Heretic

After the release of Gateways to Annihilation, people were convinced that Morbid Angel had a thing going on. And even with an abrupt change of vocalists, it still seemed like the band was still gonna pump up classic records after classic records. However, that changed the second they released their 2003 album "Heretic". Now, let me say for the record that I don't find this record to be terrible, as I still view this record very highly. With that said, however, there are some problems with it that kind of bring the score down...

To see what I mean, let's check out the instrumentals first. On the first track "Cleansed in Pestilence (Blade of Elohim)", we can tell that things have changed a lot. As in, the production has gotten weaker. The guitar riffs sound more noisy and raw, and give the riffs a more evil and demonic sound. The drumming has also been downgraded in terms of sound, so the beats sound cheaper and tinny, making the blastbeats sound not as powerful as the previous records. The bass, however, has suffered the most, as in some areas, it's nearly inaudible. Now, on one hand, the weaker production actually does benefit the instrumentals, like in "Beneath the Hollow", where the chaotic riffs are enhanced with the weaker production. However, in other instances, the production also does weaken the overall sound, as their strength doesn't sound as menacing as in the previous records. In fact, had they continued with the same production as in the last record, I think it would've been improved significantly. Oh, and there's also some hidden instrumental tracks near the end, and they sound okay, but nothing compared to other instrumentals in earlier albums. And don't even get me started on "Drum Check", which is one of the most pointless tracks in Morbid Angel's catalogue. I mean, you could get rid of it, and nothing would change. Despite this and the weak production, the composition of the instrumentals still remains strong.

However, the vocals aren't so strong. I know, it's kind of weird for me to say that, since Steve's vocals in the last record were improved upon. However, I think that by taking one step forward, he also ended up taking two steps back on this record. A good example of this is in the track "Stricken Arise". His vocals sound distorted and utilize more screams, which sound okay, but the distorted sound effect hasn't exactly aged the best, as it makes his voice sound dated and even a bit awkward at times. Also, with the help of the poor production, his vocals sound a bit muted and don't have that might as in the previous albums. They're not terrible overall, but with the weird distortion and poor mixing, they somehow sound worse than in Formulas Fatal to the Flesh.

Heretic is not a bad record per say, as most of the instrumentals in of themselves are still good. However, it's the weaker production and unusual vocals that mainly drag the score down, along with a drum check track that doesn't benefit the album in any way. The band won't release another record until 8 years later with "Illud Divinum Insanus", which actually makes this album sound like Painkiller in comparison. But if you wanna check out Heretic, I would say yeah, but don't expect to be marveled.

This album in particular is heartbreaking to me, not because the music is bad, far from it, but it’s because it seems to be cast out by both fans of the David Vincent and the Steve Tucker era as well.

The production seems one of two reasons this album is disregarded by fans, the only real bass on the album comes from the kick drums. Where people complain about the instrument sound, I find it adds a new dimension to the music and is a perfect fit for the album. Trey’s guitar sounds like it’s producing fire and lava! The drums are dry but have a more authentic sound compared to Gateways.

Heretic is an impressive mix of what has been done on Formulas and Gateways; ear-splitting riffs blending with the moving grooves found in each song. Unique to Heretic, the writing is very catchy and memorable! One track in particular being “Curse The Flesh” which what I would call the chorus is ab absolute ear worm that I haven’t got out for the three years since I heard this album! Awe inspiring riffs are found all over the album! You could tell a band like Behemoth worships this album in particular.

The performances of Pete Sandoval and Steve Tucker are the true highlights of the album. Pete Sandoval truly outdoes himself on Heretic, which I believe to be the best showcase of his career! Steve Tucker’s vocals are also his best on here, with his usual shout now with higher shrieks that work well with the fiery sound of the music. The first and only guest guitarist can be found on the track “God of Our Own Divinity” with Karl Sanders giving a brief solo at the end. Good enough solo, just wish he would’ve been on the incredible closing song “Within Thy Enemy”!

The other reason for ridicule here is the interlude tracks. Interlude tracks get a little bit played out here, most of the tracks on the CD comprising of just random sounds and guitars. The interludes are nothing special unfortunately other than the melancholic “Memories of The Past” which has a similar mood to Blessed Are The Sick’s “Desolate Ways”.

A sadly overlooked masterpiece that hides beneath the hollow, only to be discovered and worshiped by those worthy of its presence!

A drastic drop in quality compared to "Gateways To Annihilation" and previous albums of Morbid Angel, whose name is "Heretic". Or to put it more bluntly, the album was messed up at its own request. Unfortunately (or fortunately) I get the impression that sometimes it is better to have the same style (like Bolt Thrower - with a very successful result) than to look for a new one, where it is not necessary, as it just happened on "Heretic".

I don't mean by this to say that it is a bad or completely missed album, but it contains far too many irrelevant (and usually completely unnecessary) changes that have nothing to do with the music and only spoil its general reception. It is so unfortunate that "Heretic" - although in the end somehow defends itself - could be another excellent release in the group's discography, maintaining a very high and equal level of discography of Trey Azagthoth's band.

The whole release, unfortunately, plunges the totally flattened sound (similar to "Stillborn" Malevolent Creation - although Morbid Angel fares better) and nonsense "instrumental" additions, of which there were officially 6 (and too many!). Interestingly, the actual music itself does not differ significantly from the patents known from "Formulas Fatal To The Flesh". Songs such as "Enshrined By Grace", "God Of Our Own Divinity", "Cleansed In Pestilence (Blade Of Elohim)" and "Beneath The Hollow" would be solid hits if they gained sound from previous albums. Guitars and percussion sound nice, the vocal is also more interesting (Steve growls in a few ways), but so what when the whole is accompanied by a very weak production for this band.

Another important thing, the mentioned "intros". One, that they do not suit the music very well (even the cool "Drum Check"), two, there are far too many of them, and, three, after the outro of "Born Again", the band for some reason decided to stuff the rest of the disc with empty tracks and a few demo versions of the songs from the beginning of the album. A very sensible move! The most difficult of all this, however, is an unambiguous evaluation for this disc. From the death metal side, for me - despite poor production - it's a stretched 80%, with cutscenes and "hidden" songs, strong 60%, the most reasonable in this case for "Heretic" I think therefore 70%.

Originally on: https://subiektywnymetal.blogspot.com/2020/05/morbid-angel-heretic-2003.html

Heretic is Morbid Angel’s seventh album, and it was the last album to feature Steve Tucker on vocals and bass for over a decade. It is notable for having some of the worst production in Morbid Angel history, as well as being, perhaps, the last creative peak for Trey Azagthoth. Along with Trey's solos, the album really breaks new creative and compositional boundaries, despite mostly being a stylistic elaboration on the style of Formula’s Fatal to the Flesh. However, the complete inability of the band to wield instrumentals properly, the underwhelming vocal performance of Steve Tucker, and the almost complete elimination of the low end in the production of this album really negate a lot of the huge creativity on this album and make it a somewhat mediocre release.

First up for analysis, as usual, are the guitars. The most noticeable thing from the first five seconds of the first track is that the guitar riffs on Heretic are much faster than on their 2000 album Gateways to Annihilation. This is likely due to Trey Azagthoth and Pete Sandoval doing most of the songwriting on Heretic while Steve Tucker was out of the band for a time. Tucker tends to write a lot of mid-tempo songs (listen to his influence on Gateways and Kingdoms, or his other project, Warfather, if you require further evidence for this) and his apparent absence from much of the music writing process leads to a much faster album more akin to Formula’s Fatal to the Flesh than to Gateways. Aside from the fast nature of the guitar riffs, there is the fact that there is no second guitarist on this album, which means that the riffs and solos solely derive from the weird mind of Trey Azagthoth. This is very much a good thing. The absence of Erik Rutan, who left to focus on Hate Eternal, does not detract from this album in any way. Trey makes up for the lack of the second guitarist by making the longest and most elaborate solos he has ever done in his entire career, writing death metal riffs so upbeat that it genuinely brightens my day, and staggering dual guitar rhythms in a fascinating way that is unique in Morbid Angel’s discography.

