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Unusual as it may seem I was filled with joy when I heard the first second of the new Morbid Angel album. The reason was not that the music was amazing, as you probably that is kind of hard to tell from just listening for a second or two. No, the reason was that there was no eerie intro which has been the annoyance factor number one when it comes to death metal releases ever since the early days. Sometimes it can give an extra effect but most often it is only a waste of time. Morbid Angel have never changed direction in their career and they don't do it this time either. The "H" album (in case you don't already know the album titles of Morbid Angel begins with the letters A, B, C etc. in chronological order) is heavily soaked in the masterfully executed guitar work of Trey Azagthoth and Pete Sandoval's precise drumming. Morbid Angel have not been very productive in the last five or six years but I hope that will change soon because to be honest I don't think they will go on for much longer now. After all, they are celebrating their 20th anniversary next year (2004) which is something quite unique in their genre. I said that there is no intro on "Heretic" but nonetheless we have three instrumental tracks. "Abyssous" is the first of them and this one they could really have done without as it is completely pointless and can hardly be classified as music at all. The other two are the closing two tracks of the album, the first one being a calm but somewhat ominous acoustic thing which leads up to "Victorious March Of Reign The Conqueror", a two and a half minutes long track that reminds a lot more of pure classical music than anything else. Strangely enough that is my favorite on "Heretic". That doesn't mean that it's a bad album. Morbid Angel do what is expected from them and produces yet another high quality death metal album with twisted guitar riffs from both heaven and hell but there is nothing that results in excitement these days. That is why the classical track made such an impression on me. I still hold their early albums as their finest releases but "Heretic" will disappoint noone who has ever been into Morbid Angel or death metal in general. Erik Rutan is out, Steve Tucker is back in and everything is as it should be. This is Morbid Angel simply put.
| Tracklist |
| 1. Cleansed In Pestilence (Blade Of Elohim) |
| 2. Enshrined By Grace |
| 3. Beneath The Hollow |
| 4. Curse The Flesh |
| 5. Praise The Strength |
| 6. Stricken Arise |
| 7. Place Of Many Death |
| 8. Abyssous |
| 9. God Of Our Own Divinity |
| 10. Within Thy Enemy |
| 11. Memories Of The Past |
| 12. Victorious March Of Reign The Conqueror |
: 47.26
| Buy other Morbid Angel albums |
