Dare I say it? I like it... oops

[Humwawa]

I'm an old school fan since the days of the 'Thy Kingdom Come'-EP and I fucking love this new album... (you're thinking 'what's wrong with you' right?). Well, it's about faith I guess. With all the commotion around this album, I was afraid they would actually let me down. But they didn't. At least not FOR ME!



I've listened to it for 3 days in its full, because I believe you don't judge on MA-songs individually. You just listen to the flow of the full album. That's what got me really hooked on Blessed, Domination and Formulas. They're the most adventurous journeys MA has undertaken. And this one really fits that row. It really flows, it surprises me, puts me in different moods and the hour is over before you know it.



Now, BEFORE YOU BASH ME TO HELL FOR LOVING THIS ALBUM, just think about some positive notes on the album. It may help you to approve of what they're doing with it. For me personally I'm especially hooked on these things:



- the soloing: some of the Lava is way more inspired and structured again. It reminds me somewhat of the Domination-era, where Trey really worked hard on floating his solos to the riffs. I think he kinda lost that on Heretic. Thor's solos are great too.

- the production and mix: very professional (definitely considering Heretic's mix) and still true to the sound of MA. It doesn't bother me the guitars are pushed to the back on the electro-songs because these songs are not about guitar shredding or great riffs. The guitars serve the song here and not vica versa.

- the vocals: I think David's vocals are great on this one. Great rhythmic phrasing on some of the songs (Too Extreme & Destructos for example). And I like his wide range of vocals/intonations, which is obviously a matter of taste.

- the electro-stuff: it just has great grooves on the part of the music. I think Trey's guitar wizardry comes in more subtle. They're more hidden treasures to be found, where as on previous records it was obvious the guitars really had to carry the song (definitely on the last 2 records). Serving the song was obviously their choice for this album and I think it shows best on the newer tracks



That’s just some of the stuff that does it for me. You obviously have to find out for yourselves, people. And if you really don’t like anything about it, then that’s a pity, I guess.



BTW, I agree with you guys on “I’m Morbid”. The traditional rock pattern doesn’t work for Morbid Angel. No discussion about it.

[vO)))id]

We're not thinking "What's wrong with you?", simply because everyones entitled to their opinions.

Unless your name is WTSL

[nihilisticgaz]

I listened to it today for the first time and I really like it! It's far from perfect, but I am interested to see where they go from here. I agree that the songs work better when you hear the flow of the album. Existo never really worked for me until I heard it in context. And of course it goes without saying that Radikult is a steaming pile of turds!



I am REALLY glad I held off on getting the box, I don't like it THAT much.

[Victor Frankenstein]

I've been listening to it for the last couple of days. The only weak part for me is the outro. I've always hated how english-speaking people pronounce latin so that is sounds like some french sewage system. I have no problems with electro parts, especially since there are some really cool riffs.

The lyrics are dumbed down, of course, but that's to each his own to interpret. Not everyone's a Byron. The message is more direct, and more clear. Yeah, "I'm Morbid" is cool also. I'm not sure how the fans are going to react if MA performs this ambiguous stuff live, but I'd like to hear it.



After initial revulsion a few weeks ago I like this stuff pretty much.

[Mr. P]

I've been listening to this album for three days now and I partly agree with Humwava on this one. I think most of this album is good and brilliant music however it has some moments which are really bad and do sound like two donkeys fucking mice. I do hope that these "techno-tracks" don't make their way to the live setlist or even don't get played as intro and outro (exception Omni Potens which I find brilliant, dark, mysterious and freaking good spine tingler bit) however Existo, Blades, 10 more and Nevermore I would definitely like to hear played on their live set list. Except Radikult I can dig most of the bits and pieces they recorded on this album. Even I am Morbid has some nice riffing but pre-chorus riffing and Chorus lyrics and vocal lines are something that, well this track is so obvious Radio Playlist hit song that MA has never done anything compared to it? With Radikult I think that these two tracks are the downpoint on this album. Radikult actually reminds me too much of Ministry.



