MABB v6.6.6

when they were released? Or did critical acclaim and fan acceptance come slowly?

[quote name="IRONMAN"]when they were released? Or did critical acclaim and fan acceptance come slowly?[/quote]



Altars of Madness and Domination was. Some reviewers found Blessed to be inconsistent and Covenant to be too monotonous. Formulas got mixed reviews, Gateways was regarded as good, but too slow. Heretic was mostly trashed.

Well, ok then.

This was in the bigger magazines though. All of them were regarded as classics and complete pieces of garbage depending on the reviewers.

I LIKE HAM!

They got quite a bit of flak when Blessed came out. People accused them of selling out and complained that they took a generally slower approach on that album. I think after that album people just got used to the idea that MA would take a different approach on each album.

Voices From The Darkside never had any rating system, they only describe the albums (which I kinda like actually). Frank Stöver said the following about these MA album's:



Domination - "Ain't a secret I wasn't that much impressed with Morbid Angel's Covenant record. Especially sound-wise I thought it was their weakest album. Domination is the total opposite again and it made it happen that my enthusiasm for the band returned in a massive way! The decision to work with some experienced producer as Bill Kennedy was ultimate and the addition of Eric Rutan as a full bandmember has made 'em even more dangerous in 1995. Domination has almost everything you would expect from a Morbid Angel record: it's got speedy stuff, slow stuff, mixed material and fruital vocals in the typical Vincent way - and even some experimental and unusual things. The album - opener Dominate is the perfect song to kick off with as it's got a lot of power and aggression and it goes straight into Where The Slime Live, a more doomy-type track with incredible vocal effects, but still typical Morbid Angel. The most unusual song is probably Hatework, a really orchestral type track which was written by Eric Rutan. The guitar leads have become even more interesting now, as Eric Rutan's style is totally different from Trey's chaotic leads. All in all, this is the album nobody's probably expected and that they should have come up with after Blessed Are The Sick to dominate in the Death Metal scene." - 1996



Gateways - "(...) New standards have been set and all followers will have to compete with this masterpiece from now on."



Heretic - "(...) none of those tracks offers the same qualities that made MORBID ANGEL tunes so special in the past."



Leif Jensen wrote that people should copy the Laibach ep instead of buying it back in 1993. He didn't like it.

Reading Frank's killer 1996 MA interview in voices got me thinking. I should do an interview with Bill Kennedy about the creation of Domination. It would be killer to get his perspective on the album.

That would be cool indeed. I'd like to hear flemming his thoughts too.

[quote name="uni777"]That would be cool indeed. I'd like to hear flemming his thoughts too.[/quote]



I just wrote Bill. I really hope he'd be willing to do it. Flemming is living 20 mins from my place and I know his son personally. So that shouldn't be any problem. My good fellating lover Toke (singer of The Cleansing and Usipian) ate X mass dinner with the band during the recording of Covenant.

I visited Sweet Silence two years ago and saw all the old master tapes for Covenant and classics like Ride The Lightning. Was an incredible experience. They have lot's of photo's from all the sessions on the walls. Cool experience.

The only thing I remember Flemming saying about Morbid Angel was that "The band was extremely professional and they had an incredible drummer". He was used to spending months editing Lars drums the old school way though. So anything must have been better than compared to that haha.

Flemming did completely nail Pete's parts relative to the rest of the mix. In my mind World of Shit is the gold standard of blast production.

Illud has not aged to become a masterpiece.  Heretic has aged extremely well, but it is still let down by its song order and the instrumentals.

I recall "Covenant" was declared "instant masterpiece" in here (Chile, btw), Altars went through the same.

Well, Covenant is their most accessible, professional album for general metalheads.  Altars had that raw fresh energy to it with signs of what was to come.

[quote="User"]
Illud has not aged to become a masterpiece.
[/quote]
 
Why did I LOL just now

[quote="Drum Solo"]
Flemming did completely nail Pete's parts relative to the rest of the mix. In my mind World of Shit is the gold standard of blast production.
[/quote]
 
this post is old but god damn if it isn't the truth

[quote="User"]
Illud has not aged to become a masterpiece.  Heretic has aged extremely well, but it is still let down by its song order and the instrumentals.
[/quote]
this post is new but god damn if it isn't the truth

Here in The Netherlands, the leading and first metal mag Aardschok (since 1980) gave:
 
AOM a 10/10 rating, (in the same league as Left hand path)
BATS a 10/10 rating, (like a knife in your back)
C a 9/10 rating, (seen as a mixture between A + B)
D a 8,9/10 rating (seen as a consolidation of their past revolutions)
F a 95/100 rating and
GTA & H both a 90/100 rating.
IDI got a 30/100 rating
so their value was immediately recognized.

I'd say so