band that started with a bang on their legendary debut, “Altars of Madness.” They took a step forward on “Blessed Are the Sick,” but kept one foot firmly rooted in their older sound. “Covenant” is where Morbid Angel makes a big change in their sound. Tom Morris sat this one out as an engineer, and in came Flemming Rasmussen (who had produced Metallica, Rainbow and Artillery by this time). With a big name attached to produce, a band trimmed to its essentials as a three piece, and an abundance of hype, Morbid Angel was ready to take the leap into death metal stardom.

Opening with “Rapture,” Morbid Angel lets the listener know that they weren’t softening their sound or sanding down any rough edges of their music. With a tempo best described as pummeling, and a drum performance that manages to outmatch the two previous albums, “Rapture” is a mission statement as much as it is a song. While the band was now a three piece (Richard Brunelle left after “Blessed,” and Erik Rutan was still in Ripping Corpse at this time), Trey Azagthoth manages to pull the weight of two guitarists easily.

The first major change that listeners of just “Altars” may notice is that David Vincent has now almost entirely abandoned his rasp heard on “Altars” and exchanged it for the bark heard on songs like “Day of Suffering” off “Blessed.” The one song that still utilizes his rasp is the re-recorded version of “Angel of Disease” off “Abominations.” David Vincent’s vocals were by far the biggest hurdle for me, as I started listening to Morbid Angel with “Altars” (as my review for that album documents). They are not bad by any means, but as someone who associated Morbid Angel with “Altars” and “Altars” alone for a few years before venturing further into the band’s discography, it immediately stuck out as a major change. This was the first physical copy of a Morbid Angel album that I owned, and due to that, I listened to it on repeat constantly until I grew to love the vocals. Nowadays, I am glad that David Vincent stuck with the barkier sound, as I feel it gives his vocals a bit more of an authoritative sound over top the walls of riffs.

Something else the band does a lot more of on “Covenant” is sink into mid-tempo grooves. While “Rapture” and “Pain Divine” fly by rather quickly, “World of Shit” and “God of Emptiness” all include slower sections, as well as times where the guitars will play in half time while Pete Sandoval keeps his limbs flying on the drums on tracks like “The Lion’s Den.” One of the most unnatural sounding pieces of death metal drumming also happens on “World of Shit” around 2:47, where there’s a brief, stutter-sounding fill, followed by a doomier riff coming back. This section shows Pete Sandoval’s absolute rhythmic command at this point in his career. Most of “Covenant” is at a rapid pace, but there is a surprisingly small amount of blast beat sections. While Pete Sandoval is no stranger to blast beats, his restraint here and use of the slayer-style polka beat works wonders to let the guitars breathe. Often, if the guitars are playing a faster riff, the drums play a bit slower, and if the drums are playing at a fast tempo, the guitars play at half time, to make sure one of the two instruments is being emphasized.

Morbid Angel had teased the sound heard on this album in most of their newer songs on “Blessed” (songs that weren’t from the “Abominations” days). They refined it and made each song on this album stand out as its own entity. This album also hints towards the slower sound the band would use to great effect on “Domination.” The last two songs, “Nar Mattaru” and “God of Emptiness” feel like they could possibly fit on “Domination.” “Nar Mattaru” echoes many of the interludes/electronic songs heard on “Domination,” while “God of Emptiness” features a chunky, doomy sound that Morbid Angel would revisit and refine (albeit, not with the clean vocals used briefly on this album). This album refines the formula that emerged on “Blessed,” while also adding some new ingredients that would be refined on “Domination.” While I slightly prefer this album over “Domination,” and rate “Blessed…” as the worst of the first four albums due to its scatterbrained identity, the margins between “Covenant,” “Altars,” and “Domination” are slim.

I want to call special attention to “Angel of Disease,” as I feel that this song could have easily been on Altars if it had the production of that album. Of the David Vincent era of the band, this was the last vestige of that early Morbid Angel sound, and it sticks out on this album. It’s not necessarily out of place but sounds significantly different than the rest of the album. I adore the song and think that it absolutely deserves a place on this album. By being so different, it also serves as a bit of a palate cleanser and makes the album more varied without being overbearing.

“Angel of Disease” also features more of the chaotic soloing heard on the earlier albums. Most of the solos on “Covenant” feel like they have more structure than Trey’s previous lead work. I suspect part of why Trey’s soloing feels a bit more restrained on “Covenant” is that he’s pulling double duty as the only guitarist in the band and likely felt he couldn’t go as wild as he normally did when they had to perform these songs live.

