Morbid Angel
Blessed Are The Sick

THE REVIEW

Very often extreme metal, and in particular Death Metal, is dismissed as "noise" or pseudo-music practiced by individuals who, lacking any kind of musical training, compensate for their technical deficiencies by playing as hard as they can. Well, I believe that "Blessed Are The Sick" by Morbid Angel is one of those many (perhaps the best) examples that a fan of extreme metal can cite in defense of their favorite genre.

The album in question (with the splendid "Les Tresors De Satan" by J.Delville (1867-1952) as its cover) could be defined as sulfurous and enchanting, indeed, like every respectable evil spirit, it tempts the poor and unsuspecting listener with a concentration of technical prowess, sonic violence, and a melodic background (I will never tire of repeating, when talking about melody in bands like Morbid Angel and the like, it must always be kept in mind that it is understood in the sense of "rotten" and "disturbing") original and never invasive.

Compared to their debut album, the ever-adored "Altars Of Madness", we have a considerable slowing of the tempos, which does not imply at all a softening of the sound or a search by the band for easy hooks and catchiness, as demonstrated by intense tracks like "Day Of Suffering", which, in its less than two minutes duration, finds time for a heavy and cadenced initial attack like a boulder, a sudden acceleration that accompanies it until the end, and a frantic solo by the good Azagthoth. What the band has intended to propose in this second work is a combination of the violence of the debut and the desire to experiment with new solutions (such as the almost doom-like slowdowns of some tracks like the title track itself) capable of giving it that morbid and cursed charm that pushed fans and critics to declare the success of "Blessed Are The Sick".

An episode worth mentioning is, in my opinion, the wonderful "Desolate Ways", an instrumental track, born from the genius mind of Richard Brunelle (here true melodic alter ego of Trey Azagthoth), of rare melancholy and emotionality (listening to it you will feel the echo of your footsteps as you walk through a dark street in a post-apocalyptic landscape), which can be, in terms of beauty and evocativeness, placed alongside that gem by Chuck Schuldiner known as "Voice of the Soul", present on the never-too-praised work called "The Sound Of Perseverance".

In conclusion, we are faced with an authentic masterpiece of the extreme, an album that I strongly recommend everyone to listen to, especially to those who do not have a good opinion of Death Metal.