After the loss of the rather karismatic and capable frontman David Vincent, many myself included had doubts as to them finding a viable replacement, and I must admit while Steve Tucker's performance isn't a pile of shit it leaves me wishing for Vincent's distinct vocal lines, as they were definatly a part of the post "Abominations Of Desolation" charm of Morbid Angel. It particularly leaves me wanting because the music is in a way like a summery of "Altars Of Madness", "Blessed Are The Sick" and "Covenant" with the most emphasis on the middle album. But apart from the vocal department which is not bad but subpar for Morbid Angel, the music is quite back in their older ways after the unfortunate excursion that produced "Domination", but sadly a lot of the songs tend to blur out, as they are quite non distinct from each other, which is a shame as Morbid Angel is better than that. In the overall aspect I think this album did not deliver it's promise to neither side, as it did not turn out to be such a shit album as some had predicted and expected with the loss of a cornerstone, but neither delivered a fresh new energetic Morbid Angel due to the infusion of new blood. Somehow I have the feeling that the cutting off from an element that drew Morbid Angel in new paths which the others were perhaps not entirely pleased with, afterwards led them to indulge in their former selves as an elimination of the foreign elements inducer means they could keep it purely as they wished it to be, and they might have been overly enthusiastic about just that, perhaps this album was merely too soon for them, but I can see why they wanted to do it, as a monument of Morbid Angel's continued excistance, but it did not turn out to be the powerful statement that it could have been, and this album will for always to me be the mediocre Morbid Angel album...

© 2001 sharund