To us Morbid Angel fans, the release of Illud Divinum Insanus was the end of an 8-year wait. That's how long it took for the band to finally showcase their 'I' release (it's a strict alphabetical naming beginning with A: Altars of Madness, B: Blessed are the sick, C: Covenant, etc.). Things happened along the way but more importantly, the band had a new album out to document their progress.
... & filling in this time was Tim Yeung. He was a sound inclusion (no puns intended) due to his technical competence. Yeung paid tribute to Sandoval as evident in Existo Vulgore; Sandoval's signature snare hits were there in case you missed them.
Destructhor (aka Thor Anders Myhren) was the surprise inclusion in this recording line-up, so he wasn't a strict live filler after all. He wrote 2 songs in this album: Too Extreme! & Blades for Baal. I knew that Too Extreme! required some Euro-pop sensibilities & Thor would have been the most likely person to have penned it. I really wish he could put out some more Myrkskog materials soon...
Trey Azagthoth is still at it, churning out some of the best death metal guitar works ever. However, we can clearly hear the different playing styles between Trey & Destructhor- the ones with more tapping; that's Trey. The sweep works; those belong to Thor.
But the limelight this time round had to be David Vincent's return to the line-up. Many fans had likened him to the Morbid Angel entity itself, attributing the band's lesser appeal to his departure after Covenant.
I grew up listening to Morbid Angel for a simple reason; the band had guitar players who can shred as well as rip ears off with their intense riffing. They (Trey Azagthoth & Richard Brunelle) were not mono-ability players, they are good at both aspects of guitar playing. This 'I' album, in my opinion, is a mediocre affair. Despite retaining their in-your-face music, it seems that some aspects of Marylin Manson & Satyricon had leaked into the release. Both David & Trey cited the need for fresh perspective as the reason why Morbid Angel's music sounded like this with the 'I' release. From a personal perspective, I was actually looking forward to the intent of Covenent & brutality of FFF to be served here but as it seems, these were manifested in liberal doses. The album formula was to embrace the new, the reason why an estranged song like Destructos vs The Earth made the numbers. I'm just content with the fact that Morbid Angel did not give up their arts & are still in this business to shock the world.
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