The Angry Scotsman *cracks knuckles*

Oh man, where to begin with this one?

Well, this was the first Morbid Angel release in 8 years, and the first to feature classic member David Vincent in 16 years. So there was quite a lot of buzz throughout the metal world about it. The first thing I heard about it was on the cover of a magazine at my record store, before the CD released, calling it the band's "most controversial" album yet. I assumed it would be lyrically controversial, but as it turned out the music was the culprit. "Illud Divinum Insanus" is a radical departure from the band's discog, and was quickly hailed as "the new St Anger". While I, kind of, enjoy that album I get the comparison: This album was a colossal let down and "WTF?" for fans. Though while St Anger may be reviled by fans, at least you can see what Metallica was trying to do..."Illud Divinum Insanus" left us stumped even there.

So almost one year later, all the dust has settled and I can get to my review. It's terrible. Now I will say, I am not really a fan of Morbid Angel or most death metal in general, which allows me a pretty impartial listen. Since it's not really my cup of tea, another Morbid Angel death metal album would have almost certainly gotten a 2 by default, (at the lowest). This is worse though...as a metal fan in general this album is just heinous.

There is death metal to be found, more than it may seem from some reviews, but there are dives into industrial metal, as well as nu metal and frankly the death metal that is present just sounds like crud. The production is terrible, the guitars sound low in the mix and just not very good. The drums sound like absolute crap, I thought it was done by drum programming at first...really I was shocked to see a human played them. The vocals are pretty bad. So even if there are good death metal songs here, I'd still be turned off by how poor they sound. Of course, being death metal, they are bland anyway.

"Omni Potens" starts the album and it's actually kind of cool. Synths and militaristic drumming gives it a real dark tone, backed by some campy sounding tribal chants and random yells.

Sadly, the fun intro kicks right into the mess. "Too Extreme" starts with a painfully simple riff and single note drum hits. Really, it's the playing of an 11 year old hitting the bass, snare and tom all at once over and over. This continues for most of the song with an industrial style noise and sample repeated throughout. It's boring, very boring. Forget how laughable it is. There's a reason industrial metal doesn't appeal to me and that's how repetitive and dull it is. The drums sound atrocious.

"Existo Vulgore" starts a bit of a throwback, and while it's good to see the band hasn't lost its musical skill, it's still bland. Extreme metal song, but again the guitar and drums sound so bad and the vocals seem to be a parody of death metal itself at times. Maybe death metal fans will like it, but others wont...it's very repetitive and boring. Solo is cool.

"Blades for Baal" is more of the same, and seems to be one of the highlights for MA fans. Straight up death metal, in all it's double bass, blast beat glory. Again it sounds horrid as do the vocals and is dull for me.

"I Am Morbid" starts off with a groovy riff, and isn't too bad. The same problems sneak up though, boring and crap vocals, and it's unrelenting with both.

"10 More Dead" is one of the better songs, as it builds from a groovy riff to thrashing death metal and blazing solos. Can't say I like this song, but it's tolerable.

"Destructos vs. the Earth / Attack" well we're back to industrial metal, like that name didn't imply it? More laughably simple riffs and drumming ensue for almost the entire 7 minutes and 15 seconds. I'm tired of hearing all those single note drum slams.

"Nevermore" this song was released early as a single, but more like a cruel joke...it's one of the more "normal" Morbid Angel style songs. Surely, fans must've heard this with some hope, just to be let down when hearing all of IDI. Standard death metal song, should be enjoyed by fans of such. As usual it doesn't do much for me thanks to its unrelenting nature, machine like chains of double bass and tremolo picking. For MA and death metal fans though, another of the "highlights".

"Beauty Meets Beast" simple, repetitive, boring, terrible sound. Next.

"Radikult" this song became the joke of the internet, and rightfully so as it's the most grievous offense on the album. Back to those super simple riffs and drumming. Ahhhh so much single note pounding! The sound of that bass drum is like the sound of my brain throbbing in agony. Vincent crappily screams on and on about how hardcore and br00tal the band is, seriously it's the death metal version of rap. Especially with the chorus of "kill a cop".

Vincent yelling "WE'RE LIVING HARDCORE AND RADICAL" will forever be burned into my memory. I think this song is a joke, literally. The lyrics are a pastiche of itself. This song is a joke of death metal and MA, self parody. I'll get back to all that later.