The most notable aspect of the guitars in this album is the solos. This album is probably the pinnacle of Trey Azagthoth’s solos. On Heretic, Trey completely transcends the borderline shred-wankery of the first three Vincent albums, and writes elaborate journeys of shredding that are either bound to inspire any young listener to pick up a guitar, or abandon the art entirely, as they could never hope to equal his achievement. The song to highlight here would be “God of Our own Divinity” which features an ecstasy inducing dissonant guitar interlude before his whammy bar-heavy solo. It also features an outro solo form Karl Sanders of Nile, which doesn’t fit well with the song, but still makes me think that they should collaborate more.

The absolute first thing that the guitars do in this album is play an upbeat riff. Morbid Angel has always had a weird relationship with songs in major, which has been apparent since their debut, but the first track “Cleansed in Pestilence (Blade of Elohim)” takes this trope to the extreme, and is almost dissonantly melodic in the manner of Gorguts, Portal, or Immolation.
Despite being a guitarist all by himself, Trey put in a good faith effort with the rhythm section. Many of the songs on Heretic have two distinct, complimentary rhythms playing simultaneously, that would make the album utterly heavy if they had bothered to add a low end. The most prominent example of this would be the song “Beneath the Hollow”.

Next up is drums. As usual, Pete isn’t the flashiest or fastest drummer anymore, though he is definitely far above average. This album, like Formulas, is essentially just mostly Trey writing the songs with some input and instrumentals from Pete. Pete hammers away in the background, providing the fast tempos for Trey to shred along with. However, there are some tracks where Pete’s drumming is given more emphasis, for better and for worse. The better example of this would be the song “Stricken Arise” which is the only song ever cowritten by Azgagthoth and Sandoval. It is notable for having a droning tremolo midsection that combines with an extended drum fill to make an almost Portal-like effect. The worse example of this would be “Enshrined by Grace” which is by far the worst song on Heretic aside from the instrumentals. “Enshrined…” sucks because of, I never thought I would have to say this, Pete Sandoval’s excessively flashy style on the track. The rhythm of the song is strongly disrupted by the random blasts that Pete applies at random intervals, making this song a poor one to release as a single and music video, which they did anyway. The track “Drum Check” is worthy of note because it is a drum solo by Pete Sandoval, which shows off his incredible speed, but not much else.

After drums, we have vocals. Steve Tucker is the only singer here, and also wrote all the lyrics. However, his vocal performance is underwhelming. Like the production of this album, his voice has almost no low end, and the bellows of Gateways and Formulas are conspicuously absent on Heretic, much to the detriment of the album. On Heretic, Steve Tucker falls into the same pit of vocal annoyance that David Vincent fell into on Altars. Instead of building on his bellows, Tucker gives us a raspy screech that makes it sound like he blew his voice out, or is very hoarse. Another thing Tucker does on this album that I don’t care much for is the good cop/bad cop style of vocals. This is something more commonly seen in metalcore, but apparently Steve Tucker thought it would be a good idea to use on Heretic. Essentially what he does is switch from his usual deep bellow to a more Vincentesque rasp, much to my chagrin, as I had hoped that with Vincent out of the band, I would no longer be subject to his subpar rasps that dominated Alters of Madness. The most prominent example of this is the song “God of Our Own Divinity” which is a fantastic composition and great listen, but it is hampered by Steve Tucker’s somewhat wacky vocal transitions.

As for bass, as usual, that’s never been a big part of Morbid Angel, and it just usually combines with the guitar to make a big fat tone, but the complete lack of a low end in this album makes it even less relevant than usual.

Now let’s address factors that detract from the album’s overall quality. The low-hanging fruit here for complaining about are all the instrumentals and silent tracks. There are more here than on any other Morbid Angel album before or since. Depending on the version of the album, there are upwards of 60 tracks, most of which are either silent, or instrumental sections of other songs. The standard issue of the album has 44 tracks, 8 of which are the actual songs, 5 of which are the typical morbid angel dungeon synth, and the rest of which are bullshit filler. A good chunk of these instrumentals were actually written by Sandoval himself. The most notable is “Memories of the Past”, which is probably the best Morbid instrumental since “Desolate Ways” As usual, the instrumentals disrupt the flow of the album, and should be toned down, but they have the bonus of being somewhat better this time around (except for the ripped solos and silence).

The most detrimental aspect of this album, however, has to be its production. Unlike Formulas and Gateways, Heretic has no low heavy end at all. Its not like an And Justice for All kind of problem where the bass isn’t audible in any way. I can hear the bass at times, there is just now low end. It’s probably the worst-sounding Morbid Angel record ever created from a production standpoint. The complete lack of a low end removes all the energy from Tucker’s bellows, and a lot of the punch out of Azagtoth’s guitars. This lack of a low end accentuates the plastic-sounding kick drums of Sandoval to a somewhat irritating effect. If the production on this album wasn’t so bad, this album would probably be rated around 80-90% instead of a shabby 70%.

In short, this album is a stellar composition ruined by poor production and an overload of instrumentals. This album is probably the last death metal album Morbid Angel made where they (or just Trey and Sandoval) creatively challenged themselves in any way.

70%
Best songs: God of Our Own Divinity, Beneath the Hollow, Memories of the Past
Worst songs: Enshrined by Grace, Praise the Strength,

Morbid Angel will always remain my favorite death metal band, and stuff like this is exactly why. On Heretic, the band is at their most experimental music-wise. After their first 4 albums they decided to mess around and experiment more with their signature sound in order to create a new style and feel, Heretic being a prime example of just that.

The obvious downsides of the album are the tons of unnecessary interlude/silence/noise tracks, everyone knows this. There's more of those than actual songs on the album. Even though those random tracks take up more than half of the space on the album, the music itself is too good to deem Heretic as a "bad" release. The random interlude/silence/noise tracks are the only bad part about this album, if there were less or none, Heretic would be an easy 10/10, and even more perfect than it already is. Me along with all the other smart people know and realize+recognize that Heretic is truly a masterpiece aside from the absolute filler of noise tracks here.

This is most definitely Morbid Angel at their most technical and advanced. Trey's riffs are fast paced and technical, although he doesn't discard anything slower, like the mesmerizing triplet chugs at the beginning of Beneath the Hollow. Pete's drumming is very fast, most noticeably at the very start of Cleansed In Pestilence (Blade of Elohim), rapidly going back and forth between cymbal hits, blast beats, snare fills, and double kicking while hitting the ride cymbal; all in a complex and consistent ongoing pattern. And soon enough into the song he slows down at the chorus, and eventually picks up the speed again after with some fast tom fills accented by fast double kicking. I don't know what exactly to say about Steve's part here, all I know is that he's doing a great job and Steve Tucker area reigns supreme. Tucker still provides his fantastic part as per usual, but the primary focus here is obviously Pete and Trey.

Trey's more technical and faced-paced riffing goes along excellently with Pete's furious drumming, which has the same exact attributes AS the guitar; technical, and fast-paced. Again, Cleansed in Pestilence is the most noticeable track that show off the guitars and drums' skill and talent perfectly. Trey I think has some extreme fuzz distortion pedal/effect on his guitar and it sounds really unique. Some people dislike it, mostly the Vincent era Morbid Angel fans I'd say. But the true appreciators of Morbid's later work acknowledge the good in different. Once you start getting used to the guitars, you'll love the fuck out of this album. I personally am a fan of how the guitars sound, it compliments the technical approach, and it's catchy and eargasmic as well. Songs like Enshrined By Grace just sound so fantastic. The menacing, badass, and evil-sounding riffage at the start of the song is what makes it so great. It sounds fucking FANTASTIC. Enshrined by Grace is a god tier song, the guitars on this album sound absolutely great and I don't care what anyone says about it. The drums do sound a little weird, unusual, and have an overall very different sound, and a different drum sound for Morbid Angel too, for sure. First timers on this album may have complaints and probably won't adjust to how they sound for a while. But just like the guitars, the drums also have a different/odd/experimental sound to them, which is why Heretic is so good in the first place. I really really like how the drums sound as well. I don't know exactly how to explain WHAT they sound like, all I can say is that I sure am a fan of the drum sound. It's perfect for the album, and you can hear every last hit. The snare and kick drum are MWAH. Fucking GOOD. Steve's vocals are great as usual, but they sound compressed and slightly buried in the mix, exempt from parts like the chorus in Enshrined By Grace; but still, his vocals are a little underproduced. But honestly, that doesn't matter, I think it sounds good, I was just stating the fact that they're buried, I personally like how everything in this album sounds and I don't have any complaints at all.

