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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
very good despite the problems, February 24, 2004
Morbid Angel are about as close to a solid institution as their genre has ever had. Guitarist/leader Trey Azagthoth writes pounding and uncompromising music without making it stale and formulaic. Drummer Pete Sandoval is nothing short of legendary--the best in the business. It says quite a bit about them that their new releases generate a "buzz" at all like this one, especially considering how small a market the extreme metal business is.
Azagthoth's biggest flaw is in his ego. Extraordinary bassist/vocalist David Vincent was forced out of the songwriting equation and soon left the band in the late nineties, which hurt their music. Later, clashes with new bassist/vocalist Steve Tucker caused him to leave the band, and exceptional second guitarist Erik Rutan left for more musical freedom with his own outfit "Hate Eternal." Azagthoth can rail all he likes about how Morbid Angel is "his" band (he's certainly done it enough) but the results of such problems are never good-- one man exerting all the control damages the chemistry in the music.
Azagthoth's excesses are on full display here, but it doesn't destroy the album as it did in "Formulas Fatal to the Flesh." The mix makes the recently re-acquired Tucker's bass barely audible, which was a poor decision, especially if it was the slight to Tucker that it seems to be. The album is short on songs-- only seven or eight real, full ones over the whole of both discs. Azagthoth tries to make up for this in two ways: weak original intrumentals on the first disc, which are pure filler (aside from Sandoval's drum track) and by loading the discs full of self-indulgent bonus tracks of either his solos all by themselves or the songs of the album with the bass and vocals entirely removed.
It's egomania at its worst, but the album still works! The production by long time band associate Juan "Punchy" Gonzales is unusual but fits the music. It's a fresh and raw new direction from "Gateways to Annihilation" and its sometimes overly smooth sound. It really brings out a new layer in Azagthoth's style of guitar-playing. Sandoval's drumming (including a welcome solo track) is simply incredible. The instrumentals on the bonus disc may be hubristic, but they are worth having simply for the beautiful interplay of Azagthoth's guitars and Sandoval's drums. These guys are simply too good to ignore.
The actual songs on the first disc are almost all very good. Tucker creatively weaves his vocals into the music-- it helps the album chemistry quite a bit and makes him stand out from the run of the mill growlers that populate death metal music. The only vocal drawbacks are when Azagthoth attempts to add his own voice-- Tucker just makes him sound awful by comparison. Knock it off, Trey and stick to guitars-- you don't have the vocal chops. Azagthoth and Sandoval otherwise are excellent in their performances. The bass is MIA, but great tunes like "Enshrined By Grace" and "Praise the Strength" can almost make you forget about it.
"Formulas" shook my faith in this group and "Gateways" only partially restored some of it-- "Heretic" brings it back in force even if Azagthoth is playing the tyrant.
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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
different, September 24, 2003
MA have been my favorite band in the world since I first heard them in 1990. Their first few albums were some of the most mind-blowing recordings ever, and established the benchmark that all other extreme metal bands aspired to, but somehow couldn't reach or surpass.....until lately. I've listened to this new album probably 4 times since yesterday, and the bonus disc once. Maybe I should have waiting a few weeks before reviewing it, because every new album this band puts out always sounds weird to me at first, but then over the course of a few weeks it grows on me like a fungus and I become addicted to it. Here's my thoughts right now: It reminds me most of the Formulas...album. The songwriting style on this album sees the band returning to their more chaotic, technical side. If you've followed this band's career as I have, this was to be expected. This band seems to alternate from a chaotic, technical album to a slower, more sludgy one and back again. It seems that Altars..., Covenant, Formulas..., and now Heretic have all had a more up-tempo, whirlwind frenzy mood while Blessed..., Domination, and Gateways... have taken on more of a slimy, creeping pestilence kind of feel. All albums are equally brutal, however, and even the slower albums still contain fast songs here and there, and vice versa. Another reason it reminds me of "Formulas" is because the band is back as a three piece, and they've chosen the end of the album to place a series of soundscapes, drum tracks, and other assorted quirky stuff, just like they did on Formulas. Heretic also has a bonus disc similar to Love of Lava which came bundled with Formulas, and it contains a collection of unmixed Heretic tracks with no vocals on them and some of Trey's guitar solos at the end. Why the band chose to include this, and hence jack up the retail price of the cd I do not know. Maybe they thought there weren't enough death metal karaoke cds:) It also makes me wonder why they decided to put the track "Born Again" on the main disc. This track is the guitar solo pulled from the song "Secured Limitations" from their "Gateways..." album. It would fit right in on the bonus disc. Strange why they would put it on the main disc.
The reason I make the remark "until lately" above is because of this. Morbid Angel have always been about doing their own thing and ignoring trends, pressure to conform, etc., but when I think of this disc next to some of the offerings from younger, fresher bands that are around today, I can't help but feel this disc doesn't jump out and grab me the way some of the more recent stuff from Hate Eternal, Vader, Diabolic, etc. does. It's technically brilliant as always, and their performance of the material is flawless. It has all their signature elements, and Steve Tucker's voice is constantly improving from his "Formulas.." debut (although a little too low in the mix this time), so maybe it will grow on me. I just can't find a song right now that I want to keep coming back to, but I'll give it more time. Right now it just sounds unfocused to me, and the riffs, although creative, don't really sound memorable or catchy.
From reading the liner notes, I get the impression that MA are a more happier, fun-loving band these days. This is certainly evident from the song "Drum Check", which is a two minute drum solo where the engineer tells Pete "Can I hear your kick drum, please?" so he can get a level, and Pete hits it an few times, and then launches into a percussive frenzy for two minutes before finally calming down, to which the engineer, who has been waiting very patiently, calmly says "Ok Pete, Now can I just hear your kick drum please?" The band really seems to be having fun these days, with Trey talking all about his Quake 3 clan and being all into Tony Robbins and inner peace and stuff, but to be honest, I like their music better when they're ticked off.
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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Morbid Angel Still In The Game, November 28, 2003
I have been M.A. fan since Altars, quite frankly I was losing faith in these guys since Domination. That album,with the exception of a few cuts just lacked something. Formulas was a good album, but it had it's share of bummers as well. Gateways was decent, had a couple of choice numbers but was still below par for these guys. I liked Tucker's vocal work (better than Domination) but I thought he just didn't cut it. Well he changed my mind with Heretic. No more monotone vocals...all the colors from Blessed are back! He did a hell of a job laying down the vocals for this album. Excellent inflections pepper every passage making it one of thier better better vocal albums. The music? What an improvement from the uni-tempo drone of Gateways. All the dynamics are back with musicality that rivals Blessed (my favorite album). The polrythmic riffs are extremely creative and memorable. This is definitely some of Trey's most inspired work, I also love the found tonal attack of his guitar. Pete is at the top of his game also, he hasn't played like this since Covenant. My only quarrel is the lack of bass presence, only a minor quibble. This is Morbid Angels second breath!! They have me eagerly awaiting thier next album instead of dreading it (fearing they would tarnish their rep.). Heretic stands as one Morbid Angel's best albums to date...an absolute brilliant comeback!!!!!
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