Morbid Angel, Advent Of Bedlam and the sequel to Heretic

In 2011, the death metal world waited with keen anticipation for the sequel to that classic of modern death metal: Heretic.  Well, not exactly.  Heretic was widely viewed as a misstep by those who were still following the lesson this far into the alphabet (currently on pace for completion in 2061, by which time I assume we will be well acquainted with the idea of elderly persons releasing serious death metal albums, having just listened to Cannibal Corpse's thirty-seventh full length.  "A welcome comeback by the ancient metallers recalling the experimental neo-dubstep tribal phase of albums O through Q," we'll say).  There were some of us who enjoyed it, but aggregates don't lie and Heretic has historically failed to hold its ground against Altars Of Madness, Blessed Are The Sick and Covenant in hiveminds like metal-archvies.com.  Plenty of outright dismissals from the average metalhead followed the release.  Elite metal troll project ANUS doesn't even recognize the existence of the album despite taking the time to offer criticism of Domination and Formulas Fatal To The Flesh, and a cherry-picked review from Teufel's Tomb certifies Heretic "A total waste of time and money!"  And let's face it, the album has many troubling characteristics that are not hard to locate, and we might well start of the discussion with the most glaring example: hidden tracks.  The use of hidden and silent tracks seems inept if it is not intended solely to annoy the listener.  Danzig's 4p is an example of the more standard application of such a technique, where hidden tracks add up to a hidden outro on spooky track number sixty-six.  But the motivations of Morbid Angel are not so conventional.

"I've done this stuff for a long time and I'm in a position where I can do whatever I want with it. I have fun doing that. Like with Pete [Sandoval, drummer], I wanted him to express himself and have his open area since a CD can contain an hour's worth of stuff, so I thought why not fill it up?"
(all quotations come from Trey Azagthoth's 2003 interview with metal-rules.com)

As result we are treated to a drum check mid-album, which sounds like a joke and is indeed just there for fun.  It makes for some rather irregular pacing and an overall listening experience of questionable value.  

These characteristics alone were probably sufficient to prevent Heretic from ever attaining classic status.  Musically it wasn't extremely different from previous offerings, not necessarily an obvious transition but one that is still recognizably Morbid Angel.  I would argue that taking each song in isolation, divorced from the questionable format of Heretic, we are left with a pretty decent pile of death metal songs.  The slightly thin, muddy production brings to mind aural landscapes produced by death metal bands fifteen years previously (though not necessarily the Morbid Angel of that era, perhaps more the pre-brutal brutality of early Cannibal Corpse or Broken Hope might be a closer parallel).  The circuitous riffs recall some of the more obtusely labyrinthine moments of Altars and Blessed, while largely eschewing the more chuggable moments of Covenant and Domination.  So in Illud Divinum Insanus surely a few of us could be forgiven for craving a further exploration of this aesthetic.  But being realistic, and being familiar with the historic trajectory of the Morbid Angel project, this could hardly be considered an especially plausible expectation.

"I get bored fabricating stuff. We never go with what works. We always like to reinvent ourselves. That's what I do it for. That's art-creating as opposed to fabricating. It started with the first two records. ALTARS OF MADNESS was really successful when it came out and a lot of people thought we would do an "ALTARS PART TWO" but we didn't. We did something completely different."

Well said, and an admirable approach.  Such attitudes are often forgotten in the death metal environment where there is an implicit expectation of AC/DC-like consistency from a band (a band being a brand), though gradual evolution in a somewhat predictable direction is always acceptable and encouraged by most who have been around for a minute.  So when you picked up IDI and thought "what the heck is this that I'm listening to?" it was more than just an eight year wait and an old singer coming back into the fold that your ears were struggling to adjust to.  This is Morbid Angel trying to keep themselves interested.  As a result this isn't a discussion of IDI and what it ought to have been.  We will be content to regard it for our purposes here as Good For What It Is.