I'd say about 1-2, maybe 3 of the unnecessary interlude/silence/noise tracks are worth a damn. (3 is a push). But at least some of them are fun little bonus-type tracks, like Drum Check, which is the god himself Pete blasting away at his set for almost three minutes straight. Terror of MechaGodzilla, or "Doomcreeper", is just a instrumental version of Beneath the Hollow, but I still like it even though it's not a new track at all, aside from the name. I'm not complaining to be honest, nothing bad about an instrumental track of a previous song. Although this album is heavily flawed in the non-song & filler department, some of those random tracks are good and enjoyable.

Although there's only 8 actual songs out of 20, or even 8 out of 44+ tracks on other formats like CD and Vinyl, [wow], this album is still absolutely fantastic. Just pretend like the interlude/noise/silence tracks don't exist, like how some fans act like Illud Divinum Sanus doesn't exist. I love Heretic. I love how it sounds, I love the songwriting, I love the vibes, I love how furious it can be at times, and how relaxing and peaceful it can be at times; although it feels like both at all times. Morbid Angel is extremely good at fusing multiple feelings and vibes into one all at the same time in their music, that's the beauty of fucking MORBID ANGEL. Heretic is awesome, catchy, badass + makes me feel badass, and it's full of absolute LAVA. Heretic is nothing but a good time. If you don't like Heretic or arent that big on it, please retry it, it's very good. Also if you're in a chill/sad/or pissed mood, you'll enjoy it even more while in those moods. Despite it's flaws, Heretic is an amazing record with top notch songwriting and instrumentation. Pure badass death metal with beautiful and emotional vibes, as that's the usual Morbid Angel. I'll always adore Heretic. The music video for Enshrined by Grace that has all the fire with the band playing in a dark outside area, that describes Heretic perfectly. Awesome and absolutely badass.

Also, this album IS BETTER THAN Altars of Madness. :)
(so is any other MA album other than Illud)

The eighth album from the pioneers of American death metal is here, after a long wait. 'Heretic' was waited for with excitement, since a lot of things happened between the previous one, 'Gateways to Annihilation' and this. Many a fan seemed to be unhappy with the predecessor, but I like it a lot.

'Heretic' doesn't better 'Gateways...'. This album is patchy, to say the least. First 6 songs are "ordinary" (guitar, bass, drums, voice), then 2 instrumentals ('Place of Many Deaths' reminds me of 'Hatework' on 'Domination') and 2 "ordinary" ones. Then 4 instrumentals (one being a longish drums-only track....)! And then, a lot of tracks (44 in all!) with silence and more instrumental ones every now and then. I mean, hell, I enjoy listening any album I'm familiar with at random play, it gives more lifespan. No random play with this, then... I hear a lot of out of ordinary song placements during 14 songs, different order might have saved something. My problem, so let's go to the essence; the music.

Death metal (just to give it some definition, okay?!) of Morbid Angel has always been very unique and 'Heretic' is no exception. At first it all felt similar; fast and nothing new or particularly good compared to the past releases. But repeated listening worked, as many of the songs are something special, indeed. The style is immediately recognizable, including familiar elements especially from 'Covenant' (the opener is as ferocious as 'Rapture') and 'Domination' eras to today. The music is full of weird riffs, leads, solos and other guitar bits, totally trademark Trey Azagthoth. He has said that he tries to play guitar BACKWARDS kind of way! Odd time signatures are abound, but bloody blasting drumming courtesy of Pete "Commando" Sandoval and pounding bass of once-again-Morbid-Angel Steve Tucker help to keep it comprehensible. Polyrhythms are best shown on 'Beneath the Hollow' (instrumental version on track 43, by the way!), which has 2 songs going on at the same time. Believe me, this is weird. It must be heard, it is impossible to be depicted with words. True heretics of death metal. The main lyrical theme is heresy, searching for your own "god", meaning of everything, something like that. Mr. Tucker's vocals are great, his best with the band. Raspy growling has ominous feeling in it. The instrumentals go from weird to menacing, and from calm to a drum solo, plus a guitar solo. I think track 12-14 and beyond would have worked much better as downloadable extra material from the band's website... In general, the music itself is as good and soulful as any older Morbid Angel stuff, if not better, but the structure of the album sucks.

Sound-wise this is familiar, too. The band have had their sound for years. Why change something that works? This might horrify those who like it polished. The guitars are "swampy", muddy yet trebly and reverbing, trademark Azagthoth. The drums are pounding, but sound also triggered (especially the tom drums), which takes away from the organic feel. The bass is somewhat inaudible at times and is the only fuck up in my ears, since it is hard to be spotted. Therefore, the sound is way too trebly for a big part. Vocals are mixed inside, they do not float over the music. The cover art is computer-generated and isn't good at all, but at least the lyrics are printed and a foreword is included. I remember I didn't like 'Domination's artwork at first, though.

Limited editions come with a bonus disc called 'Bonus Levels' (there's more than one limited version available, mind you). This includes demo versions of some of the album's songs. Good fun for those who try to decipher Mr. Azagthoth's guitar wizardry. I think there's a drum machine utilized in these songs. Anyway, 'Heretic's instrumental songs should have been on this bonus disc in my opinion, so the album itself would have been a lot more tight package.

Morbid Angel fans must get this, of course. I believe this is a kind of back to the roots affair yet offering something special, once again. Generally, death metal fanatics shouldn't miss this either. Only for brave enough adventurers, though.

(Originally written for ArchaicMetallurgy.com in 2007)

Mediocre, unfinished-sounding Morbid Angel on a budget. That's one way to describe this album.

Nearly every single riff sounds like a caricature of usual Morbid Angel, a cheap imitation from a lesser band, or Morbid Angel locking themselves in a garage with very little time to complete an album, abusing substances to kill the time and for inspiration - because there sure as hell was little of that in their organisms as it is.

The songs are mostly boring by M.A. standards, obviously of much lower quality than any of their previous releases, nowhere remotely near the zone of a Covenant, and to make matters worse there are way too many instrumentals for Heretic to gather any kind of natural momentum.

The production is a big problem here. Had the music been redeeming, and given their status in the field and their place in our hearts us the fans, this could've been overlooked. But the guitars sound thin and distinctly fizzy, like Azagthoth got a weird nostalgic episode and pulled out his dusty 50$ Metalzone pedal from 1985 and didn't bother post-processing his sound at all thinking it was "true art" or "more organic, man". The drums sound so poor they're practically confusing at times as to whether they're Sandoval playing in the studio or MIDI drums barely processed to sound real, and they neither have the charm of an actual warm kit nor the industrial strength of programmed beats. Tucker, usually a powerful vocalist, sounds on par with the other instruments.

There are two really good moments on the record. "Beneath the Hollow", which almost feels like an Easter egg of some sort, like M.A. are trolling the listener and telling them they're absolutely still capable of writing awe-inspiring death metal. This song on Heretic is like "Raining Blood" on a Madonna record. Totally out of place. There's some absolute brilliance on that track, and not just the lordly sounding verse but that strange counterpoint lead part in the middle sounds so unique. The other redeeming component on the record would be the first part from "Curse the Flesh". Again, very novel in how melodic, almost happy it sounds yet so strangely dark at the same time.

There's no two ways about it: this is terribly disappointing, uninspired and lackluster. One is free to love it, but it cant' be compared to its predecessors and isn't even nearly the best version of itself, not even close.

Leading up to Heretic's release, Azagthoth spoke of the tortuous, complicated methods used to achieve the now-infamous guitar tone. Somehow, through a process involving box fans and bandpass elements, he achieved his goal of a unique, destructive swell of distortion. Half of the tone's appeal is undoubtedly it's unique sonic attributes, at the very least attempting to move the stagnant death metal aesthetics into new directions - even if the masses were less than receptive to it's overdriven surge.

