Customer Reviews

Entangled in Chaos

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This live album, recorded in London during Morbid Angel's "Domination" tour, has been something of an "unholy grail" for fans in the United States. Although released in England and Japan to critical acclaim, EIC was not promoted or advertised in the US, for reasons that obviously had more to do with distribution politics than the content or quality of the release. I was just lucky enough to stumble onto it in a local record store. As for the aforementioned quality, let's stop right there for a second. This is NOT a bootleg. The recording is remarkably clear and well-mixed. It is actually a better mix, in my opinion, than any of the studio albums that preceded it. The performances are great, too. Of note are the ways the older material has changed, particularly in Vincent's vocal delivery. The version of "Blood On My Hands" is almost hilarious in its jaw-dropping tempo and sickly smoothness through the transitions. Also worthy of special mention is "Day of Suffering", which absolutely raises the hair on the back of my neck. Whether you've just discovered Morbid Angel or have been a fan since the cradle, this is an excellent purchase. I especially recommend it because it has a great sampling of their material over the years this 'original' lineup of the band lasted. In my opinion, this is the best live album in the death-metal genre. I'm interested in reading what other people think about it. I was really surprised to be the first to post a review.

This is one of the best Metal live albums this Decade. This album is composed mostly of songs from Morbid's first three albums. As always the band's performance is phenominal. It kicks from beginning to end (RELENTLESS POWER OF THE ANCIENT ONES). If you like Death Metal then you need this. This release is comparable to live albums such as Iron Maiden's Live After Death(I am Not Kidding You This Is The Real Deal) or Slayer's Decade Of Agression. Trey, Pete, Dave ,and Eric Rutan gave live performances that are stunning amazing, and very difficult to match in intensity and is a benchmark for thier utter control of chaos. They have a New singer Steve Tucker. He is more guteral than Dave with more ephasis on power than effects that were present on Dave's Vocals. I've seen this version of Morbid 3 times live and they only got better. I also saw Morbid at one of the Domination tour (Same Tour this Album was recorded from)shows and it blew me away! Just Buy IT!

This live album saw the end of an era in Morbid Angel. Soon after "Entangled in chaos" and their last studio album "Domination" were released, front man singer and bass player David Vincent left the band, and Morbid Angel has not been the same since. It seemed that the spark of brilliance that surrounded the band since "Altars of madness" left with him. Steve Tucker has not been able to fill in David's shoes properly. I give him credit, he gives his best, but it's not the same, and not as good as David, who has a distinctive voice and a major presence, both in studio albums and this one, and their videos, of course. But the band never displayed the same fantastic song writing in their last albums. So, it's not all Steve's fault...

Back to this album, the live songs were taken from MA's 95/96 world tour. It doesn't say a specific date of recording, so I guessed the best recordings of the tour made it here; not only one show, but the best performances. The album can be taken also as a "Greatest Hits", `cause it has the best songs, or, at least, my favourites. The releasing of "Domination", and this album extracted from the "Domination" tour, didn't mean that it should have mostly songs from this album. You have the best. Eleven songs, from all albums. And it has no fillers, opening with "Immortal rites", the first song, from their debut album, and closes with "Dominate" the most brutal song an opener of "Domination", which I consider proper choices.

What can one say about the musicians performances? Excellent. All the songs perfectly executed, proving that they don't need the studio behind to reach such brilliant song play (they never did), and one after the other. They're humans after all! =)

If I had to mention low points in this release, I'd probably say the fact that you never hear David Vincent talking to the crowd, presenting the songs or introducing the musicians. You do listen to the crowd, but not David. Another point is that they stick to the original songs too much (except for a shorter version of "Blessed are the sick", which I find suitable), and didn't leave room for improvisation. I always like to listen to something different from the studio albums: interaction, improvisation, different arrangements, etc. Maybe more photos? More songs? I don't know. But these minor details didn't change my final opinion of the album. I believe that when this album was released they were not thinking in parting ways, only in documenting live a long and meaningful tour, and didn't give to this album the symbolic value that I think it really has.