"Profundis - Mea Culpa" holy hell...we've entered a mortal combat game. That intro just leaves you waiting to hear Vincent yell "Ready? Fight!" There's some real slow, boring parts that are alternated with that video game thrash music. The fakest sounding drums yet, and the worst sounding guitars...they've saved the best for last!

Wow, I'm glad that's over. So here's what we got: A poor death metal album, an industrial metal album, and a nu metal album were each being shipped when their trucks collided. The mess of broken CD bits were then glued together randomly to make this album. That's my sincerest opinion and simplest description.

I question what Morbid Angel was attempting to do here, and how does Pete Sandoval, (sidelined from this album due to surgery) feel about it? Was this the band's honest intent? Was it an experiment? Did they get frozen in 2003, to wake up 8 years later and think they were still in '03 where industrial and nu metal were hot? I can't help but think back to "Radikult" and wonder if this whole album is a joke. A purposely done, anti Morbid Angel sound to challenge, (or upset) the fans.

Lyrics from "Radikult" such as: "The walls are high we know, they've gotta come down", "we've been crossing the line since 1989", "the radicals are here to stay", and "because the boundaries are coming down" make me wonder if they were indeed going for a totally in our face, anti MA sounding challenge. Push the boundaries of their music and fans? Maybe after 20+ years they were tired of death metal. Regardless of the reason, this must look like a middle finger to the long time fans. Only the future will tell what exactly the intent was with "Illud Divinum Insanus"

One Star

AtomicCrimsonRush Techno death that 'may have an unforeseen effect'!

Seriously! What the heck is going on with this industrial repetitive noise? It sounds like Rammstein meets Rage Against the Machine but far, far worse. This may be the 'St Anger' of death metal.

I used to be a fan and considered 'Alters of Madness' a death metal classic when I was into that extreme style and along comes the latest Morbid Angel and of course I had to indulge after hearing the controversy surrounding it which has become a phenomenon in itself. Listening to tracks such as 'Too Extreme'; made me actually laugh which is a rare thing when listening to MA. I laughed because of the ludicrous music, the drum machines and awful singing, and I can understand how fans are going to react. 'Ten More Dead' is a shocking juvenile song with grade 6 school lyrics and uninspired riffing.

'Existo Vulgore' is okay with massive guitar speed riffing but ruined by silly lyrics and throaty phlegm spitting and laughing. If I was a fan still, wanting some death metal and put this on I would be demanding my money back from the dealer, and telling him to place the album in the alternative section next to Slipknot and Marilyn Manson. Vincent even tends to channel Manson on 'Radikult' right down to the whispered chants and rapping, with axe chops of distorted industrial guitar. Hey, it's actually quite a cool track, though it's not going to help the band's reputation after fans have waited 8 years for some death and speed extreme metal; you won't find it here.

There is very little to recommend it apart from about 3 tracks that are old school death and speed though they are rare. 'Blades of Baal' is a brutal breakneck speed thrasher that really shines among the dullness. It still lacks the ferocity of past MA but this is a killer track. But it is counter balnced by trash such as 'Profundis Mea Culpa' with ludicrous chanting and absolutely appalling musicianship. Vincent's screechy vocals are okay but those "ohwoowah... ohwoowah,, oooohhhh" invocations are beyond a joke.

What I cannot understand is how the producers of this album and the band could not see the glaring obvious conclusion that this album is going to alienate old fans and perhaps kill their reputation permanently. I have seen the slogan RIP Morbid Angel and I can understand why fans feel that way. The hyper speed blastbeats and brutality of such tracks as 'Blades' would appease any fan of course. But delicious tech-death tracks such as 'Destructos Vs The earth/ Attack' are a real laugh a minute and destroy any credibility.

It is impossible not to be cynical about music with lyrics such as "attack imminent, it matters not what counter measure you employ, destroy man, we're marching, destructors marching on..." It gets worse too with some bizarre lead riffs that are just processed and repeated through effects mixers.

I like Rammstein but this copy of their style just does not work for death metal. Admittedly, after a while the style on display is so out of the box here that it becomes entertaining, but for all the wrong reasons. I became quite impressed at how awful the tracks are, a real feat in itself. It is a spellbinding album because it really could not be any bad for Morbid Angel, and it likely to become a cult over the years as 'St Anger' is. Morbid Angel are on another planet here and it is an unpleasant experience.

So you have been warned. Definitely listen to this before purchase. And then skip it and buy a decent metal album. The 'Destructos' track actually ends with the ironic statement, "This impact is so terrifying that it may have an unforeseen effect." Aint it the truth!