Morbid Angel's trademark, atonal riffing style that emerged during their mid-period is still here in spades. Azagthoth's twisted tremolo barrage (which always sounds like buzzing bees to me) melds well with more traditional stomping death metal passages here. It almost becomes hard to follow at times, as both guitar channels trade off and utilize odd time-signatures most evident during most of "Beneath the Hollow". The leads have a slicing, modern sheen to them, even if Azagthoth's solos have always come off as a bit pretentious and excessive to my ears. Tucker's abrasive roars are quite potent, and the sporadic inclusion of the more raspy yowls add some variety to his approach.

The real winner here is without a doubt "Enshrined by Grace". It starts off as a more rocking number, occasionally erupting into murky tremolo passages as Sandoval sporadically blasts away in the background. After a short burst of percussive riffs, the song opens up in earnest and delivers the goods. Sandoval is typically all over the place, throwing excessive fills and workmanlike blasting together in a boiler. The end result is one of the more accessible and potent tracks on Heretic. That isn't to say the rest of the album lacks potency, as "God of Our Own Divinity" pulverizes both eardrums and expectations with it's fluttering leads and chugging verses. "Within thy Enemy" also surges by with reckless abandon, featuring a churning riffset more reminiscent of Formulas Fatal to the Flesh.

Where Heretic falls short is regarding it's procession. I am impartial to Morbid Angel's inclusion of short instrumental numbers on the whole, but it comes off as very forced here. There are too many of them, and the ones that are shoehorned into the end of the album come off as superficial and a collective afterthought. "Drum Check" is cool for what it is, but interrupts the esoteric atmosphere of the album. I would deem it a complete waste, but it holds some value in hindsight since Sandoval is no longer with the band and Heretic was the last full-length he is featured on.

Heretic comes off as a slightly more primal, aesthetic twin of Formulas Fatal to the Flesh. It lacks the implosive atmosphere of Gateways to Annihilation, but is more varied and interesting from a historical standpoint. Still an acquired taste due to Azagthoth's tone, but it rips all the same.

I love Morbid Angel. I'm probably the only person who actually enjoyed Illud Divinum Insanus. Along with Iron Maiden, they're my favourite band. But like Maiden, they've put out some stinkers. Well, one stinker. Heretic.

In short, Heretic feels like Formulas Fatal to the Flesh Light. It's fast, it's pretty brutal, and it's got a bunch of intro/outro tracks. What it doesn't have is Formula's beefy production, which was raw enough to give it a lively feel, but not weak. Heretic has raw production, but it sure feels weak. There's a lot of the low end missing, and with it, a lot of heaviness.

Heretic does have some very positive aspects, though. There is a slight flirtation with melody on "Beneath the Hollow," that is very catchy. Trey stated that he wanted to use polyrhtyhms on this album, and there is a shit load of dichotomy with the riffs. If you listen to Heretic with headphones, the interplay between the two guitars is really quite interesting.

The songs, as I may have said, are ferocious. There's lots of blasting everywhere. And quality guitar solos. But it just doesn't grab you. It's difficult to recall many moments when the album finally ends.

Steve Tucker gives another earth shaking vocal performance. On "Stricken Arise" he uses a more mid range, caustic delivery, that gives that song a particularly nasty edge. Pete Sandoval's drumming continues to get tighter and more intricate (and probably the drum triggering technology is getting better as well). And Trey is on top of his game. But none of these things really save the album. There is just no soul to a lot of the material, and it feels rushed. A little more time going over everything would have done a lot for Heretic.

Many have derided Illud Divinum Insanus as being a total sellout, or way too out there. Maybe that's true. But, if you don't like that album pick this one up. This is Morbid Angel playing it extremely safe, risking absolutely nothing. And for me, I really enjoy when Trey gets weird.

The 21st century has not been the most productive for Morbid Angel, who are now at the precipice of releasing only their 2nd full-length beyond Gateways to Annihilation (at the turn of the century). Now, granted, it's not as if they truly needed anything else to secure their legacy as legends or pioneers of the death metal genre, inspiring thousands of similar acts, but there seems to be this frivolous, counter-concern within the Trey and Pete camp in recent times. They'll do a tour, play the oldies, and every now and then, when they can bring themselves to care, churn some new material out of the womb of their imaginations. They've made their mark, so why bother to make another?

It's this tinkering and attention deficit which poison Heretic from achieving higher accolades, for while the 7th studio outing has its curiosities, and even a few revelations, it lacks the consistency and desolate might of its predecessor. Gateways to Annihilation was a trying and poignant glare into emptiness through the muscle of pure force, but Heretic seems far lazier. The guitar tone is thinner and thus less potent, especially since Trey is still focusing heavily on the twisted palm mute, lumbering backbone he had been using in the compositions since Blessed Are the Sick. A few of the tunes like "Cleansed in Pestilence (Blade of Elohim)" and "Curse the Flesh" seem as if they'd be scorchers with a better guitar sound, but instead feel bulimic and limp. The drums are quite strong, par for the course through the band's history, but without a more interesting sheet of riffing overlay, they are unable to get far of their own accord.

On the other hand, Heretic is still 'interesting' when it wants to be. Some of the faster breaks found in tunes like "Stricken Arise" or "Within Thy Enemy..." are well balanced and prove the band still have their extreme chops, even if musically speaking they were no longer riding the edge of the genre's levels of technicality and proficiency. Steve Tucker is strong throughout, his vocals digging into approximate levels of pain as Gateways. A number of the instrumental segues are quite wonderful, like the ominous crushing depth of "Place of Many Deaths" or the tranquil ambiance of "Abyssous", or even the dark age drought of "Memories of the Past". Morbid Angel attempted some similar, ritualistic environments beyond the metal itself with their shaky 5th album Formulas Fatal to the Flesh, but I feel that these work far better individually (though I could have done without the inner geek channeling "Victorious March of Reign the Conqueror", inspired by the animated TV series; cool idea, mediocre execution).

Then there's the bonus disc, which is full of rough instrumental mixes of the vocal songs, and a bunch of isolated solos and snippets. I guess if you really wanted to use some of the metal tracks as background without Tucker's presence, it's useful, but I'd rather hear some cool unreleased tunes or a live set or anything. The core album contains a "Drum Check", which totally breaks up the otherworldly effect a listener might experience during a better Morbid Angel record, and this should have been consigned to the bonus disc, but it's not, and that is yet another reason the disc feels so hackneyed and half-assed. None of the metal songs here are necessarily 'bad', but they truly lack the primal and hostile power of the previous work, and I can't think of a single entry I'd offer on a Morbid Angel highlight real, aside from some of the ambient fare, which really wouldn't belong. Despite the rhythmic exploration, decent lyrics and leads, and the stylistic deviation for the off-tracks, it's just not one of their best.

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com

This album definitely has it's high points and it's low points. Unfortunately when compared to earlier releases, "Heretic" seems to have more low points. It's really not a bad album at all, it's just not as good as what they have done in the past.

I remember buying this cd the day it came out. I had been anxiously waiting for a new Morbid Angel release to follow up from where "Gateways to Annihilation" left off. However, at first listen, this recording let me down. Don't get me wrong. Like I said, its not bad, but there are some definite problems with this album.

First of all "Heretic" has such bad production that you notice how bad the sound is right away. When I say right away, I mean as soon as you hear the first note. The guitar tone is weak. Where the hell is the bass? The vocals sound nearly drowned out by the poorly produced guitar sound. Pete's drumming is very repetitive too. Although there is a track called "Drum Check" where Pete lays down an incredible drum solo (One of the few high points of the album). What is laughable about the whole thing is that the instrumental keyboard tracks are actually better than most of the actual songs. Shouldn't it be the other way around? Actually all the songs should be good, but on this album that is not the case.

Now I will mention some of the good things about this album, even though some of the bad takes away from the good. Trey's solos of course are always amazing and that fact is no exception on Heretic. Also Trey's riffing is great even though the guitar sound was not produced well. Steve Tucker does a good job with his vocals although the vocals seem to have been turned down in the mix. Another interesting point is that all the lyrics were written by Steve. Trey wrote all the music (besides some instrumental stuff by Pete). I think it should have been more mixed on the lyrics. I wish Trey could have wrote more of the lyrical content.

