Morbid Angel are the band, which recorded the best death metals album of all time, which in my opinion are both "Altars of Madness" and "Blessed Are the Sick". These two amazing records are perfect in every way and even though I love also many other death metal classics, these two albums reign on the throne supreme. That takes us to 2011 and the failure, which was titled "Illud Divinum Insanus". Such a disappointment, such an unexpected hitting of the bottom of misery - it's an album, which should never happen for this band. Already "Heretic" was mediocre, but when compared to “Illud...” it sounds way better anyway. Few years later David Vincent leaves Morbid Angel. Well, in his early days he was the best death metal voice for me, I loved what he did until the "Covenant" LP. Later his voice was getting weaker and weaker, lost its depth and strength. Steve Tucker comes back to the band and that's the best choice Morbid Angel could have done really, as both albums Morbid did with him earlier on were very, very good. And in 2017 "Kingdoms Disdained" comes.
Well, in the beginning I felt again let down by it. I wasn't much convinced by these new songs and the production I felt was horrible. I was happy that Morbid Angel came back to the pure death metal record, without all these useless and crappy experiments with industrial. But it had to take some time, until "Kingdoms Disdained" really clicked for me. I still think that the production is not that good, but you could get used to it. Songwriting on the other hand is fairly good for the Morbid Angel standards and even if "Kingdoms Disdained" will never belong to my top three albums of this band, it isn't that bad at all. Actually, 99% of all death metal bands would love to get that quality and perfection in their songwriting.
Musically "Kingdoms Disdained" is a classic Morbid Angel. Right from the first seconds you will get hit by these beautiful riffs of Trey Azagthoth, which are so characteristic and so much worshiped by the fans. I always loved how fierce and vicious they sound, sometimes getting almost a mesmerizing feel, while remaining aggressive and brutal. Songs on "Kingdoms Disdained" are some of the most brutal and often fastest from Morbid Angel ever and they really break necks with ferocity and mightiness. Such "The Righteous Voice" or "Garden of Disdain" are spot on for me and exactly what I wish to hear from this band more often. Someone could say that they play a safe game and follow what people really want to hear from them. Yes, they do and that's good, I have enough of experimental or mediocre Morbid Angel albums. "Kingdoms Disdained" will never get the same status as "Blessed Are the Sick", but I think it has a rightful place in this band's catalogue and its quality matched such "Gateways to Annihilation" easily. I need to say also that I like Steve Tucker's work here, his vocals are great, they sound way, way better than Vincent did for many recent years. The fact that there's no Pete Sandoval in the band anymore also isn't a problem for me, because Scotty Fuller's drumming is great, it's tight, fast, precise... Very, very good.
I did mention that it had to take me a while, before I really started to appreciate this album. I had to get used to the production of this album, maybe I was also too sceptical and negative for Morbid Angel in general, all because of what was going on within this band in past decade. But now I can only admit that "Kingdoms Disdained" is a great album and there's absolutely nothing wrong with it. It has everything I love Morbid Angel for, so nowadays it appears in my stereo quite often.
Standout tracks: "The Righteous Voice", "Garden of Disdain", “For No Master”
Verdict: 80/100
No comments:
Post a Comment