Customer Reviews

Formulas Fatal to the Flesh

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I'll admit, I put off buying this for a while. The lack ofDavid Vincent (Now with the Genitortures) scared me a bit, but itwasn't well founded. Steve Tucker does a great job on vocals. This CD is quite diverse. It has 14 tracks, but 5 of them are instramentals. The 9 death metal songs are all pretty much in the same vein, the standouts being "Nothing Is Not" (Crushingly heavy with a killer intro) and "Umulamarhi". The songs are a great mess of downtuned to pluck guitars, machine gun double bass drumming, and solo's from the man himself, Trey Azagthoth. He has taken the helm of this band, writing the majority of the songs, producing the album, and even doing vocals on "Invocation of the Continual One." This is a departure from the earlier M.A. albums, not as sludgy as Domination, but not as clear as Blessed are the Sick. Morbid Angel are still the leaders of Death Metal, but they could have added another song or two to this. Highlights: "Nothing is Not" "Umulmarhi" and "Invocation of the Continual One." END

I like this album so darn much I've put off reviewing it for a while because I'm not sure I can do it justice, but here goes. Morbid Angel were my first death metal band, and after more than a year of listening to the genre they're still my favorite. It seems on every album they manage to deliver with flair, innovation, and of course, mind-blowing musicianship. "FFF" showcases the band in fine form.
One aspect of this album that jumps right out is its speed. Right from the beginning of the classic "Heaving Earth," it's evident that "FFF" is going to be a speed-oriented album. However, this is not to imply that it is in any way one-dimensional, as the first three tracks wind their way through a dizzying amount of tempo changes. The changes are often somewhat subtle, but each of these songs ranges from midtempo to kind of fast to really freaking fast, keeping things from ever getting monotonous. However, "FFF" in my opinion really hits its peak on slower, more groove-oriented songs like "Nothing is Not" and "Invocation of the Continual One." These two songs each feature absolutely crushing riffs from Trey Azagthoth, guaranteed to get your head banging in no time.
Another noteworthy element of "FFF" is its production. It's thicker than molasses, perfectly matching Trey's heavy, downtuned riffs. Now while the riffs here may be way downtuned, Trey does a lot more with them than anyone has any right to expect. While downtuned riffs have been a staple of death metal since the genre was pioneered way back when, I don't think I've ever heard them played with such speed and precision. Not to mention the fact that Trey throws in plenty of harmonics and fast, distorted solos that will make your head spin. I don't know the technical jargon for what he does, but I do know that it sounds pretty damn cool.
Almost as impressive as Trey's guitar work is the fact that no matter what he does, Pete Sandoval mangages to keep up with him on the drum kit. Sometimes he pummels away with typical death-metal intensity, sometimes he goes with a faster tap-tap-tap style to keep pace on the speedier sections. Steve Tucker was new to the band on this album, but his vicious growl makes him sound right at home. His bass isn't much of a presence, but this band still has one of the tightest sounds to come out of the metal genre. If you haven't heard this album, you're really missing something.

This is one of my favorite Morbid Angel albums in my collection. I bought it sometime in the summer of 1998. Before the release of the album, the band was under a lot of heat. They were no longer with Giant Records but the band was back on Earache Records. This was the label that distributed their first 2 albums which are Alters Of Madnes and Blessed Are The Sick. I know I have not said this before but Domination was the last album that the band released on Giant. After that, they resigned with Earache and released the live Entangled In Chaos album but on the labal. After that, second guitarist Eric Rutan had left to form Hate Eternal as well as other projects and longtime bassist, vocalist and frontment David Vincent went on to join The Genotorturers. This left the band as Trey Azagthoth and Pete Sandoval. Many people said at the time that the band was finished. However, the band still continued. So they recruited Steve Tucker as new bassist, vocalist and frontman but the band stayed as a 3-piece. Anyway, they went into the studio and recorded a masterpiece of an album together and it surely delivered.

Now on with my review. With this album, it is a totally new direction for the band but at the same, they retain all the elements that have made them who they are as a band. Especially on this album because those elements have been delivered more severely than they ever had before but with the edition of newer elements. I mean this is a statement album. The lyrics demonstrate where the band is coming from emontionally, spiritually, dogmatically, conceptually, consciously and mentally. The music however is multi-dimensional. You still have songs with killer riffs, harsh vocals, thunderous bass, solos and blast beats but lets also not forget that some of the songs are speedy, medium-pace, slow or they are just a combination of 2 or all of them. Some of the songs have harmonies, melodies, keyboards and just incredable song arrangements. The others are instrimentals. Most of them have classical influences while others consist of drum arrangements, keyboards and haunting and at times, beautiful musical passages. So with this album, the listener will know who the band is on all sides with nothing missing. So this is a mandatory purchase especially for people like myself who love death metal with an overall amount of talent, potential, dynamics, creativity and unlimited, incredible musicianship. Some of my favorite songs here are Heaving Earth, Prayer Of Hatred, Nothing Is Not, Hellspawn: The Rebirth, Hymnos Rituales De Guera, Hymn To A Gas Giant and Invocation Of The Continual One which is the best song on the whole album as well as my favorite. That song has the potential of blowing just about anyone away if given half the chance. So buy this album and taste the formulas that destroy the flesh.