I was not expecting this kind of approach with Techno-elements for MA album. Like most here, I guess, I was expecting musically something from C-F era with enhanced elements of electronic additions. But not so that the concept of songs would have been twisted to what came out.



I'm still waiting for the real CD to arrive. When you transfer music from CD to MP3 you lose some bitrate. I'm still hoping to find some new elements of techno from certain pieces of tracks.



Some other observations;

- Production is brilliant. It is very clear and well balanced in my mind. Way lot better then what Heretic was.

- David sounds great and they have compased those "low 'wohoo'-singing" vocals very well on songs. Like on the intro for example.

- Destructos is brilliant dance track \o/.

- Drumming is fucking brilliant on dm-tracks.

[Svartmetall]

I have to agree, I'm starting to really like it. Ripped it to MP3 and added the 'Destructos...' remix at the end to complete the thing, and have had the CD sat in the stereo almost since it arrived. I'd feared this was going to be MA's 'Cold Lake', an irredeemable disaster that had even the band themselves disowning it in short order and became a byword in shark-jumping for metal bands; but with each successive listening I'm becoming more and more convinced it's their 'Into The Pandemonium' - a bold experiment that wrong-foots even long-term fans of the band and many critics, but taken on its own merits works very well indeed. It's not the Morbid Angel I know and love, this is a new Morbid Angel - but that's not to say I won't come to love it anyway.



Currently 'Too Extreme!', 'Blades For Baal' and 'Destructos...' are my favourites (can't get 'Destructos...' out of my head, actually) with 'Radikult' and 'I Am Morbid' vying for the least-liked position. There's nothing actually wrong with 'Radikult' itself, I'm just finding it hard to get my head around it being on a Morbid Angel album; maybe it'll click into place as the rest of the album embeds itself. And 'I Am Morbid' sounds like a re-run of Judas Priest's 'Heavy Duty' to me, it just seems kind of plodding and obvious (and is it just me, or is the pre-chorus "We stand together..." bit a dead ringer for the "You're all invited to the party..." pre-chorus bit in Extreme's 'Get The Funk Out'...? ) - not terrible, but not up to the musical standards of what's on either side of the track. YMMV.



[quote name="Mr. P"]Radikult actually reminds me too much of Ministry.[/quote] To my ears, the groove is far more Zombie than Ministry, but I know what you mean. On a Ministry or Zombie album I'd be going 'great song, love it!' but on a Morbid Angel album I'm sort of going 'what the fuck?'...



That said, I'm far happier that they've taken some risks and tried something, because that shows there's more heart in the album than just a safe by-the-numbers death metal affair. Think about it - if Trey was on don't-really-care-anymore autopilot this would've been G or H Part two, and it most definitely isn't that...

[-M-]

I expected this album will be really bad, just because I didn't wanted to be disappointed. Than I heard 1:30 samples and I liked it since then. I loved IDI since first listening. I hope I'll get it in mail tomorrow. I really don't care about lyrics anymore, I've lost my interest in occult few years ago. I don't listen to metal as much as I used to, I prefer electronic music and weird remixes. IDI fits my music taste now.

[bob_here]

Here's an important question - and putting aside opinion:



To those who say "I thought this new album was going to disappoint me but it didn't."





What in the world then WOULD have disappointed you if this doesn't???

[Humwawa]

What in the world then WOULD have disappointed you if this doesn't???

Answer: an album on which they'd repeat their earlier material (like probably 90% of all death metal bands do).



Don't get me wrong, I also enjoy Bolt Thrower and Deicide. You know what you're buying and what to expect with them. But if Morbid Angel would've done that, it would've disappointed me in every way.

[bob_here]

What in the world then WOULD have disappointed you if this doesn't???

Answer: an album on which they'd repeat their earlier material (like probably 90% of all death metal bands do).



Don't get me wrong, I also enjoy Bolt Thrower and Deicide. You know what you're buying and what to expect with them. But if Morbid Angel would've done that, it would've disappointed me in every way.

Okay, but now it's about a question of values.



Do you like Morbid Angel or the fact that an entity does a "new" thing?

When something is "good", why do some human beings shun it in favor of "new"?



