Artist: Morbid Angel
Label: Earache Records
Release Date: 9/23/03
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Title: Heretic Artist: Morbid Angel Label: Earache Records Release Date: 9/23/03 |
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Abyss's Review:
Give me an 'H'! Arguably the premiere death metal act of all time, Morbid Angel release their latest album which sees Steve Tucker returning to the fold. While I believe the band's last few records were undeservedly maligned by many in the underground, there is little doubt that they had far less staying power than the first four records from this juggernaut. Unfortunately, Heretic is not the album that will bring this band back to the domination of the scene.
"While this record isn't really all that bad, it's also not really all that good either." Heretic is an inconsistent and disjointed record. Like their last few efforts, flashes of brilliance are evident throughout the disc, but the overall product leaves a little to be desired. And while this record isn't really all that bad, it's also not really all that good either. It starts off better than it ends, but it's quite boring in parts, and few songs are all that remarkable.
To their credit, Morbid Angel seems to be playing around with their style a bit. While they continue with their plodding rhythms and artificial harmonics, they have a more organic production on this record, and use different sounds and textures. And while many of these new twists are interesting, the songwriting, more often than not, prevents it from being all that rewarding an experience. What's worse is the ending of the album with a tedious drum solo, followed by "Born Again", which is a highlighted, but just as tedious, guitar solo.
"Morbid Angel are finding themselves closer and closer to the middle tier when it comes to American death metal." Morbid Angel are finding themselves closer and closer to the middle tier when it comes to American death metal. Perhaps if Trey spent less time studying ideologies and more time writing good riffs, this band could rise like a phoenix, but right now that seems unlikely. For fans only. One word review: Inconsistent.
Death's Review:
I'm disappointed in the new Morbid Angel "H" album, unfortunately. It is good but not great. Mediocre to mediocre-plus. Trust me, I want to rave about this but can't completely do it. What is cool is that Trey goes off in many spots, as does Pete Sandoval on the drums (he even gets a pretty serious drum solo track). I also like the guitar layering that makes for interesting sounds in many of the riffs. But the songs just aren't really all that memorable. Some of the instrumental riff passages do creep their way into your head with repetition, but overall, the "punch" isn't always there. And the hypnotic "slowness" of a lot of the songs makes the band sound like it sometimes isn't tight. This, combined with the uber-raw guitar sound and the somewhat modern feel of the guitar layering effect (it often sounds like three or more guitar tracks on top of each other, played to various harmonic effect), sometimes leaves a strange dichotomy. So in many senses, this is original. But overall I don't like the production. I do like the multi-channel effect, whereby there are sometimes legitimately two different things going on - one in the left speaker and one in the right. This is cool. But I don't like the mix, the guitars sound sloppy and distant, and the vocals have little charisma. And the songs don't stick with me well enough to merit lots of attention. Sure, Heretic has some killer riffs, and there is a nice display of technicality throughout, but where is the drama, the moodiness, the dynamics and the catchiness of the band at its Covenant prime, or where is the focused brutality and tight riffage from Gateways to Annihilation? I don't feel that here.
"Mediocre to mediocre-plus. Trust me, I want to rave about this but can't completely do it."
"There is some cool catchy stuff in there, but it is buried and the album makes you work for it." Heretic is at its best when the guitars and drums are locked in an intricate loop-riff of order entwined within chaos. Overall, "Praise the Strength" is the best song, and it sounds great, but again the mix keeps you from feeling the full effect. Perhaps too much emphasis was placed on trying to feature the uniqueness of the layered guitars? Perhaps this stuff will sound better live? Nonetheless, Heretic is at its worst when it tries to dish out skull-crushing death metal songs. There is some cool catchy stuff in there (like "Praise the Strength"), but it is buried and the album makes you work for it. With Morbid Angel having been given every opportunity to increase their profile last record through tours with bands like Pantera, I was hoping that they would come out of the box strong with new recorded studio product to back up all of the promotional hype. I feel let down after listening to this record. Perhaps I'm being too harsh. Maybe some of this could have been fixed with a more direct-sounding production. Maybe I am not being patient enough to appreciate all of the nuances. I'll admit that this is no huge deviation from the recent Morbid Angel course. It's just that there is a lot of downtime interspersed between songs that simply are not all that memorable. Perhaps more listening down the road will reveal the error of my ways, but for now I'm just left with this feeling that there are so many other albums I'd rather be listening to. Believe me, I still root for Morbid Angel. I want to help the rise of the death metal arts, not impede it, and semi-slogging the new Morbid Angel album feels like it is not exactly going to help advance the cause. I'll go see them in concert and reassess from there. Until then, I'l ltry to understand Heretic better. I'm anxious to hear what others think.
