Morbid Angel

[death metal black metal]

I like these user reviews.

Here's another:

http://www.anus.com/etc/visions/kontinual

[MetalMilitia]

I prefer their demos and debut, over anything that came later.

[Stranger]

Gateways to Annihilation is too often overlooked. It's not as good as their earlier albums, but it is a very professional effort. Excellent musicianship. Just listen to the drumming, it's very technical.

[Death]

The first three Morbid Angel albums are great. Covenant for some reason gets a lot of criticism in "elitist" circles, probably due to its popularity, because it is a killer album. Does anyone else like Formulas Fatal to the Flesh? Personally, it's my favourite after the Altars of Madness/Blessed are the Sick/Covenant trinity.

[kontinual]

Does anyone else like Formulas Fatal to the Flesh? Personally, it's my favourite after the Altars of Madness/Blessed are the Sick/Covenant trinity.

I do, but nothing after that.  There was a brief glimmer of hope there...

[death metal black metal]

...it was an improvement after "Domination," but "Far Beyond Heretic" was a terrible reversion to the same dung-minded outlook.

[Arctic Sun]

Linked below is some interesting footage of Morbid Angel rehearsing in '87.

Unholy Blasphemies & Immortal Rites
Chapel of Gouls & Damnation
Damnation & Bleed for the Devil

Damnation sounds quite a bit different, and it's pretty amazing how much their sound advanced with the addition of Pete Sandoval.  There's also a dog that wanders onto the stage and lays down at one point.

[Arctic Sun]

A colleague recently went wide-eyed when I mentioned that Morbid Angel Played "The Lions Den" live a few years
back.  I've always enjoyed the track, but after watching and listening to it closely I noticed how "Morbid Angel" it is in that quirky - yet oddly subtle- and angular manner.  In this case there's an "It wants to be fast but it isn't" slant, as sonic breadth abounds.

Overall it's underrated, especially considering how it gels with the album's production.  The choppy drum-work at the end is also worth mentioning seeing as how it tastefully juxtaposes the dense intro to "Blood on my Hands."  I just don't get how so many up and coming bands miss such obvious tactics to brighten their material.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PcLlnMpuEIk (amateur's take)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uznAtrpCwT0 (the real thing, but you have it anyway)

[radiant=ANIME WITCHES]

The Lion's Den is a great song and probably my second favorite off Covenant. The riffs in that album seem a lot simpler rhythmically than their previous material, with a powerful forward drive, but you're right that there's always that bizarre, angular Morbid Angel feel underlying every riff. Classic band, it's somewhat amazing (and a bit sad) how far ahead of 99% of modern metal bands they are/.

[Nightspirit]

an interesting fact which I only learned recently about this song is that Vincent actually sings "untermensch" (underman) after "human shit" in the third stanza.

Man, this was probably the coolest little easter-egg brought to my attention in quite some time. It's funny how one word can hold so much power that it completely accelerates the excitement I will feel now when that song starts playing.

I'm not surprised David Vincent didn't want to publish that word. The rumor mill is overflowing with stuff on that guy. Accusations of being a donating member to the National Alliance to being a full-blown Neo-Nazi is probably why he would want to steer clear of things like that.

Also, wasn't Covenant first put out by Warner Brother's? Mine says it was put out by Giant but that may be a sub division of WB, or maybe they're owned by WB. Surly such a respectable, well-esteemed company would edit that word out when reviewing the lyrical content no?