I wouldn’t call this album perfect for a few reasons. The first being that “Nar Mattaru,” while atmospheric, is skippable after hearing it a few times. Without it, God of Emptiness is a bit less foreboding, but the song can stand on its own rather well. My second issue with this album is that I think the track listing could possibly be shifted around slightly. The only real quibble with the track listing is that “Pain Divine” follows immediately after “Rapture,” and those two songs sound similar in terms of pacing (both are great though). Every song on this album is great on its own and in the context of the album.

In closing, I feel that “Covenant” doesn’t quite hit the same heights of “Altars,” it shows how a band can polish their production and sound without sacrificing any of the heaviness or grit that they had early on. This album is an unlikely bestseller in my eyes, as it does not compromise on Morbid Angel’s songwriting in any way, it just had a stronger marketing push with a couple music videos and some artwork that wouldn’t be seen as overtly offensive at first glance (despite the cover being altered in some pressings). If you’re looking for where to go next after hearing “Altars of Madness,” “Covenant” is the go-to in my opinion. It is a big change in sound, but not alienatingly so.

*Originally posted on the Metal Archives as “Celestialemissary”

Two EPs in One Mixed Package – 80%*

Morbid Angel stormed onto the scene with Altars of Madness. After stewing in the underground, a nixed first attempt at a full length (Abominations of Desolation), a merger with the rhythm section and vocalist from Terrorizer, they came out with a 10-song slab of classics front to back. Altars of Madness lives on as one of the greatest metal records ever for good reason. So, what next? Morbid Angel wasn’t going the way of ’90s Finnish Death-Doom bands releasing a single album and then disappearing.

So, they needed to write some more songs, get another album out, and keep the momentum going. The band had another issue though. They had a bunch of songs they hadn’t rerecorded off “Abominations of Desolation.” This led to the mishmash that is “Blessed are the Sick.”

There are 3 songs rerecorded from “Abominations…” on here: Unholy Blasphemies, Abominations, and The Ancient Ones. That leaves 10 tracks, of which 4 are small instrumental pieces, of which 3 are neat, but I don’t consider as full songs. The “Abominations…” songs are not write-offs. These were well written songs and there’s a reason they continued to pop up on future albums. However, using three of them here, in addition to 4 instrumentals only leaves 6 “new songs” on this album. These are: Fall From Grace, Brainstorm, Rebel Lands, Day of Suffering, the title track, and Thy Kingdom Come. This means of this whole album, just over 20 minutes of it are new, full-fledged metal songs.

I don’t measure albums by quantity, or else funeral doom albums would all be 10/10s, and grind albums would all be 0/10s, but this album is lacking a clear identity due to this split. I love the “Abominations” songs, and it makes sense to release them so that when they’re played live, people know what they are. However, when 1/3rd of the death metal songs were written at the same time as much of the previous album, and the other 2/3rds were written for this album, it feels like this album is a half-step for the band. It is plain to see that the new songs resemble the songwriting heard on “Covenant,” while the older songs feel like “Altars…” era songs. David Vincent even switches between his “Altars…” rasp and his “Covenant” growl depending on the songs. I always thought Blessed are the Sick would work better as two separate EPs, rather than a whole that confuses itself.

This is not a bad album! Every single death metal song on this album is good. The particular standouts to me are “Day of Suffering,” “Fall From Grace” and “Thy Kingdom Come,” but there are no duds here.

Two highlights of this album come in the musicianship of Trey Azagthoth and Pete Sandoval. Trey’s writhing, twisted solos and rhythm sections are always a highlight, and his ability to make tempos lurch and leap via his riffing is always a treat to listen to. “Day of Suffering” opens with a great example of this. On that same note, the intro to “Day of Suffering showcases Pete Sandoval’s drumming spectacularly. He always sticks in the pocket of the band, and I feel that Trey and Pete together are what really make Morbid Angel so special to listen to.

To close: I don’t think “Blessed Are the Sick” is a poor offering. As I noted in my “Domination” review, “Covenant” had some hints of what was next for Morbid Angel. It looked back, with “Angel of Disease” being rerecorded. It also looked forward, with the doomy “God of Emptiness” and “Nar Mattaru” foreshadowing the electronic experimentation of “Domination” with the doomier and sludgier tempos. “Blessed are the Sick” does the same. It looks back to pre-Altars material while expanding the horizons of the band and progressing their sound to what would be heard on “Covenant.” I think that Covenant is a better album than this one solely for its cohesion. This one does not deserve an overly negative score but is a step below the album that precedes it and the albums that succeeded it.

I have a full dynamic range copy of this CD as part of the series of FDR releases that Earache has been releasing over the last few years. It sounds excellent. I will note (as I do for many of these Earache FDR reissues), there are no liner notes in the CD FDR reissues. The digipaks these come in are also junk. They are extremely difficult to remove the CD from, and due to this, I put the disc in a spare jewel case next to the digipak on my shelf to avoid damaging the disc. I wish this was a minor nitpick, but when my copy of “Altars…” came with the inner ring of the cd partially cracked due to the shoddy design of the packaging, it’s an issue worth mentioning.