So what about that sequel to Heretic that I was never promised, the followup that would bring us the next generation of the same great riffs while cutting the unnecessary hidden tracks and drum checks?  Have you heard Mithras?  I haven't really, but comparisons have been drawn.  But that's another band's discography to be hand waved away for another day's exploration.  Today let me draw you a different comparison and point to another place where you might hear what a more learned Heretic might have to say.  Let's jump right into the meat of Advent Of Bedlam's Flesh Over God.  Drums here are less intense in that there is less reliance on consistent blasting.  This allows for more room for a comparatively distinctive guitar tone where individual notes are more readily grasped by the ear.  Production overall is slightly more dynamic, but that Heretic muddiness can still be felt thanks to the multiple vocal tracks that create a noticeably distorted groan.  The serpentine riffs and their linear (but not totally predictable) interlocking structures make for a dissonant vibe consonant with Heretic.  Probably the most discernible similarity is in a particular death metal vocal technique: repeatedly holding the last syllable of a line for a bar or two as it fades into a gargle over the next churning riff that has just begun.  You will find examples of this on most tracks from both Flesh Over God and Heretic. 

There is probably nothing quite as groovy as Enshrined By Grace on Flesh Over God.  Morbid Angel have always been fond of contrasting speed and groove while Advent of Bedlam here take a more holistic approach in their aesthetic.  But even in Enshrined By Grace there is little of the maligned moshability of certain moments of Domination, and the shredded ending of the chorus riff (under "defeat this enemy", "the leach infested", etc.) neatly contradicts the predictability the overall grove otherwise creates.  Where The Slime Lives this is not.  The only thing missing from the Heretic formula in Flesh Over God is a few spaced out solo sections, but whether such ornamentation would suit the bleak thematic approach of the album is questionable.

We should then briefly consider this comparison in a conceptual (lyrical) sense.  "Flesh Over God" isn't about draping skin over anything, but is meant in the sense of choosing flesh over god.

Disbelieve their doctrines!
Dogmas must enlighten instead of blinding.
Use your own instinct
Choose flesh over god!
(lyrics from Nimrod's Rebellion, Flesh Over God)

Advent Of Bedlam speaks of self-empowerment on a very straightforard level, and from it move on to contemplate the concerns of the flesh: political and financial corruption, finding the self in a godless world.  Steve Tucker's Heretic lyrics see flesh not as our individual lot in life, but as a solitary prison beyond which a greater true self may be realized.

Being has overwhelmed the space between the silence of eternity
Vision has intruded upon the light that pours through me, my energy
Substance has veiled, the pleasures long lost, the beauty of emptiness
This very flesh confines, and spoils this demon's seed
(lyrics from Curse The Flesh, Heretic)

"It's about being the instrument of the ancient ones. Allowing the love of the creator to flow through us. Energy of spirit. That's the main influence."

Morbid Angel's tolerance for mythical cosmic transcendence might contrast with Advent Of Bedlam's more nihilistic appraisal of existence.  The same practical conclusions are reached to be sure, as this is still the self as God and the only reliable determiner of our actions (free will!).  Heretic presents this as something that can be arrived at through the flesh, while Flesh Over God finds all that we need (or all that we get) in the flesh itself.  The anti-religionist might find more comfort in the approach of the latter, and the atheist shouldn't find much to complain about either.  On the other hand there is always something to be said for sentiment drowned in allegory, as the more incomprehensible the artistic message becomes the more our collective imaginations are sparked.

The future of Advent Of Bedlam is quite interesting to consider, as their background as a melodic, even keyboard-heavy metal band would surely not be guessed by those discovering them through Flesh Over God (maybe you'd get a hint from the sung passages on Indoctrinated Wrath?).  Creed Of The Void is about as far as they go for experimental soundscapes, and it isn't especially far, just a savage demonic respite from the otherwise relentless project.  Clocking in at a brisk thirty-five minutes also might be considered preferable to Heretic's seventy, which makes maximal use of the CD format at the expense of a decidedly bloated listening experience.  Most people still like their b-sides and their a-sides in separate servings as opposed to being awkwardly integrated into a obligatory "full length" album experience.  Not that Morbid Angel is to be blamed for trying something new, that's why we still love/hate and consequently popularize them.

Advent Of Bedlam - Flesh Over God is currently available for free from their bandcamp page, go download it.

http://adventofbedlam.bandcamp.com/