MORBID ANGEL. Since 1989, their name alone always invoked the most evil and highly complex death metal music ever made. With the exit of original vocalist/bassist David Vincent in 1997, guitarist Trey Azagthoth and drummer Pete Sandoval continued on with brutal death metal vocalist /bassist Stephen Tucker. After the 2003 release of Heretic and the departure of bassist/vocalist Stephen Tucker, the bands future was up in the air, for years. To many die hard Morbid fans, the return of David Vincent sounded like a dream come true. Fast forward to 2011 and the most anticipated death metal release of all time Illud Divinum Insanus. Could MORBID ANGEL bring a second coming of Covenant or Altars Of Madness? My ears tell me a different story.

Starting off with an obligatory intro that is totally MORBID ANGEL, I am ready for the devastation that is going to come from the next track. Devastation can’t even begin to describe what I heard next. As Too Extreme began to play I question if this is really MORBID ANGEL. What the Fuck! Was this album accidentally labeled wrong? The song sounds like a bad techno nightmare. Almost industrial. Where are the guitar chords and solos? David Vincent’s vocals sound the same, they just sound a lot less evil. This song keeps going on and on for five torturous minutes. That was rather difficult to listen to. The songs Existo Valgoure, Blades for Baal, and Nevermore drift back to more familiar MORBID ANGEL sounds. In fact Existo Valgoure may be the only decent song on this album and the only one that sounds the way MORBID ANGEL should sound. Brutal and gracious. Showcasing Trey’s accept ional guitar abilities. I expected the rest of the album to follow this pattern of traditional death metal style. I was horribly wrong. With the absence of Pete Sandoval behind the drums, the music suffers immensely. Though the drums are played by Tim Yeung, they sound very inhuman and machine like. The rest of the album plays out like a nightmare. I Am Morbid begins and immediately disappoints with its weak approach and ridiculous lyrics. It is anything but morbid. As 10 More Dead begins the let down continues. One begins to think the return of Vincent is a great mistake. Trey and fellow guitarist seem pushed to the background. There is way too much experimental dabbling outside the realms of death metal going on here. I don’t know if Trey Azagthoth was brainwashed by video games or if he was brainwashed by David Vincent. During his departure Vincent spent a great amount of time in the Genitorturers and it appears he may have brought an abundance of that influence over to MORBID ANGEL’s music. Once I hear Destructos vs. The Earth Attack, it is clear that not even Trey could save this album now. As the final song Radikult unloads like a pile of shit with its unbelievable radio friendly dance vibe, I hang my head in disbelief. When did MORBID ANGEL decide to go soft? Were they half asleep when they wrote this album? My ears have been raped. For such a long wait, this album lacks integrity, contains ridiculous lyrics and seems to pick up on modern trend sounds, a bit of techno and industrial and tries to mix them with old school death metal, which is a recipe for certain disaster. The songwriting seems rushed and rather lackluster. This album was truly hard to listen to and left me disgusted. Expectations were high and quickly knocked to the dirt. MORBID ANGEL has become an enigma unto itself. When a traditional death metal band changes its sound this much, it is beyond evolution and to a point of no return. If Illud Divinum Insanus doesn’t alienate true Morbid fans then I will be amazed. Illud Divinum Insanus is a mindfuck, an incredible disappointment and certainly an album no MORBID ANGEL fan can approve of.