The Block Every person who calls themselves a metal fan knows, or at least should know, Morbid Angel. When I heard the death metal masters were releasing a new album this year I was ecstatic. And to say this release landed with a thud would be an understatement. This is the same band that release “Covenant” and “Altars of Madness”, and somehow they’ve also released an album like “Illud Divinum Insanus”. This is their 8th studio release, and by far the worst. There isn’t much that I can say now that already hasn’t been said in countless other reviews, but there is still something I would like to say.

No, I do not like this album at all, but I can appreciate where Morbid Angel is going with this album. This new, industrial type metal that has become prevalent on this album isn’t that good at all, and I don’t like it at all, but if Morbid Angel can perfect this approach to their music I can see future releases being pretty good. I do wish that they’d go back to the raw, untamed death metal that made them famous back in the 90’s, but miracles don’t always happen.

Another thing that I would like to mention are the hilarious song titles. Of the many, I believe that “Too Extreme!” is definitely the worse. Besides being an almost techno metal song, it is also the worst song on the album in my mind. And really David Vincent, you had to add the exclamation point? Besides being very inconsistent, the album is kind of confusing. At first they have some industrial metal, than techno metal, and the rare appearance of actual death metal. Of the eleven tracks on this album only two, "Blades of Baal" and "Nevermore”, are actual, straight up death metal tracks.

As with all their releases the musicianship is very good, and professional, but it lacks the drive that they had on their earlier albums. The drumming by guest drummer Tim Yeung is very annoying at times, especially with the techno-like production on the album.

I waited a long time to review this album, for the simple reason that I was hoping it would get better with time, as some album do. And I was dead wrong. This long awaited 2011 release by Morbid Angel leaves me wanting more, much more of their great 90’s style death metal. Metallica did this with “St. Anger” and now so did Morbid Angel. Thank god we still have an Opeth and Dream Theater release coming out later this year.

UMUR "Illud Divinum Insanus" is the 8th full-length studio album by US death metal act Morbid Angel. The album was released in June 2011 by Season of Mist. There are quite a few lineup changes on the album compared to the lineup that recorded "Hereric (2003)". Original vocalist/ bassist David Vincent has returned to the fold, while drummer Pete Sandoval was forced not to participate in the recording of the album due to recovering from back surgery. His place on this album is taken by Tim Yeung. The band have also added former Zyklon guitarist Destructhor to the lineup. This of course means that guitarist Trey Azagthoth is the only consistent recording member left. I don´t know if that is why, but "Illud Divinum Insanus" is a very different sounding Morbid Angel album.

While the band are still primarily playing death metal and tracks like "Existo Vulgoré", "Blades of Baal" and "Nevermore" pretty much sound like the older material by the band (albeit with a bit more accessible sound), the band have made quite a radical change to their signature sound on most other tracks on the album. Morbid Angel have added heavy doses of industrial, techno and goth metal elements to their sound and tracks like "Too Extreme!", "Destructos Vs. the Earth / Attack", "Radikult" and "Profundis - Mea Culpa" are very, very different from what most people would probably think of when they hear the name Morbid Angel. In addition to that radical change mid-paced heavy tracks like "I Am Morbid" and "10 More Dead" also sound quite different from the earlier material by the band. The former even spouts an almost arena rock "put your fists in the air" like chorus.

Overall "Illud Divinum Insanus" is a very inconsistent and actually quite confusing album. It´s difficult to hear what kind of audience the band are trying to communicate to, as I´m sure that most of the band´s original fans will be extremely disappointed by the musical direction on the album. Large parts of the album will probably appeal more to industrial metal fans than to fans of death metal. On a positive note all tracks stand out from each other and I was able to tell them apart after only one listen. I guess very open minded listeners who have no expectations to what they think the albums should sound like, might find "Illud Divinum Insanus" somewhat interesting, but even those are probably bound to find the album inconsistent.

The musicianship is as always strong, the production professional and from the outside "Illud Divinum Insanus" looks like a quality product. The album leaves me completely cold though, and while I usually welcome experiments and adventurous songwriting, the attempts at creating a new unique sound lack credibility to my ears. Even the more "regular" death metal tracks are kind of tame and safe compared to the earlier material by the band and I´ll go as far as to say that the only track I´m really enjoying on the album is "Blades of Baal". All in all a very great disappointment and I´ll say a 2.5 - 3 star rating is warranted. This could either be the death of Morbid Angel or hopefully it´ll be a wakeup call for the band that will provide us with one hell of a death metal album the next time around.

adg211288 Illud Divinum Insanus is the eight full-length album from acclaimed Death Metal band Morbid Angel. Released in 2011, the album marks their first output since 2003’s Heretic and the first to feature David Vincent among the band’s ranks since the 1995 album Domination. Is the band back with a bang? Well kind of, just not in the traditional sense of the phrase; more like the album has caused a storm and the bang in question is the sound of the accompanying thunder, because it’s just impossible to ignore the literally huge backlash that Illud Divinum Insanus has already received from many reviews written prior to this one.