Hel's Review:
I am having a great deal of trouble putting this review into a coherent form. I keep getting distracted and jotting down a list of notes - most of them negative. The first source of my negativity is the format - Earache is breaking up songs into multiple short tracks, as yet another attempt at curbing online piracy. I respect their efforts and the cause, but these attempts invariably make my life as a reviewer more difficult. In this case, I often had no idea what song I was listening to. Where did one song end and the next begin? The numbers printed on the sleeve don't seem to match up correctly in some places. And I didn't have the listing with me most of the time, so I was bewildered and wondering what song I was listening to far too much.
"The first truly serious issue is, obviously, the production... I will always maintain that crappy production is only acceptable in demo recordings, and even then it's borderline." But the first truly serious issue is, obviously, the production. Yes, yes - I understand the philosophy of "true" metal production - but I will always maintain that crappy production is only acceptable in demo recordings, and even then it's borderline. If you can afford good production, then you should do it. Dirty production is not fun to listen to. Worse even, this album is utterly unbalanced and, for example, during a certain song a horrible whining guitar tone comes out of my left speaker - very loudly. The levels are all wrong, dammit!! It's irritating, to say the least. I am tempted to continue to pick at the production, as it colors each and every performance on the disc.
Here's a question: Why don't the drums sound like they do during "Drum Check" throughout the entire album? They sound great here - what happened to the rest of the record? Oh, wait. I said I was going to stop picking on the production, didn't I? Still, it's difficult to let it go, as this is probably the thing that most ruins this album for me. So my final shot at the production will be this: Why, also, is the production so clear on the most un-metal track on the album, "Memories of the Past"?
"What the hell am I listening to? And what the hell is that - a dulcimer? A harpsichord? All I'm saying is - it's just not metal." The presence of multiple tracks that I can only describe as "ambient instrumental" mars my enjoyment further. Shit like "Memories of the Past" makes me wonder, "what the hell am I listening to?" And what the hell is that - a dulcimer? A harpsichord? All I'm saying is - it's just not metal. "Place of Many Deaths," "Abyssous," and "Victorious March of Rain the Conqueror" suffer from the same syndrome. And the final track, "Born Again," is pure guitar wankery - utterly useless beyond emphasizing a point we are already well aware of - Trey is a technical guitar master. Great, thanks, I needed a whole extra song devoted strictly to that concept. Sheesh. Why the hell do they think we've stuck around until "H"?
At this rate, they may as well call the next one Inane. All right, fine, now I'm just being harsh. I love Morbid Angel, and I dearly want to be able to stick up for them and talk about how great this album is, despite the production issues. But you know what, I just don't feel that's the case. This album is more mediocre than great, though it saddens me to say so. If there had been fewer filler songs - the five mentioned above plus "Drum Check" leave only eight substantive songs - the overall quality of this album would have increased drastically in my mind. Then maybe I'd have a soapbox to stand on while I declared the rest of the album amazing, despite the production.
Yes, the substantive songs that do exist are good, underneath all that that crappy production. "Stricken Arise" has become my favorite song on the record and exemplifies the good side of Heretic. The band's musical chops are, as amply demonstrated, still excellent, and the songwriting on those eight songs is pretty stellar. If it had just been an eight song CD, I probably would have enjoyed it a lot more, and would most certainly have garnered a higher score. But five songs of pure uselessness - that's just too much, heaped atop such abysmal, uneven production on the eight worthwhile songs. My love for the ghost of Morbid Angel past can only lend enough strength to prop this one up to a three. I hope the next effort holds more actual substance than this one does.
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