Morbid Angel - "Illud Divinum Insanus" (2011) [Season of Mist Records]

After spending almost a decade of what one can fittingly describe as "living hardcore radikult," Morbid Angel finally released the "I" album in their alphabetical series...and what a steaming pile of festering horse feces it is. Yes, I'm fully aware of and am a devoted fan of Morbid Angel's previous albums (even some of the weird electronic stuff on "Heretic"), but this is a step too far in an unexpected and unwanted direction. What happened?

Eyes immediately shift to relative young blood David Vincent, previously of gothic "wunderkind" Genitortures, whose wonderful music is on constant rotation here at The Inarguable, as a scapegoat, but, though Vincent was to blame for strange and not-so-great experiments in the past, Illud Divinum Insanus is entirely at the fault of former mastermind and riff-wizard Trey Azagthoth. Sure, the death metal songs are okay, I guess. The single "ExistoVulgore"'s drum tracks sound like someone clicking marbles together and the riffs are merely okay compared to previous ventures, but it gave fans like myself hope that maybe Morbid Angel might have had some life in them, but upon listening to the album, it's obvious that they should have just let the band die.

For all you naysayers out there who "like" this album because you're "open minded," let me put it this way: I received a promo with "beeps" to prevent further mp3 spreading and if no one had told me that the "beeps" were there, I would have thought they were some god-awful sample just sort of "thrown in" by Vincent and Azagthoth. This shock rock, american gothic-nu-metal inspired tripe can barely even be acceptable as a release by any other band, let alone Morbid Angel. If I didn't know this was a Morbid Angel album, I would have thought a troupe of trailer-dwelling, wife-beater donning, confederate flag-waving nu-metal subhumans decided to listen to "Formulas Fatal To The Flesh" and went "We can totally do that, but let's still sound like Marilyn Manson or Rob Zombie! This is going to be the best album ever, guys." Chock full of piss-poor attempts at industrial metal, "clacking marbles" drums, uninspired riffs, and a huge, (sadly) now-unwarranted sense of self-importance, this is definitely (hopefully) the final nail in Morbid Angel's coffin.

"Too Extreme!"? I think not. Tsk tsk, Morbid Angel. Tsk tsk tsk.

I sure hope Season of Mist doesn't hate me for this one :(. It is immensely disappointing and saddening that I have to say such things about Morbid Angel...

-Jon