As for the songs themselves. The only songs I really like (aside from the instrumentals) are: "Praise the Strength, Enshrined By Grace & Beneath the Hollow." All three of these songs are definitely good, but on any other Morbid Angel album they would be considered filler. Here they are the best on the album. The instrumentals are actually really awesome I must say. Out of all the Morbid Angel albums. This one has the best instrumentals, and there are so many. I don't get why there are so many instrumentals on this record. Also, there is a bonus disc that came with it. It contains some instrumental versions of songs on the main disc as well as some soloing from Trey. I find it interesting that some of the solos on the bonus disc are leads taken from "Gateways to Annihilation." I don't understand why Trey decided to throw in lead tracks from the previous album. It's as if they were trying to just throw in as much extra stuff on "Heretic" as they could to make up for the very few ideas they must have had.

I will end this review by saying that I really do love Morbid Angel. They are probably my favorite band. This album isn't as bad as some make it out to be. Its got some really good moments that are overlooked by a lot of people. I say go ahead and buy this album, but many of their earlier releases like (for instance) "Covenant & Formulas Fatal to the Flesh" are so much better. I'd say: get the earlier albums first and then get this album later on just for the sake of completing the collection.

Days had come, winters had gone, and we gambled like siblings in Paradise...and during that time, after the release of the cosmic "Gateways to Annihilation", not one new MORBID ANGEL album would come sliding down the salivating throats of the Anunnaki for their followers to feast upon. Perhaps it was the consistant touring or Trey's newfound intoxication of Doom, but the metal world was deprived of a new MA album for three long, non-brutal years. So would it be true that good things come to those who wait?

Indeed it does, my friends.

The best way to describe what to do when dealing with news of a new MORBID ANGEL album would be "expect the unexpected". Throughout their rather long existence, the band never really did anything predictable with their music as each successive album had its own personal feel and atmosphere; "Alters" was chaotic, "Blessed" was ghastly, "Covenant" was pure evil, "Domination" was swampy, "Entangled" was monstrous, "Formulas" was blistering and "Gateways" was astral. And not one album preceding or following kept on any real given path, save for the central genre. So by the time "Heretic" strolled its merry way in, the drawling space-exploration of "Gateways" was eschewed in favor of a sick, violent descent into a fiery oblivion that only MORBID ANGEL could do. Once the first riff of "Cleansed in Pestilence" strikes, you know you're in for a treat, a smorgasboard of death metal mastery set at as fast a pace as is possible at that given moment. Trey Azagthoth continues to prove his methodical insanity of guitar playing, letting loose an array of spasmatic riffs and mind-bending, other-worldly solos that transcend as they slay the listener. Throughout this slaughter belt-out Mr. Sandoval unleashes tremorous drumwork in a one-two punch that levels and pounds into utter dust. Still he remains one of the best drummers the metal world has seen, a throne that has yet to be usurped. And although Steve Tucker is in the picture, he remains more as an afterthought on this recording, both in the vocals and lyrics, both of which don't live up to past works by any stretch (bass is completely nonexistant here, and not worth noting). However, when focus is given to the riffery, plentiful musical goodness is abound, from the fast and twisted (the aformentioned "Cleansed...", "The Stricken Arise" and "Within Thy Enemy") to the inter-dimensional and inhuman ("Enshrined by Grace", "God of Our Own Divinity"). However, despite all its awesomeness it does have downsides; the production is rather horrible, rendering the rhythm guitar work a loud, intangible mess of static that makes differentiating notes and chords that much more of a chore, and the vocals have a wavy approach that makes one think Steve did his growling underwater. That lack of clarity is both cryptic and bothersome. That, and the bonus tracks and "Bonus Levels" disc seem a bit unnecessary, though the "Love of Lava" solos are a nice touch.

So all in all this is a satisfying album that helps keep MORBID ANGEL's continuous perch atop the peak of the death metal pile that much more intact. And while it's been WAY too long, let's hope whatever "I" album will come shooting out will be all the better, and more unexpected.

Days will come, winters will go, and we will gamble like siblings in Paradise...

While it has taken so long for Morbid Angel to release its follow up to 'Heretic', likely to start with the letter 'I', all I have to rely on is constant listens to their entire back catalog. I first of all do not think that 'Heretic' is their best effort to date for they all ready accomplished that years ago with 'Covenant'. Now that is an unfair comparison since they are both so very different. Where 'Heretic' varies is in the overall production and amazingly brutal yet still melodic guitar work, hats off to Trey for that one. 'Heretic' is a fucking beast...that's putting it lightly, 'Heretic' is the epitome of quality heavy. Brutality that stands far apart from the sloppily done brutal death metal that so many bands foul up. 'Covenant' lacked the modern day production values and had more thrash elements and darkness to its appeal.

Morbid Angel have always had a thunderous approach and 'Heretic' is no exception. 'Cleansed In Pestilence' and 'Enshrined By Grace' are extremely heavy and melodic. With those two put together we get a great idea of what the whole album is like. 'Beneath The Hollow' is the best song on the album. It is instrumental with buzzing guitars, choppy bass and drums that fill in the gaps before the annihilation really unravels. Steve's voice sounds really gruesome on this song and the whole entirety of it sounds well put together. To hear the instrumental only part listen to 'Doomcreeper' which is at the end of the album. If you were lucky enough to get limited edition of a few pressings it has instrumentals to all songs on 'Heretic' that portion is called 'bonus levels. 'Curse The Flesh' is equal in power and expression to its predecessor. The guitars keep up the pace and are Trey's best on the album. Pete's drumming gets really fast on this song and sounds like machine-gun fire.

There is really only 8 songs in 'Heretic' that are actual songs and not instrumentals which is ok as long as they are not just fillers. It annoys me when bands do that to fill up an album but at least Morbid Angel puts most of them at the end. 'Praise The Strength' is another really catchy song. The guitar during the chorus has that signature sound that Trey employs on this album. What I like most is that the guitars have more of a pitch to them and blatant explosiveness than what I am used to hearing. Especially on 'Gateways' and 'Formulas' where the guitars are really deep and sludgy.

'Heretic' will be a tough act to follow but I am impatiently waiting to see where David Vincents musical attributes reside after completing a long lived tenure in 'Genitorturers'. Will he be the same David that we remember from that once astonishing period in Morbid Angels life? The brilliant 'Alters of Madness' or the aforementioned 'Covenant'. Or will he actually introduce some goth and bondage influences to the fold? Fuck no my friends. The Morbid Angel I know will never succumb to such an atrocity.

I am disgusted at what little appreciation and what little respect is given to this band today. Not only are they a pillar of death metal, but also of thrash. If not for bands like Morbid Angel it isn't likely that death metal would even exist today and if it did it definitely wouldn't be as good. This music has succumbed to the most outcast and degenerate offerings of this world. Computer hacks, pre-pubescent teenagers, chat room critics and all of their glue sniffing mallcore counterparts have collectively infiltrated a once proud and noble form of art and sucked it to the bone. They have taken refuge in something they are not and have never been a part of. Unfortunately it's not just death metal that's been taken down by these homosexual drones, but basically every sub-genre.

The best way that I could describe Heretic is as a combination of Gateways to Annihilation and Altars of Madness. It doesn't have much of those thick crushing riffs that Gateways has, but it does have plenty of those early 90's death/thrash riffs that Morbid Angel and other bands of the day were known for. I think the end result of their combining of the two was effective in creating something that calls back to the old school and at the same time remains at the forefront of the genre today. It isn't the most innovative, but by it's sheer musical domination, song writing and feel for groove it succeeds. The creativity and energy that is displayed on this album is impressive.

The sound is compressed, with heavy mid-range leanings, raw and slightly sloppy, but in a good way. Although I liked the production on their last album I am glad that they chose to go in this direction because this sound had an enormous impact on the origins of this music. They implement a lot more of their thrash roots on this and so to me it makes perfect sense that they chose to make this sound the way that they did. You bring out a lot more feeling and authenticity when you don't edit the fuck out of the music in an attempt to make it sound tighter. On this album Trey is all over the place with his rhythms and triplet massacring and Pete is still Pete, fast as hell and aggressive! Some have complained about Steve Tuckers vocals and the absence of David Vincent, but really he does an excellent job, I have no complaints.