Summing up, a great live album. Excellent performances and sound, and a better track list. Highly recommended. Morbid Angel at its best; one of the most influential and respected death metal bands. Too bad David is not in the band anymore.

I can not believe that each person that has reviewed this album gave it 5 stars. This is the only official Live Morbid Angel album which was recorded on their Domination tour. Having seen them live on this tour, and hearing this disc, it just leaves you wanting more.

Problems I have with this album:
1. From the first few notes of Immortal Rites, you can hear that Morbid Angel sounds a little sluggish. Listen to Lord of all Fevers and Plagues too; the guitars and drumming are slower and not as good as the original version.
2. David Vincents vocals. He left the band shortly after this tour, and it was obvious to anyone who was there, that he was no longer into the band or touring. His vocals on Domination were sub-standard, and the same applies here. It's like a watered down version of what David Vincent used to sound like.
3. Only 11 songs and 40 minutes ? Why did they cut the rest of the set list ?
4. They only play half of Chapel of Ghouls.
5. No God Of Emptiness (which they didnt play too much during this tour for some odd reason)

Even with all my bitching, I still enjoy listening to this album once in a while to hear classics like Maze of Torment, Dominate, and Rapture, etc... Its just that this album and tour marked the end of an era for Morbid Angel and to some extent death metal. It was obvious that David was no longer into the band or the music and it shows on this CD. All Morbid Angel fans should own this CD, but it fails to present one of the greatest death metal bands playing in its prime.

I bought this Morbid Angel CD because I saw them live back in 1993 and was blown away. When I saw them in concert they were only a three piece band. After some reasearch it seems that I caught them at a rare point when there was only 3 guys in the band touring. So I wanted to see if their live CD was as good as I remember the show being. The CD is good but not as impressive as I remembered. Of course being there live is going to better I guess than any CD can capture. Entangled in Chaos does present Morbid Angel on stage playing what amounts to a nice "best of" from them. The only Morbid Angels I have are this and Altars of Madness so I'm not exactly a die-hard Morbid A fan, but I love heavy metal and like I said they blew me away in concert years ago (it was the Covenant tour). The vocals on some death metal aren't really my thing - that goofy low growl... just seems silly to me sometimes. For example the band Death - great music but Chuck's vocals sometimes get on my nerves. Same with Morbid Angel - not as great music as the band Death but in that realm and similar deep growly vocals. Slayer and Megadeth are more my taste I guess. If you're "new" to Morbid Angel and want to check out one CD, I think this is a good one to get because it samples songs from several albums and you can hear how talented they are in a live setting they really do shine.

What we have here is the only Morbid Angel live album. Not only was this recorded during a transition era for the band (why didn't they record it two years earlier?), it was a time in which the band was changing their sound a little bit. "Entangled in Chaos" comes across as one of the most uninspired, least intense live albums ever from a metal band.

The opening track "Immortal Rites", the best Morbid Angel song in fact, is performed at the most sluggish pace. In fact, the only thing that is accurate about the song is Mr. Sandoval's double bass timing and stroke. Is that a flanger I hear Trey using on his guitar throughout the ENTIRE main verse? Yeah, they butchered that one. They changed the opening pace on "Lord of all Fevers and Plague" which is pretty cool because it actually makes the song more interesting as a whole. Trey makes the solos more interesting on this live album and that is probably the biggest treat of all. David Vincent's voice sucks here and I don't know why. It might have just reflected the times. His voice was awesome on "Altars" and "Blessed are the Sick" and it wasn't great on "Convenant" but it was indeed pretty awful on "Domination". Pete's drumming isn't great here, it is actually off on a lot of places but he more than makes up for it on the drum fills that he throws in at the last moment many of which differ substantially from album versions.

