Death metal titans Morbid Angel have come under fire over their long awaited new studio album llud Divinum Insanus. Fans have expressed their worries over the bands experimentation with techno-industrial sounds. In a recent interview with Decibel Magazine, guitarist Trey Azagthoth has commented on the backlash.
“I’m not worried about it at all because I don’t do it for others’ approval. And I think all the real fans of this band understand that already. We don’t check into the scene to see what scene people accept or don’t accept. Me and David did an interview when ‘Altars’ came out where I said the same thing: We don’t check into the latest book of cool to figure out where we’re gonna go with our stuff. We look inside ourselves, and I think that’s what fans of the band have come to expect. And I think they appreciate that, because they know it’s as real as it gets.”
Azagthoth has written six songs for llud Divinum Insanus and has spoken of his thoughts and process behind the songs. : “I did some that could be considered more traditional, and then I did some real exploratory-type stuff. As far as the traditional, I’d have to say the inspiration came from vintage big-band swing, but done in a more extreme fashion. It’s swing, but at a high tempo.
Even the stuff that has blast beats and real fast double-bass, the way the melody plays off the beat, it has a swing to it. But that’s really not that new for us, because even songs like ‘Blasphemy’ [from ‘Altars Of Madness’], that was one pretty much a waltz, but with blast beats. Even ‘Rebel Lands’, from ‘Blessed Are The Sick’, had a swing to it. So, that’s not new for us, but I maybe found a different way to do it with these new songs.”
“I did three songs [‘Too Extreme!’, ‘Destructos Vs. The Earth/Attack’ and ‘Profundis – Mea Culpa’] that were definitely a whole new approach. One was based on industrial hardcore, one was based on speedcore and one was based on terrorcore, which are inspirations I’ve been getting into lately as far as electronic music.
I’ve been exploring that stuff for quite a while now because I’m always trying to find new flavors, new movements, new patterns. I like to keep it fresh, because that’s what keeps it exciting to me as an artist. So, on those particular songs, the guitars are acting more like what synthesizers would do in electronic music, but it’s guitars with interesting effects.”
llud Divinum Insanus hit the European market yesterday and will be available in the States from today. Canadian fans will have to wait with the release date being pushed back until June 21st due to shipping problems.
What’s your opinion on all of this? Check out this hilariously funny video a fan has posted on Hitlers reaction to the new record.