MORBID ANGEL — Illud Divinum Insanus (review)

MORBID ANGEL — Illud Divinum Insanus album cover

Album · 2011 · Death Metal

2.5/5 · 2011-06-09
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").

more than 2 years ago
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The Angry Scotsman wrote:

more than 2 years ago

I, like most of us, are always glad to see an artist change it up. Especially a band like MA that is a genre pioneer and has a rabid fan base. I do give em kudos for doing what they want and experimenting BUT the result is not always good...
I may give this album your rating minus a star or two lol

J-Man wrote:

more than 2 years ago

I agree with a lot of this review. :-) The production (which is almost unlistenable IMO) and a few really weak tracks destroyed the album for me. I guess I may have set inhumanly high standards for these guys due to their tremendous backcatalog. ;-)

Time Signature wrote:

more than 2 years ago

I just think it's too long and repetitive... but I guess that's actually one of the conventional stylistic traits of industrial metal, no?

Wilytank wrote:

more than 2 years ago

I liked "Destructoz vs. the Earth".

Time Signature wrote:

more than 2 years ago

Like talking music with Spock.

UMUR wrote:

more than 2 years ago

The voice of reason :-)

Time Signature wrote:

more than 2 years ago

It's a two-way thing. The fans will have to accept that the artist develops and changes the style. But at the same time the artist will have to accept that some fans might not like the new style, so the artist cannot expect the fans to be blindly loyal.

UMUR wrote:

more than 2 years ago

As a long time fan I´ll probably have a hard time not doing it myself too.

Time Signature wrote:

more than 2 years ago

Yes, that does seem more fair. But I do understand how the long-time fans feel. I did the same thing with "Load" and "Reload", for example.

UMUR wrote:

more than 2 years ago

I haven´t heard the album yet, but many of the negative opinion holders compare the album to the earlier albums by Morbid Angel ( which is only natural) but in this case I think it might pay off to review the album on it´s own merits. At least it´s more fair.

Time Signature wrote:

more than 2 years ago

If one ignores the industrial stuff, the rest of the album is not catastrophic, I think.