Lyrically there is nothing absolutely special, they stick to being themselves and don't sing about topics which they have no knowledge of. It's for the most part in opposition to the semitic religions, their mindless followers and the toll that they've taken on civilization. In fact the lyrics are very relevant to today, as each second that passes brings us closer to another war, a religious war, which threatens to ignite the whole of this planet into nothing more than swathes of twisted corpses and disease. They are none too upset by this, in fact it would appear that they actually welcome this holocaust with open arms.

Listening to Heretic I become infuriated, I sit back with scorn, with utter contempt for this decaying world. This music is about hate, about the complete and total resentment for what our modern day industrialized society is doing to us and what it's like having to live in it. What it's like to have no choice in the matter, to sit and rot in these corrupt and decaying states which promise so much and yet offer only enslavement and repression of its people. This music was born on the streets and there it will always remain. Bands like Morbid Angel still thrive off this negativity that burns inside them and they channel it into incredible albums like this. If you are a fan of this genre or of the band I can only recommend that you support what's left of this scene and purchase this album.

Oh boy. Well....I didn't really expect it to be this bad. Gateways was actually pretty good...This was like St. Anger to me. This album was a heretic to everything that Morbid Angel has released to date. Wow how far these guys have fallen without David Vincent. So this shitty ass album has been all that I to listen to regarding recent MA releases, and it's now 5 years later.

I saw MA with Krisiun and I was really worried. My friend and I went to the show, and we expected to see Tucker up there...When David Vincent came out and played 1 song from this album, and played everything from albums A-D...my friend and I were fucking stoked! Thank the gods that Dave is back..This album can now be a bad memory. I have previous experience seeing them live with Tucker, when they were on tour with Pantera, and I couldn't understand why people actually cheered what bullshit they tried to play. I am not a fan of Tuck and he has shitty input for the band.

Needless to say, I had low expectations, and they met them, and even went further. The band has obviously ran out of things to say. They no longer sing about Sumerian Gods, incantations; here is an example from Praise the Strength:

Praise this Source of Strength
Seize this time and Heed
Embrace the Strength and Heed
The Fallen behind me

A kid with Downs Syndrome that has an affinity for sniffing glue on a regular basis could write better lyrics than that. C'mon... Not to mention the fact that there are a rediculous amount of tracks that are completely blank...Not like when NIN did it on Broken with each track lasting a second, but random ass lengths such as 1:31, 4-8 seconds, what the hell?

Oh and as an added bonus, they added a bonus disc, which only put more emphasis on the shitty mixing, terrible producing, and overall sludgy sound of the guitars that leave Pete in the background and you barely hear his blasts and the cymbals are all but inaudible.

The only reason I didn't give this a goose egg was because of the Trey solos. That's it.

Otherwise, an utter piece of garbage...But it has Morbid Angel's name on it. It has been way too long since this atrocity has come out, and with Dave back, I am keeping the (un)faith in the trinity from hell going back to their technically brutal (and crystal clear) sound that they had in the days of yore.

The first thing one will be reminded of when contemplating Morbid Angel's seventh (and at the time of this writing, latest) studio LP is their fourth, 'Domination'. Luckily, this comparison is not drawn musically, but rather in what it means internally for the band; in this case, the end of an era. An experience that is known well by Morbid Angel fans everywhere, as previous departures such as those of Richard Brunelle and David Vincent severely impacted the sound of the band due to their absence. As bassist/vocalist Steve Tucker's swan song with Morbid Angel, we all now wait to see what, post-'Heretic', a newly returned David Vincent can do with his old band. Will he be able to shake the spectre of 'Domination' and the Genitorturers?

Of course, this isn't Vincent's album. But in the harsh light of hindsight, he almost seems to overtake an album he wasn't even featured on by his metaphorical return to the fold after its release. In some ways, such a quick reunion overshadowed the loss of Steve Tucker, who had (up until this point, at least) seemed nothing more than a voice for the domineering personality of Trey Azagthoth. Ironically, this might be another nod to 'Domination', though Tucker did not leave in quite the spectacular display of disgrace that Vincent did, he was similarly forgotten with a replacement so willing and available. Poor Tucker, so callously thrown aside (despite leaving of his own volition, there's an undeniable questionability towards all the events surrounding this album) like a used whore, and one that, unlike Julia Roberts, will most likely not be cleaned up by some metal version of Richard Gere anytime soon.

To get back to the circumstances of 'Heretic' itself; it's certainly an abrupt shift in more ways than one. Directly responsible for forcing Morbid Angel off of Earache, this was the poorest selling Morbid Angel album in the band's history, at a mere twenty thousand records sold. Most of this can be blamed on word of mouth; critical evaluation was a mixed bag, but not an across-the-board panning by any stretch. I'd wager that it was a combination of an attempt at modern sound (once again, ala 'Domination'), timing ('Heretic' was released three years after 'Gateways To Annihilation', an album of reasonable success) and simple lack of interest or enjoyment from the metal buying populace. Let's face it: any conversation regarding Morbid Angel generally revolves around the first three albums, as it probably always will.

In all honesty, I was incredibly disappointed with 'Heretic' originally. I was extremely displeased with such a turn after the masterful 'Gateways To Annihilation', which, while simpler overall, was a very pure exercise in the songwriting talent of the band at that time. Certainly it was a difficult release to eclipse, but certainly they could have hitched their wagon to a star, so to speak, instead of releasing something so seemingly half-baked and wandering to no apparent location. What was the purpose of such an album? What was it trying to really say?

'Heretic' is straight-up awful at first listen. Or first ten listens. Or first hundred. This album redefines the phrase 'grow on you' and affixes a slowness to the process that will make all but the most hardened (or absent-minded) listener tap out when they think they can derive nothing from it. Luckily, after that undefined period of acclimation (for some, one listen; for me, three years), the album becomes at the very least average. For me, it is no longer an agonizing exercise in spectacular patience, but a reasonably pleasant listening experience (though I'd be lying if I said the spectre of the unholy trinity of ABC is ever far away in my mind) that is able to shake off most of the initial stigma associated with this album. 'Heretic' isn't awful; it's just shockingly unfriendly and, in some ways, very clumsy, and not in an intentional, artistic way, either.

Presuming you start the album right at this point in this sentence, your face is likely twisted into a look of incredulous 'what the hell were they thinking' as soon as the opener 'Cleansed In Pestilence (Blade Of Elohim)' begins. Morbid Angel was never a band that lacked irony: in numerous interviews before the release of 'Heretic' lead guitarist Trey Azagthoth delighted in speaking of his new guitar recording technique, and how it would most certainly be the future of such activities due to its unique and amazing properties. Unique it most certainly is, if one's interpretation of 'unique' includes unbelievably rancid. 'Heretic' has, at first listen, one of the most excruciatingly bad guitar tones ever heard on a metal album, or any album for that matter. Too much mid-range, too much distortion, too much blurring, too much everything that shouldn't be used in what is ostensibly a death metal album. Until one is able to get past this facet of the album, you'll most likely detest the album for that fact alone. Compounding guitar issues is Azagthoth's bizarre writing on this release, where riffs seem to be written and then sliced in half and crudely stapled to each other before being recorded. The opening track on this release exemplifies this perfectly: what is supposed to be going on here? That opening riff is so spectacularly clumsy and awkward as to make one forget entirely about sublime releases such as 'Covenant'.

The songs present aren't bad necessarily, just really poorly presented and structured. Frequently, tracks such as 'Stricken Arise' feel like grab bags of good ideas that simply do not dovetail together properly. That song's unnecessarily long instrumental bridges are a testament to the amount of padding that goes on this album, which goes pretty far to diminish the enjoyment one derives from this release. It's not all bad, simply illogically executed, which makes it seem far worse than it should be. 'Heretic' is practically daring you to like it, taunting you with quality songwriting in, say, 'God Of Our Own Divinity', before snatching it away and replacing it with yet another drum fill (as an aside: 'Drum Check' while amusing and very impressive, is totally unnecessary, as are the ambient tracks such as 'Place Of Many Deaths' which go on far too long for their ideas). Instrumentally, all the members are as capable as ever, but the issue of course lies in what they're playing, not how they're playing it. The could be blamed on Azagthoth's essentialy total control over all aspects of Morbid Angel these days: all the music on 'Heretic' was written exclusively by him.