Maybe the biggest problem here is that Trey produced this and helped mix it down. Probably not the best idea. If you're a Morbid Angel fan you are probably going to buy this anyway, but be warned the band sounds like it is looking at the clock and is ready to exit the stage the entire time this live performance is being listened in on. It lacks the intesity of most of the album versions of the songs. Also there are some songs missing (why no "Fall from Grace"?) The best song performances are on "Lord of all Fevers and Plague", "Chapel of Ghouls", "Maze of Torment", and "Blood on my hands". Worth getting if you can get it for around $10.

As I listen to this album I shake my head slowly with sadness and incredulity ...

'cos I should've been there, in the crowd, at the moment ...

I've heard a lot of live albums (and live performances) and I find most of them disappointing 'cos I find that most bands just ain't up to putting across their studio work live ...

No worries with this band though ... incredible performances ... dedication, commitment and technical prowess ... in fact, it's hard to believe that it is a live album!

Just buy it and turn the f*****g volume up. It's the f*****g biz! OK!!

P.S. Also great live - Cryptopsy, Dying Fetus and Madonna (just kidding)

On tour in support of their fourth major studio album, Domination, Morbid Angel play songs from Altars of Madness, Blessed are the Sick, Covenant, and Dominate. This is MA's last album with the excellent David Vincent, but trust me, who sings for these guys is irrelevant. The band is all about the twin pillars of unholy death metal: Pete "the Commando" Sandoval on drums, and the incomparable genius of guitar, the MAN, Trey Azagthoth. (Erik Rutan, who plays the second guitar on this tour, is a brilliant guitarist, too, don't get me wrong, but he hasn't been around since the beginning like the other two.)

It's everything you want in a death metal live album: great production, brilliant songs, no weaknesses, unlike the horribly disappointing, bad-sounding Monkeypuss - Live In London album from Entombed.

This is a fantastic live death metal album. Buy it ASAP.

This is another great Morbid Angel release to add to my collection. I never throught that I would ever have this album. It's almost impossible to get it here in the states along with Abomination Of Desolations and The Laibach Remixes for that matter. Europe, Japan and other countries overseas always get the good stuff while we in the US get left out in the cold. Luckly, I ordered this CD in the mail from the Century Media catalog and it came in. When I got it, I popped it in and it delivered.

First, before we go on, lets shed some light on an important subject so there is no confusion. Domination is the last studio album with David Vincent and Eric Rutan (Hate Eternal) in the band but this album is actualy the last release with Dave and Eric has part of the line-up. After this, David goes on to join The Genitorturors which features his wife Gen. Just in case anyone is wondering what that band sounds like, they sound a little like Nine Inch Nails. As for Eric, this will not nessasarily be his last time in the band. He will not join the band on Formulas Fatal To The Flesh but he will join again on Gateways To Annihilation which will be the album after Formulas.

Now for my review. This is Morbid Angel's first live album. It features the Domaination line-up because it was done on the Domination tour I believe but the album is definitely before Formulas Fatal To The Flash. So the line up, as it is, along with Dave on board goes out with a bang. The sound and production here are killer. The performances live up to the title of the album. So what you will hear is everything the makes Morbid Angl who they are. That includes a whole lot of aggression, heaviness, brutality, darkness and bassically everything taken to the extreme. The material spands the band's history from Domaination all the way back to Alters Of Madness. So the songs that you see on the tracklisting are pretty much what you get. However, those versions on this live album are just as killer as the originals. So there's really nothing to complain about except for what happens on Chapel Of Ghouls. The song goes through that brief intrimental part and instead of going to the part that goes "Demons - attack with hate...", the chorus and the end of the song, it goes directly into Maze Of Torment. Despite this little setback, everything rules. Some of the favorite songs here are Immortal Rites, Blasphemy Of The Holy Ghost, Lord Of All Fevers And Plague, Blassed Are The Sick, Day Of Suffering, Blood On My Hards and Dominate. Buy the album and experience the chaos.

To the guy who wrote the review april 7.
David is back I saw morbid angel with soulfly and the show was awesome! They played lots of classics! oh yeah really good live cd.