Morbid Angel Illud Divinum Insanus

Dear Morbid Angel, First of all, I just have to thank you guys for giving us Altars of Madness and Blessed Are The Sick, two of the most unique, intense and inspired slices of death metal to ever be released. I've spent way too much time lazing around listening to those albums when I probably should've been outside or something. Seriously, I can't stress enough how much those first two records have helped shape my taste in metal over the years. Maybe I even cried a little bit when David left the band after Domination. Maybe. So, when I heard that Dave was returning to the band to release a new death metal opus, I was speechless. Even without Pete "The Feet" Sandoval holding down the kit, I was sure that Illud Divinum Insanus was going to revolutionize the genre the same way Altars Of Madness did back in the day. After finally hearing the record, I can attest to the fact that it is, indeed, revolutionary and that it exceeded all of my wildest expectations. You have to tell me though, how the hell did you know that what I secretly wanted from Morbid Angel was an album full of simplistic riffs and Rob Zombie worship songs? As soon as I heard Dave yelling about being too extreme on the second track, I just melted, man. You guys had a great run producing interesting death metal albums that made everyone else in the genre look like amateurs, but frankly, that whole deal was getting really boring. After all, death metal is a genre known for its abundance of exceptional albums. Why bother putting out another one? On that note, I can even forgive you for subtly revisiting your roots on tracks like "Nevermore," just because you still made sure that the guitar playing and drumming were as generic as humanly possible. That track would've sat a little bit better with me if you had penned in a strong catchy chorus like the one in "I Am Morbid." Personally, I can't stand when bands add unnecessary words to their choruses; just yell that title as many damn times as you can and call it a day, am I right? Okay. I've been purposely ignoring the elephant in the room until now; there's one particular song on Illud Divinum Insanus that is destined to be remembered as one of the greatest, most mind-blowing songs of my generation. That song is "Radikult," one of the least-awkward fusions of electronic music and metal that I've ever heard. In fact, this song has been stuck in my head for so long, that I'm thinking about basing the rest of my life on its incredibly deep message. There's just something about the way Dave bellows "kill a cop cop, kill a cop, kill a kill a kill a cop" that could turn anyone into a pig destroyer. I now realize that I haven't put enough energy into "living hardcore radical" in the past, but that changes today! Hail Morbid Angel, one of the greatest death metal/Marilyn Manson cover bands of all time! Yours Insincerely, Shawn Bottom Line: You haven't been living hardcore radical enough, and it's time to get morbid. I just wouldn't recommend listening to Illud Divinum Insanus as a starting point.