Seriously Earache, if you’re going through all the effort to reissue these albums in the best sound possible, 1) use the right artwork (looking at you “Altars…” and “Realm of Chaos”), 2) give us the full package with liner notes, and 3) don’t make it impossible to get the cd out of the packaging.

*Note: Originally posted on the Metal Archives by CelestialEmissary

Where to Start Listening to Death Metal*

Back when I was first considering dipping my toes into death metal proper, I didn’t know where to start. I’d heard Demolition Hammer, Sepultura’s Beneath the Remains and Sodom’s Agent Orange, but I wasn’t sure where to go next. So I looked to the internet for popular or influential death metal albums (or something of that sort), put this album on for the first time, and subsequently exploded my understanding of what metal could be.

Altars of Madness turns 35 years old this year, and still sounds fresh, evil and heavy as can be. Many of these songs had been recorded a few years prior with Mike Browning (of later Nocturnus fame) on drums and vocals, but due to some band drama, he ended up leaving the band. As a result, many of these songs were rerecorded for this album.

Starting with a riff played in reverse, Immortal Rites starts off strong with staggering drums and a truly iconic riff. The album doesn’t let up after Immortal Rites as live staples like Maze of Torment, Blasphemy and Chapel of Ghouls and more go by in quick succession. This album is quite quick, but doesn’t use as many blast beats as later Morbid Angel albums like Blessed Are the Sick and Covenant, instead having a bit more of a thrash-inspired drum performance. Still, tracks like Suffocation see the band cranking up the speed. The songs on this album also generally stay between 2 to 4.5 minutes, keeping them concise, catchy and relentless. The shortest tune on the album “Bleed For the Devil” is a predecessor to later songs like Rapture where Pete Sandoval’s endurance and metronomic expertise are put to the test.

Unlike the next 3 albums, David Vincent’s voice stays raspy, as opposed to his later vocal approach which takes on more of a barking quality. I think this approach works wonderfully on this album. The closing track “Evil Spells” is my personal highlight on the album, as David Vincent’s voice truly shines here. He sounds possessed, yet more understandable than many of his contemporaries like Glen Benton and Jon Tardy.

The lyrics match the atmosphere on Altars of Madness extremely well. Occasional keyboard bits on tracks like Immortal Rites help build suspense for the listener, as well as add to the horror movie atmosphere. The angularity of the riffing and drumming on this album also contribute to its uniqueness. Instead of just being speedy throughout the album, when the band lets the songs breathe with mid-tempo sections, the guitars ooze with menace.

The last topic I’d like to talk about is the production on Altars of Madness. I should add that I have 3 different versions of this album that all sound different. I have a bootleg I found used many years ago which includes half of the Entangled in Chaos live album, a full dynamic range version that Earache put out a few years ago, and a pressing that has a DVD with a live show from 1989.

The bootleg edition sounds pretty rough. The version with the DVD has the original CD mix, and the full dynamic range edition sounds magnificent. Make sure to pick up either a copy with the original mix or the full dynamic range edition. A word of warning for those who love physical media. The Earache full dynamic range editions have little to no liner notes. There are no lyrics included in these packages and they come in poor quality digipaks where you can barely get the disc out. I have seen CDs come cracked due to the choice of packaging Earache used for these. As well, the full dynamic range edition comes with a terrible attempt at recreating Dan Seagrave’s original artwork. This is due to a contract dispute between Earache and Dan Seagrave (Decibel Magazine has a great article about this called “Immortal Rights”). A similar issue has come up with Earache and the album cover for Realms of Chaos.

This was one of the earliest Morrisound Studios death metal releases, and they knocked it out of the park here. Scott Burns was not involved on this particular release, but Tom Morris did a fantastic job of making the album sound excellent without being overly shiny and overproduced. If you’re looking to get into death metal, look at Tom Morris and Scott Burns pages here on the Metal Archives and you will be hard pressed to find many duds during the 1989-1996 period.

To finish off this review, if you’re cruising the Metal Archives looking for a guide as to where to start with death metal, start with this album. From here, go listen to Blessed are the Sick, Scream Bloody Gore, Severed Survival, Mental Funeral, Deicide, Cause of Death, Piece of Time, Left Hand Path, The IVth Crusade, Like an Everflowing Stream and Necroticism-Descanting the Insalubrious. I can’t think of a better entry to death metal than this album.

*Note: Originally posted on the Metal Archives by CelestialEmissary