Metal Riot

Morbid Angel are back, reunited with Steve Tucker, death metal and a proper respect for the elder tentacle gods. The Morbid Disco of Illud Divinum Insanus and David Vincent are nowhere in sight and the band sound evil, fired up and hungry to recapture the death metal crown.

I don’t begrudge a band experimentation, but Morbid Angel had a near flawless legacy of album after solid death metal album. Illud just effed with that way too much and some of the vocals were just…how do I say this…goofy, hot garbage. Steve Tucker understands what the guys who made Illud let themselves forget, that while there are many bands influenced by Morbid Angel (Gojira prominently come to mind), there is no one who can BE Morbid Angel quite like the Morbid Angel. You can take the David Vincent out but I Am Morbid should take note that you can’t really do it without Trey Azagthoth. It just won’t have the same feel.  We have Igorr, Zeal & Ardor, lapis exilis or any number of all over the place stylistically bands in the underground but Morbid Angel are a precious well of slime that can not be replaced. I think about Jay Z telling people to buy his old albums if people want that him, but with Morbid Angel or Slayer it is just different. It just feels wrong when they stray too far somehow, haha.

Anyway, Kingdoms Disdained is incredibly enjoyable. Opening with the shifting and double bass heavy “Piles Of Little Arms”, the band are off to the races. The song title is almost too death metal, like a borderline early Cannibal Corpse title, but the group clearly want to prove they are back at it with no funny business.

The drums are kind of loud in the mix in places but there is a very present yet dirty quality to the bass and guitars. Rutan knocked it out of the park and he knows Morbid Angel, for sure.  Much like he has done with Goatwhore and Agnostic Front or other bands, Rutan captures their strengths and core sound and brings it up front and center to great organic result.

So, the guitar work? The first outro solo at 3:32 is brief but definitely opens a chaos portal and sets up second slogger “D.E.A.D.” awesomely. “D.E.A.D.” has CRAZY riffage, really inspired stuff from Trey that climbs the walls and will make you stare with eyes wide and mouth open at the stereo or computer scarcely believing the structure. “Garden Of Disdain” opens with a lightning fast attack before crashing into a classic mid tempo gnarly crawl riff the way only Morbid Angel can really do it. It is as heavy or heavier than anything on Blessed Are The Sick or Formulas.

While the cover art made me scared they were going to go in some modern technical death direction, the record is very old school. “Paradigms Warped” has the sort of brutal heft that lifts you out of your skin which I crave from Morbid Angel, whether they are blasting you with speed or crushing you to dust. This song falls mostly on the latter side of the spectrum, a trudge through bloody mud towards a black hole swallowing cities as double bass reigns wild. There is also some great slow and muscular bass that is quite prominent through a dissonant chordal section. “For No Master” really lets Scotty Fuller prove his worth on drums, holding down the speed and tom action stupendously. I would say this album is better than Heretic and very close if not equal to Gateways, but it is also really fresh and so far I have loved every second of it.

I don’t want to spoil the awesome finale track, but suffice to say it rips your head off and you know the Gods have returned.

A reminder that tech death maestros Archspire, which placed at #14 on Billboard’s Heatseekers chart, will embark on the “Bloodletting North America XI” tour later this month.  The Kennedy Veil, Origin and a slew of other bands are also on the package.

A full list of confirmed tour dates and the music for “Involuntary Doppelgänger” can be found below.

Obscura have a Cosmogenesis vinyl reissue coming out if you would like to get lost in some insane tech death for an afternoon or several. Let’s get blazed and by the time you are chilled out from a good batch of Obscura action I will let you know if I scored a highlight clip reel of Keeping Up With The Kardashians with the music of Keep Of Kalessin to create…Keep Of Kardashian‘s first unofficial music video! Sorry, I’m wilin’ out.

This re-issue looks kick ass and should ship near the end of the month. Pre Order HERE.

On November 3rd, kings of death metal Cannibal Corpse will release their 14th full-length, Red Before Black, via Metal Blade Records. This is their best album title in awhile. A Skeletal Domain was cool and all but the cover art was more haunting and didn’t really give the sense of mayhem as well as this cover. The title Red Before Black also just sounds like it is gonna be classic while having more imagination than, say, KILL. Hahaha.

For a first preview of Red Before Black, the band has launched a video for the single, “Code of the Slashers”. Directed by Zev Deans (www.panoramaprogramming.com – who created videos for Behemoth‘s “Messe Noire”, Ghost‘s “Square Hammer”, Portal‘s “Curtain”), “Code of the Slashers” can be viewed at: metalblade.com/cannibalcorpse

TW: Sexual assault, scene idiot fans.

So, I have been a Decapitated fan for years and was really looking forward to covering their NYC show next week. I was on the guest list and have several of their records and was stoked. Do you think that my primary concern upon hearing that the band are accused of gang rape is that I hope it is not true and their career is not maligned? No.

If your first response upon hearing a fan say they were assaulted is to automatically discount them because you like the art of someone who is also human and capable of being very flawed or massively fucking up as many humans throughout history have proven (trust me – some VERY popular bands are major liars), if your first response is to knee jerk call the accuser a slut or groupie or liar, if your first response is to go buy merch from the band to prove you believe in them no matter what (see As I Lay Dying fans after Tim’s arrest), perhaps your priorities are super fucked up? Yes.

More BELOW.

Winnipeg tech death band Inverted Serenity have a new song out today called “We Who Wander” that you can check out HERE at The New Fury blog. It is a blur of speed, well executed and precise death metal, tricky melodic instrumental passages and even a sleazy guitar solo moment or two amidst the progressive and straight up newer tech death metal influences. Fans of everything from the skillful insanity of Augury, Beyond Creation or Decrepit Birth to the prog touched inspiration of Circuitry or Fallujah can find aspects to enjoy. Pre Order As Spectres Wither , their new album HERE (it is out early October and has cool and not cliché cover art.

Inverted Serenity member Marc had this to say about today’s song premiere for “We Who Wander”:

“What provoked the lyrics for “We Who Wander” was the frustration I felt after someone told me I would “grow up and play country some day”. Of course, their condescension ticked me off, but as I reflected on that statement more and more it was this person’s lack of passion and understanding for art that bothered me more. There isn’t much that is more subjective than art. Every art form is as valid as the next. You can’t tell someone what can and can’t inspire them, especially if you aren’t inspired by anything yourself. If it’s unorthodox to play death metal, so be it. There’s nothing wrong with defying convention from time to time. But if “growing up” means suppressing passions and abandoning any creative thought that crosses my mind, I’d much rather wander in immaturity than conform to whatever bland existence is deemed more admirable.”