The main problem here is that although there is much about the album that is Death Metal, there are several tracks on the release that are layered with Industrial tones that sound several worlds away from what fans of Morbid Angel are used, particularly in the tracks Too Extreme!, Destructos Vs. the Earth/Attack and Radikult. The inclusion of tracks such as this must be so unexpected to anyone who has listened to albums such as Blessed Are The Sick, or Gateways to Annihilation that they’ll be left, at best, scratching their heads in puzzlement, or at worst, turning into a raving jackal and writing obscenities on YouTube, to notice that as part of the whole package, it seems to me that there is more Death Metal here than anything else, such as the tracks Blades for Baal and Nevermore, although some of those Death Metal orientated tracks lack the sort of intensity that I expect to hear from the genre, such as in I Am Morbid and 10 More Dead.

As it is, Industrial cuts aside, Illud Divinum Insanus isn’t actually the outright monstrosity that the uproar surrounding it would have you believe. Sure, it doesn’t really sound like an album I’d expect Morbid Angel or a band like them to produce, but it’s not outright terrible in itself. Take the Morbid Angel name off this and I bet it would get a fairer hearing. Though I do admit, with the band flitting between Death Metal orientated tracks and Industrial ones when listening to the album in one hit it sounds like you’re playing random tracks from two different records by two different bands. Varity is all well and good, but this is just too extreme. That pun wasn’t intended by the way, but it gets me thinking that maybe they included a song called Too Extreme! to warn of this very thing.

This said, my overall experience of Illud Divinum Insanus isn’t overwhelming positive either, although I certainly found it more listenable than I expected it to be. The best for me amongst the bunch is Blades for Baal, which I actually found to be a pretty strong Death Metal track. Beauty Meets Beast isn’t too bad either, making up the best of the rest, but the general reason why I can’t be more positive is that some of the other Death Metal parts of the album come across as generally uninspired and downright boring. I’m open-minded to bands experimenting and changing direction as well, but the inclusion of Industrial stuff does not work for Morbid Angel. Respect to them for trying something different, but seriously, Destructos Vs. the Earth/Attack is completely silly, and Too Extreme! is a strong contender for the worst song I’ve heard this year.

Bad tracks aside, there is also the downright pointless aspects of the album to consider. The first track, Omni Potens, is the clearest example of this. The synth ideas here are nice enough, if they were cut down some into an intro track, and at two and a half minutes this stands as a bit long for an intro. This is also coming from someone who generally hates intro tracks, but what can I say, I’m trying to give the piece a fair go. But yeah, this track wouldn’t be missed if it had been left off the final product. It’s completely genius though when put up against the disgrace that follows it, which is aforementioned Too Extreme! Too Extreme! is made even worse by the fact that it goes on for over six minutes. Actually all of the longer tracks on the album (Destructos Vs. the Earth/Attack, Radikult) could use some serious trimming down; zero seconds each sounds appropriate.

As a whole, because of the inclusion of some really pointless and terrible stuff, Illud Divinum Insanus falls short of even the mid-range of mediocrity. It has its moments but ultimately this is going to stand as a major disappointment to Morbid Angel’s established fans. Those who enjoy Industrial Metal may take some more enjoyment out of it than most, but overall I really can’t recommend this one. Usually if I scored an album at around this score I would dub it as fans only, but such doesn’t really apply here. It is worth this score based on what merits it has, but I guess that’s going to be small consolation in the long run.

(Originally written for Heavy Metal Haven, scoring 3.9/10)

Time Signature Too extreme...?

Genre: industrial/death metal

I was never as attached to Morbid Angel as many death metal fans are, or were, so I have not felt the same degree of disappointment which seems to characterize a lot of people's reactions towards this album.

So, what are we dealing with here? Well, it is something in between a death metal album and an industrial metal album.