After losing main man David Vincent to the Genitorturers, Morbid Angel storms ahead with hurricane fury and viciousness on FFTF.

From the opening bars of 'Heaving Earth' and to the last measures of 'Trooper', the listener is swept away with blistering/smoldering drumming, bass and guitars that drip with emotive power, choatic time signatures, and vocals that *finally* deliver!

This album contains absolutely no filler-like Morbid's previous two studio albums. Consider this the perfected follow up to their amazing 'Blessed Are The Sick' album.

For the guitar afficionados, buy this CD with the 'Lava of Love' disc; it contains all the isolated guitars solos(+) from this album.

David WHO?

Since I wrote a review of "Gateways," and I actually like FFF better, I felt like I should at least write a few words about this one. I also have albums "A,B,G,&H" (dumped the overrated "Covenant"), and I feel that "Formulas" is Morbid Angel's best all around album, as well as their fastest and tightest ("Blessed" is my second favorite). It sounds to me like maybe Vincent's departure may have actually "opened things up" for the band a bit, and despite some other reviewers' protestations here, I don't hear a decline in quality with Tucker at all... it's really amazing that they could produce such a good album after such a major personnel change. Even if you are an "old school" MA/DM fan, I can't really see why you wouldn't like this album.

As far as the more "progressive" tracks go, what's the big deal? Just program them out if you don't like them, and you've still got over 42 minutes (like 50% longer than Reign in Blood, right there) of excellent death metal. The epic, "Invocation of the Continual One" is a nearly ten minute riff-fest, and one of my all time favorite slabs of metal, in any "sub-genre." Even if the rest of the album weren't good, this is one of the rare cases where one song could make the album a "keeper."

Dude--if you like death metal, you should purchase Formulas Fatal To The Flesh immediately if you dont already own it. FFTTF is Morbid Angel's most sonically brutal and fast album to date. Trey wrote all of the songs and lyrics on this record, too. This CD also features the new singer, Steve Tucker, who is in my opinion much better than David Vincent's Domination performance. His growls are deeper more brutal and all around just better sounding than David Vincent's were. Trey definately doesnt let us down with insane down tuned and sludgy guitar. FFTTF retains the sludginess of Domination while picking up the tempo and technicality. Pete sandovals drumwork is amazing. he is the god of extreme metal drumming. nuff said. While not being as groovy as Gateways, or not as sludgy as Domination, FFTTF is a perfect death metal album.

This was a monumental release for Morbid Angel in many ways; first and most recognized is the fact that this is the first release without David Vincent and the introduction of Steve Tucker handling the vocals and Bass guitar. FFF also served as a means by which the "Domination" fans could be separated from the "true" MA fans. FFF is a throwback to the days of such classics as "Altars of Madness" and "Blessed are the Sick". The fact that Steve Tucker has replaced David Vincent shouldn't alienate the true MA fans, seeing that MA is, always has been, and always will be Trey's band. FFF showcased him regaining the control and vision of Morbid Angel that was slighted in "Domination".This album is classic MA.

Fomulas Fatal to the Flesh killed me when i first heard it.It took me time to adjust to the fact that David Vincent is no longer singing with Trey and the boys,but Steve Tucker is a great new addition to the Morbid crew.He has a more brutal voice than David Vincent.The music is also more brutal than Morbid Angel's earlier work.The opening track,Heaving Earth,is a perfect opening song cause it gets you right off your ass.It even has Tucker singing in Sumerian.Most of the tracks have something to do with Sumerian mythology and prasing the Ancient Ones.(Chthhulhu,Absu,Amah-Ushumgal-Anna)Prayer of Hatred,Nothing Is Not,Invocation of the Continual One are the stand out tracks on this album.All death metal fans should buy this album....

Bow down to Trey Azagthoth, he is tres good!!!!! Few bands match their ability to create memorable songs, except maybe Sinister, Mortus Terror, and Carcass...

The song covenant of death has the fastest blast beat ever- literally. Other drummers blast extremly fast but cheat and use 2 feet, each moving at half snare speed. sandoval uses 1 foot- i have seen him do it live. the last part of this album does get a little boring but the real songs present absolutely crush