(These are general questions btw, not interrogation towards you. I think they are important questions and distinguish the allegience of values)

[Humwawa]

Do you like Morbid Angel or the fact that an entity does a "new" thing?

When something is "good", why do some human beings shun it in favor of "new"?

I feel you're insuating MA could for example make a shitty reggea-album with Death Metal vocals on it and I would still like it, although I HATE reggea. No matter what style Morbid Angel has come across, they always deliver quality music. That's not the problem it's the style which they deliver that is the discussion point here. Like I mentioned before, I don't like 'I am Morbid' because of the traditional rock style, but I can honestly say it is a well-performed and -written song.



Objectively 'Illud' is a great album with great songs.

Subjectively I just happen to like the style, you don't.

[vO)))id]

Disagreed.

Subjectively Illud is a great album with great songs.

Subjectively some like it others don't.



There is absolutely no objectivity present in music. Only on a basic musical-technicality level, not in taste.

[-M-]

What in the world then WOULD have disappointed you if this doesn't???

Answer: an album on which they'd repeat their earlier material (like probably 90% of all death metal bands do).

This.

[Drum Solo]

I partially agree with the OP in that there are redeeming qualities about the music, and a few songs/parts of songs are very catchy. But as a whole I just can't find anything that suggests indefinite replay value: a catchy riff here or there only goes so far, which is why I mostly ditched rock music to begin with a long time ago, only returning to it every now and then with the radio.



Btw, has anyone else noticed that "I am Morbid" almost sounds like a post-1995 Megadeth song? Starting at around the :50 mark I could definitely imagine Dave Mustaine singing those lyrics, and then the guitar progression at about 1:10 sounds like something Megadeth would do. Plus the sample of people chanting is right up their alley.



EDIT: the solo also sounds very, very Megadeth.

[bob_here]

Do you like Morbid Angel or the fact that an entity does a "new" thing?

When something is "good", why do some human beings shun it in favor of "new"?

I feel you're insuating MA could for example make a shitty reggea-album with Death Metal vocals on it and I would still like it, although I HATE reggea. No matter what style Morbid Angel has come across, they always deliver quality music. That's not the problem it's the style which they deliver that is the discussion point here. Like I mentioned before, I don't like 'I am Morbid' because of the traditional rock style, but I can honestly say it is a well-performed and -written song.



Objectively 'Illud' is a great album with great songs.

Subjectively I just happen to like the style, you don't.

I wasn't insuating that at all. I think you misunderstood what I was driving at which is not related to opinion or "subjectivity". Insert any foreign element from whatever genre and it is the same conclusion. It has to do with identifying something for what it is based on what it had set out to doand has done. MA has always been distinct with every album but every album builds upon that similiar foundation. You're getting the same structure, which is the structure that drew you in to begin with, withvariations. Without surprise, this retains the quality in identifying it for what it is: Morbid Angel. I mean it's becoming illogical to assume that something identifiable should be something else. I get it to a certain extent when the pseudo-new-age ideologies declare that an even has the meaning you give it. Ok fine, but we certainly don't give the identity of something we only interprete it. The finer points of that interpretation is "subjective" and personal as well any liking or disliking of it. But we don't exist in a vaccum where the external world doesn't impress upon us a "something" that gives rise to a collective and shared idea of identities; reocurrence to continue to identify it. To deny this as the foundation to life would mean one wakes up every day in literal chaos. This is completely not true. To take this element of identity and do whatever at your own whim and still try to label it just the same is absurd. That also signifies again that life is a free-for-all, wholly and that once more is not true. Most of the vibe and music and lyrics of the new MA would not even be identifiable without the given identitiy of the usual creators involved (trey, etc), that makes it easy. The "pushing the boundries" is tiring too, while it relegates itself to this absurdity of going beyond the identity of something but still calling it the same thing. Had they releasd this with a different moniker, I would've heard it and made my personal call about it and left it, that's it. But it is assuming the MA moniker and it's history and repertoire as its own and it's a misnomer at this point. Am i saying this is not what Trey is or what he feels geniunely? No, not at all. We can say it's all him! But the name and impression of "morbid Angel" is not this. Like it or not.