And yet, I can't bring myself to really slam such an album. Perhaps it's due to how unfriendly this LP is: it speaks to an incarnation of Morbid Angel that is more experimental and willing to take dramatic risks (though they don't always work out) even when it goes against their fanbase. In a way, I'd say this is more significant than simply releasing another 'Formulas Fatal To The Flesh' and raking in the cash. Azagthoth's songwriting is flawed but daring, a rather difficult thing to be after two decades playing in the same artistic outlet. It's pleasing to see that Morbid Angel still does something new, despite that new thing not being entirely well thought-out in this case. Certainly, if one examines the implications of this release beyond the purely musical, it becomes a great deal more interesting. Morbid Angel's ideological and spiritual views advance with each album, and 'Heretic' is no different; on this LP, Morbid Angel has essentialy abandoned any sort of god-worship in favor of self-reliance; the true 'god of one's own divinity', as they say.

There are still some very fine portions on this release, that I would say make it worth hearing. 'Beneath The Hollow' is one of the strongest tracks on the album, with Mrobid Angel's patented ability to layer their music in complex and alternating yet lucid compositions, as evidenced by the clever double-tracked vocal passages melding with the logically sequenced riffs. When 'Heretic' does come together (not entirely infrequent, though uncommon enough to gain one's attention) it is fantastic, like all Morbid Angel releases, reflecting the passion of elder times with the logic and intelligence of modern music. True, it's a shame that it must be entombed by such a difficult mentality, but in a way this weeds out those who would not be as truly dedicated. This is one of those albums that you'll have to determine for yourself.

Where will Morbid Angel go from here? With the return of David Vincent, will a revival of the old-school aesthetic occur, or will the band continue on their modern direction? Will Tucker's influence still linger, and will Azagthoth still control artistic direction? Will the next release measure up to the days of old? Has Morbid Angel lost their step, or are they still as skilled as they used to be?

All overanalyzation aside: I will be along for the ride until the end.

*The author cannot be held responsible for the extreme lack of objectivity concerning the following article:*

Finally. Three years after the release of “Gateways To Annihilation” Morbid Angel saw it fit to release its’ successor “Heretic” and I was shivering with anticipation about the madness the band recorded unto tape (or harddisk. Whatever). Morbid Angel sound different on each and every record, now don’t they?

To make it a lot easier on myself I will get straight to the conclusion. “Heretic” is by far the most sick death metal album since Morbid Angels’ “Formulas Fatal to the Flesh” was conceived.
The album has it all: unbridled heaviness, sheer speed, a cacophonous crunching power, instrumental tracks which go beyond the boundaries of atmosphere and back and especially that immense draught…

Let’s just take a short trip down the track list shall we? “Cleansed In Pestilence (Blade of Elohim)” has an almost “Covenant”-like feel, “Enshrined by Grace” is faaaaaaaaaaast (and will feature a video clip later on) “Beneath the Hollow” is slow, complex and heavy as fuck, “Curse the Flesh” and “Praise the Strength” tear apart 95% of the competition thanks to the insane riffing, “Stricken Arise” (Azagthoth on vocals?) features brutality beyond all hope, containing one of the most sick brutal riffs I have ever heared, “Place of Many Deaths” is perhapse the most macabre tale of desolation Morbid Angel has ever recorded, “Abyssous” is a typical Azagthoth guitar track, “God of Our Own Divinity” and especially “Within Thy Enemy” are once again the equivalent of a sonic hurricane on acid, “Memories of the Past” is a melancholical piano/keyboard trip (devised by one Pete Sandoval), “Victorious March of Rain the Conqueror” is yet another instrumental track and this track would fit nicely as an intro to any epic videogame whatsoever. “Drum Check” (Pete Sandoval’s morning exercise and gym class) and “Born Again” (a studio outtake of Azagthoth’s solo previously encountered on “Gateways…”s’ “Secured Limitations”) being the closing arguments.

All this was devised, planned and played by Azagthoth, Sandoval and Tucker, the last one proving once again to surpass David Vincent with ease. Whereas Pete Sandoval –besides being one of the most tight playing drummers on planet Earth- seems to be in possession of hidden talents regarding the tracks “Memories of the Past” and “Victorious March of Rain The Conqueror”.
Trey Azagthoth is the most creative, sick genius ever to roam the barren wasteland of death metal, period.

From the fourteen tracks the promo version of “Heretic” contains six are instrumental ones, something that can be a bit confusing since the official release will consist of two CD’s, one of which shall contain some thirty minutes of extra “Heretic” studio material.

Sometimes the facts are just plain and simple. The way I see it, Morbid Angel has exceeded itself.
That these three gentlemen are being masters of their instruments goes without saying, but the continuous expanding of their self created style of music to a yet higher level of brutality without doing the slightest concession simply keeps on amazing me.
“Heretic” isn’t just a very cool album; it’s a landmark in ultra heavy, high-end death metal.
Therefore I award them the highest possible mark, the first time I ever do this.

Adjectives like "good" and "bad" almost fail to apply here - what I hear on this album are a few very talented guys making music too streamlined for its own good. There was quite a bit of that problem back on the last album, but not quite this badly, but on the bright side it's not quite so ordinary and mainstream sounding as, say, Domination, thanks to some interesting (if rather limited) experimentation.

I'm always a fan of Trey Azagthoth's strange, alien style of guitar playing, and there are some really nice moments that showcase his ability to evoke the bizarre nicely (I especially enjoy the dual guitar interaction at the start of "Beneath the Hollow"), but they're trapped in routine songs. Honestly, I think I enjoy a lot of the “annoying pretentious filler” (the obligatory wacky instrumental tracks, you know what I mean) better than the real songs.

To my taste, this still better qualifies as "real music" than the sort of embarrassments that most great metal bands past their prime generate, and a lot of the songs here function well for what they're attempting, but still, it isn't really so great, and to rub a little more salt in the wound, I feel the band could/should be doing a great deal better. Oh well. I did enjoy listening to it a few times, at least.

Morbid Angel have been and probably always will be creators of extremely excellent DM. This is no exception, as some people seem to think. Heretic is complete organised chaos from beginning to end. Be prepared for a brutal, mind-smashing album.

First thing I'd like to commend about this album is the lyrics. They are terrific. All up there's only about 8 real songs on the album, but there are about five instrumentals as well, plus 30 other weird tracks which have mostly nothing on them (what the fuck?). The guitars are very heavy and notably more chaotic than their other music. Drums are fast - kicks, hi-hats, snares. All fast. All very fast. Pete Sandoval is probably the best metal drummer ever, technically speaking, and this album pretty much proves it. Steve Tucker's growling is as relentless and unholy as ever and the solos are executed with expert precision. Heretic is also a faster than most of their music. At least as fast as Blessed Are the Sick, if not Altars.

The instrumentals, or intervals, are interesting enough as well. Drum check serves as what could be called humorous relief, I guess. And a drum solo as well, of course. The others are quite weird although intriguing and enjoyable to listen to, in contrast to the violent songs that trample over them.

Overall this is an excellent album. Perhaps not a great MA CD to start with, but for a big DM or MA fan, a definite winner.

To say that I was disappointed by this album is an understatement. Where is the manic aggression, the organized chaos, the uniquely dark and menacing feel that characterizes Morbid Angel? It is only found in very small doses on this CD, if at all, and it is not enough. For one thing, the production is horrible; the drums are obviously triggered and sound like milk cartons, the guitars are weak and fuzzy, and there is no bass to be found. And Tucker's vocals are not anywhere near as commanding as they were on "Gateways to Annihilation" (yes, I like that CD).

And what is the deal with filling almost half the CD with instrumentals that contribute little if anything, to the album aside from padding it out? "Drum Check" is especially pointless, as Pete plays like that all the time anyway, so why bother recording an instrumental of him soloing? The songs do not grab you by the throat like previous MA efforts do, and I cannot say I recommend any particular track of the songs proper.