There are death metal cuts though, some of which are not that bad. "Existo Vulgoré" contains some mean old school death metal riffing accompanied by some ferocious blastbeating. This also applies to "Blades for Baal" and "Nevermore" which are as classic death metal as it gets. Other tracks like "I Am Morbid" and "10 More Dead" are more melodic and rocky - both have nice midtempo grooves, and there's a nice melodic guitar solo in the former while the latter contains some more uptempo death metal sections, too; these two tracks are quite good, I think (especially "10 More Dead").

The more industrial oriented acts are not my cup of tea, and the frantic, and messy some have it, "Too Extreme!" and the sluggish military techno track "Destructos VS the Earth" are not tracks that I am likely to listen to in the future (I like the title "Destructos VS the Earth", though, because it sounds like the title of an old 50s sci-fi film). My main problem with "Destructos VS the Earth" is not so much that it is more of an industrial track than a death metal, but rather that it is too long and monotonous for my taste. "Radikult" is not awful, I think, but, like "Destructos VS the Earth", I think it is a bit too long, and for the most part it sounds more like Marilyn Manson material (I really like the guitar solo in this song though). The last track on the album "Profundis - Mea Culpa" sounds like some of the inspiration for it came from hardcore techno, and, while this is as legitimate a locus of inspiration as any, I just do not like this track, and I think that the problem is the hollow-sounding drum programming which just does not sit well with me - I would have preferred flesh-and-blood drums here; as it is now, the song lacks texture and coherence I think.

This certainly is not a death metal masterpiece, but there is some good stuff on it, and I do not think that it deserves all the flak it has received. Then again, it is easy for me as a non-fan to stand in the shadows and make this statement; hardcore fans who have awaited this album eagerly, hoping for another all out death metal classic, I guess, will probably be disappointed or even feel betrayed and go into ranting fits of Hitlerian proportions (no, this is not an reductio-ad-Hitlerum :-P).

So, long time old school death metal fans should probably refrain from buying the whole album and instead purchase tracks individually - if this option exists (I'd recommend "Blades for Baal", "Nevermore", "I Am Morbid" and perhaps "10 More Dead" and "When Beauty Meets Beast").

J-Man Illud Divinum Insanus had the potential to be the comeback of the century. With the return of legendary frontman David Vincent, a brand new signing with prestigious metal label Season of Mist, and plenty of promising press releases, it would seem that Morbid Angel had another death metal classic up their sleeves. I guess I wasn't expecting this. Although I can appreciate the band's desire to be more "experimental" and innovative, Illud Divinum Insanus is honestly a mess. The only positive accolade I can tag on this album is its unique sound; other than that, this is one of the biggest disappointments in extreme metal history. Over the band's long career, I've come to expect high quality releases from Morbid Angel - and this one misses the bar by numerous country miles.

Aside from the fact that the album says "Morbid Angel" on the cover, this hardly sounds like them. They've lost the bite that characterized their classic albums in favor of a polished, semi-melodic, goth-rock, and techno-oriented (yes, you read that right) sound. It's nice to see that Morbid Angel is still pushing the envelope in 2011... but it just doesn't work at all. Songs like the inaptly titled "Too Extreme!", the laughably awful "Destructos Vs. the Earth/Attack", the goth/techno-oriented "Radikult", and the video game-y "Profundis - Mea Culpa" are the worst material Morbid Angel has ever created. There are a few solid death metal cuts ("Blades of Baal" and "Nevermore"), but they still aren't enough to reconcile for the disastrous remainder of the album. At its best, Illud Divinum Insanus is sub-par, and at its worst, I'd consider it unlistenable. Keeping a finger close to the skip button is highly recommended.

The musicianship is clearly professional, but it lacks the bite that made Morbid Angel so great when they first hit the scene in the 1980's. The drumming is often triggered and downright irritating, the vocals are monotonous and lack power, and only a few guitar solos from Azagthoth are noteworthy... quite surprising considering that every solo on Covenant could be considered legendary. Production-wise, the album isn't much better. The awful techno vibe pollutes the sound with an overproduced, polished atmosphere that makes the album even less listenable.

There's really not much more to say about Illud Divinum Insanus. It looks like St. Anger has finally found an equally terrible counterpart to be used as a coaster. This certainly isn't the comeback anybody was expecting... much less hoping for. Morbid Angel has cooked up a disappointment here, and (as much as it pains me to do this to one of my favorite death metal bands) the most I can give is 1.5 stars. This is quite possibly the biggest disappointment in the last decade of heavy metal - Morbid Angel will need to create a really spectacular album next time around if they want to make up for this disaster. And I almost forgot... if you pre-ordered the $200 wooden box set, prepare to feel a bit of buyer's remorse.