Liking this style has absolutely nothing to do with the error in identifying this as Morbid Angel, which is what my point is all about.

[TamPron]

For the most part, this record sounds like morbid angel, to these ears anyway.

[bob_here]

To that end I can't really debate what one thinks it sounds like. I can only say I am quite skeptical that it is being identified with unadulterated perception simply because of who is involved.

But more importantly the only objective proof not based on perception is the isolated nature of this album opposed to other works. I mean on that point anybody can agree on it. Whoever says it's

not totally different is on another planet. Therefore aside from my personal opinion that it isn't an MA album - and as an exemplar of the collective identification of things due to others simply feeling the same way - I must say based on all elements it is not an MA album.

[Victor Frankenstein]

[quote name="TranscendingMusic"]What in the world then WOULD have disappointed you if this doesn't??? [/quote]



Arnie not doing another comedy with Danny De Vito. My fingers are stil crossed.



Blades for Bale!!

[^_____________^]

I'm done arguing with people about the new record because it's an exercise in futility just like every other argument about anything ever

[Victor Frankenstein]

[quote name="^_____________^"]I'm done arguing with people about the new record because it's an exercise in futility just like every other argument about anything ever [/quote]



You're easily persuaded then.

[bob_here]

[quote name="Victor Frankenstein"]
[quote name="TranscendingMusic"]What in the world then WOULD have disappointed you if this doesn't??? [/quote]



Arnie not doing another comedy with Danny De Vito. My fingers are stil crossed.



Blades for Bale!! [/quote]





I wouldn't count on that comedy anytime soon





There are small parts here and there on this album that are reminiscent of MA but that's not what I like a band for. I like an album and band as a whole not like the top 100 charts culture where singles and one-offs rule. In the past we got fruital, aggressive, profound MA with additive experimentation as filler no less. Now it seems we get the opposite and bad mainstream versions of it!...

Like their previous work, I want to hear not only what makes MA as we know it MA but I want it consistent all throughout. This includes lyrics, themes, music of course, even image, and vibe.

[^_____________^]

[quote name="Victor Frankenstein"]
[quote name="^_____________^"]I'm done arguing with people about the new record because it's an exercise in futility just like every other argument about anything ever [/quote]



You're easily persuaded then. [/quote]

No, I just don't like having to repeat myself in different ways over and over again to explain a point I'm trying to make to someone who has decided to disagree with me no matter what before the discussion started.

[Abzu]

[quote name="TranscendingMusic"]To deny this as the foundation to life would mean one wakes up every day in literal chaos.[/quote]

:azagthoth:

[vO)))id]

[jawn galliano]

i kind of envy the people who are able to enjoy this album

[vO)))id]

[quote name="Derek Waters"]i kind of envy the people who are able to enjoy this album[/quote]



Me too

[Svartmetall]

Just think, if Trey's influences had been different it would have been 'Blues For Baal'...

[nihilisticgaz]

[quote name="TranscendingMusic"]Here's an important question - and putting aside opinion:



To those who say "I thought this new album was going to disappoint me but it didn't."





What in the world then WOULD have disappointed you if this doesn't??? [/quote]



Haha! Actually I am disappointed, crushed even. But I consider MA to be in the same group as Metallica now. While their new albums are enjoyable and quite good, they don't and never will match up to their previous efforts. Instead of being all down about it I prefer to move on with life and try and enjoy what I can with these albums. I completely understand/respect your views on this album, but personally I can find enough to enjoy and look forward to.



And to answer your other question, an album full of Radikults would have killed me

[bob_here]

I will admit right now that with Death Magnetic, I respected Metallica again. They actually gathered themselves, re-grouped, and focused to learn how to bring Metallica into a modern writing style

and imo they did it with DM. Of course they can't totally invoke the 80's stuff but at least they gave it an effort and made something geniune rather than resorting to gimmick and a mish mash of crap.

[nihilisticgaz]

Maybe this is Morbid's St Anger moment (clearing out the cobwebs), and the next one will be better? One can only hope I suppose, but for now I will enjoy IDI.