All in all, even "Formulas Fatal to the Flesh" is better than this piece of crap, and that is not one of the more inspired MA releases. I hope that Trey and Co. get their act together for the next one, as it sounds to me that Tucker could have toured with the band some more to get himself reinstated better as opposed to rushing in and having it be very obvious he did. Come on, guys, I know you've got it in you somewhere still...do you?

Yes, it's been a long wait, and if you ask me, it was well worth it. I had loved Morbid Angel's previous effort (the controversial "Gateways To Annihilation") and was obviously quite shocked to learn that half of the line-up behind that amazing work - guitarist Erik Rutan and especially vocalist/bassist Steve Tucker - had called it a day with Morbid Angel. But while everything around them was in turmoil and chaos, Trey and Peter were busy working on the songs of the future album, and the job they did you can judge here. Steve also came back in time to write and record his parts on the album, for my great joy. And the final result, "Heretic", did not disappoint me. At all.
Quite simply, this album can be described as a restless assault brought on by three fierce warriors gathered under one unholy banner. The riffs, the rhythms, the growls, the arrangements... we can breathe all the malignant, Doomsday-like atmosphere of the band's post-Vincent production... but there's another energetic element ready to strike us with all its untamed potential, something that harkens back to the days of "Covenant" and "Blessed Are The Sick"... or even, the Ancient Ones forbid, "Altars Of Madness", for that matter. No, Morbid Angel didn't go back in time with their style; they are completely tending towards the future, and mre ambitious goals to conquer. And in order to achieve that, they summoned their whole range of potential - from the harsh, speed-laden early days top the more subtle, cold and clinical atmospheres of their new sound -, and infused this destructive current into the core of "Heretic".

"Cleansed in Pestilence (Blade of Elohim)" begins the assault with no warnings, unleashing insanely fast riffing and drumming topped by a Steve Tucker whose voice has never sounded so aggressive. The choice of going right at the listener's throat rather than slowly wrapping him is spirals of controlled sonic deconstruction clearly defines the borderline between "Heretic" and "Gateways To Annihilation"; yet, in the middle of the song, the pace goes down and the picture fades to an even darker shade, dominated by Trey's ominous riffs and unrelenting solos.
"Enshrined by Grace" awaits after this first strike, and sweeps away any remains of doubts with its repentine accelerations and more great solos. Did I mention that Pete offers a totally inhuman performance behind the skins? Yes, we already knew what he's capable of doing; still, be prepared to have your jaw drop while listening to this album. The real surprise, however, comes from Steve: if one didn't know that he had previously left the band only to come back short before the recording of the album, he could never tell. His increased vocal range and apparent self-confidence reflect a natural progression from his previous contributions, not something coming out of a hiatus. Really impressive.

Further down the tracklist we find the slow, grinding aggression of "Beneath the Hollow", probably the closest song in terms of atmosphere to "Gateways To Annihilation" (although bits of "Domination" and even "Formulas Fatal To The Flesh" can be identified); with "Curse the Flesh", we are taken by surprise by majestic riffs edged with an almost symphonic quality, with Pete switching between slow patterns to full blastbeats assault effertlessly (and, most importantly, without ruining the general feeling); "God of Our Divinity" amazes with its almost Doom Metal signature and subtle guitar harmonies, and features a small bonus in the form of a guest solo by Karl Sanders (of Nile) at the end.
But for those who didn't particularly like "Gateways To Annihilation", here come the great news: there's a whole lot of speed to be fond in this record. Such is the case of "Praise the Strength", a vicious old-styled assaults which descends directly from "Covenant", although of course improved by years of experience and improved musicianship. The real highlight, however, is "Stricken Arise", a deadly injection of Morbid Angel aggression that will definitely appease the most nostalgic of fans: not only do Pete and Trey blaze along at full speed without sacrificing cohesion (and show no signs of uncertainty while going through sudden tempo changes in the middle), but Steve also displays a venomously intense vocal performance - it's all too easy to close our eyes and imagine we are back in 1993 listening to the newly released "Covenant".
The same goes for "Within Thy Enemy", an excellent sequence of stabbing riffs with a killer chorus that could just be the catchiest hook the band has come up with since "Altars Of Madness".

This is for the actual songs. "Heretic" is also notable for having quite a bunch of instrumentals. Two of these ("Place of Many Deaths" and "Abyssous") are more ambient-oriented and serve as a kind of intermission between a storming assault and the other, while the remaining four are crammed at the end of the album... weird, but that's their album, so I guess they can do whatever they want with it.
The highlight has to be "Victorious March of Rain the Conqueror", a spectacular keyboard based symphony (which also includes drums) penned by Pete which almost resembles Vangelis's works at times! Pete also wrote "Memories from the Past", a nice keyboard instrumental notable for its dark mood although it lacks a bit of focus. The aforementioned "Place of Many Deaths" also stands out, as it couples interesting guitar work with a psychedelic-influenced noise background.
The final two instrumentals, "Drum Check" and "Reborn", display Pete's and Trey's talent on their instruments respectively outside of a full song's context. Both are simply impressive, and also interesting to hear.

As a conclusion, I confirm my highly positive judgement for this album. I had great expectations, and none of these have been failed. This is something that only a great album can do, and "Heretic" is one of the best Death Metal albums I've heard in a while - of course if we can still call the band's music simply Death Metal at this point of their amazing evolution. But whatever the genre, Morbid Angel still soars high in my Death Metal hitlist.

Undoubtedly one of the most influential pioneers of the United States death metal movement, Morbid Angel return with a vengeance in the form of a new album entitled "Heretic." They're back to remind us again why they remain one of the most highly regarded and influential death metal bands in the U.S. to this day.

This month marks the release of Morbid Angel's eighth and quite possibly most anticipated album to date. Remaining true to their fans, and keeping the tradition of only getting better with each release, "Heretic" delivers with fourteen crushing, atmospheric, in your face, brutal tracks. Ranging from huge songs lodated with tuned down, hell driven guitar riggs, insane blast beat and intricate drum rolls (Pete's the fucking man!) and vocals eerily reminiscent of David Vincent-era Morbid Angel to the more soothing, trippy atmospheric tracks that Trey enjoys throwing together (because what else is there to think about when all you do is watch cartoons and play video games?).

Trey's signature guitar solos are the most dominant element on this album, as well as the speed-riffs in songs like "Enshrined By Grace" and "Stricken Arise." Trey's talent shines through in all of the tracks, but most noticeably so in the best song on the album, "Beneath the Hollow." The guitar never slows down and is the perfect example of the way a death metal song should be arranged. Each riff flows easily into the next and stays with the beat. Steve Tucker's growls on this song are dark and remind me so much of David Vincent's vocals on "God of Emptiness" that I'm glad Steve is back. Let Dave stay in "Genitorturers", the fuck.

Just as impressive are the many instrumentals dispersed throughout. "Victorious March of Rain the Conqueror" definitely stands out as one of the better instrumentals. It invokes a feeling of chaos, sadness and glory with equal parts mythicism and supernatural. The violin, guitar, piano and synthesizers blend together to create a very imperialistic sound. Defiintely worth the two and a half minutes it takes to listen.

The most obvious change and improvment on "Heretic" as compared to previous Morbid Angel releases is Steve Tucker as a frontman. Having now completed three albums as the bassist and vocalist of the band, he has definitely improved here. His vocals have improved and expanded to amazing new levels with low and wickedly evil growls to the higher pitch rasping. His voice fits the music now and doesn't distract from the rest of the album, adding an extra dimension of brutality as a whole.

The production on "Heretic" is outstanding and wondefully clear. With so much going on, that's a great thing. I was able to pay attention to every detail and to even the smallest of changes. The vocals are in your voice, incredibly crisp and clear. The bass is crushingly heavy and the guitar is brutally sharp. The drums...sweet Satan, the drums are dizzying and hypnotic. The cymbals and kick drum are beautiful and the producation on this album only enhances that. Everything is mixed to perfection, blended together yet separated at the same time.

My only complaint is the weak ending of the album. "Heretic" ends with a track of a drum check that turns into a drum solo followed by a track of a guitar solo. Why these were included, we'll probably never know, but there they are.

Fans of Morbid Angel, you will not be let down by this album. Fans of old Morbid Angel, they have returned to the days of old. Buy this album, and buy it fast.