Morbid Angel
Illud Divinum Insanus

Eight years of emptiness. Probably, during this very long period, many had given up hoping for a new album. And perhaps it would have been better if things remained as they were, for the disappointing yet still dignified "Heretic" to become the testament of a band that contributed to creating and influencing an entire genre for over a decade. Morbid Angel, that is "Altars Of Madness," "Blessed Are The Sick," "Covenant," and so on, in strict alphabetical order as tradition demands.

Reaching 2011, however, something started to move.

A title revealed.
Then a cover.
A tracklist.
And a new song online.
"Yes, it's finally happening. This time we got it."

Eight years of emptiness, eight years to put together this "Illud Divinum Insanus": nothing more than the new brother of "St. Anger" and "The Unspoken King"; thus, to be counted among the most obscene and disastrous "experiments" (quotation marks are compulsory) of all metal, if not of all music.

Now, imagine a mix between the following:
- Marilyn Manson,
- Combichrist,
- Rammstein,
- Justin Bieber in rave party version and, finally,
- a meager sprinkle of death metal. Just to not completely lose their fan base.

And here it is, ladies and gentlemen, "Illud Divinum Insanus"! Don't believe me? Then go and listen to that abortion of "Too Extreme!": a chilling racket built on senseless gabber beats (!), the exact same rhythm for six minutes, an irritating filtered voice, meaningless melodies, and ridiculous lyrics ("We are the new religion"? No thanks, at this point I think I'll turn to Buddhism); but what kind of desecration is this? Not to mention "Destructos vs. The Earth / Attack" and especially "Radikult," both groovy, pounding, cheesy, incredibly gaudy and incredibly prolix. Hearing all this makes one spontaneously long for some healthy death metal, a territory that calling familiar to Morbid Angel is an understatement.

Alas, there is still some death metal on this record, and it is anything but a consolation. Tracks like "Blades For Baal," "Existo Vulgoré" (excuse me?!), and the single "Nevermore" seem to be placed there just to inflate the runtime and offer a miserly consolation to their fans: assignments lacking depth, neither praiseworthy nor vile, but always with that tacky and brash cut that suits the style of this album. "I Am Morbid" and "10 More Dead" simply have no reason to exist, are just harmless metal ditties, empty, with somewhat anthem-like choruses and naïve attempts to incite some headbanging from the stage, most likely even failing to achieve this given the total inconsistency of the riffs.

Let's draw a veil of pity over the production and the sounds in general: "Illest Divine Anus" is coated in sterile plastic and the music suffers greatly from this, too much, and the little death metal left is rendered even more fake and disfigured by a sterile and ultra-modern production. Ah, and is Tim Yeung really behind the drums? A human being? Really? No because it rather seems to me that I'm hearing a cold drum machine programmed rather crudely.

In short, there's no escape, nothing is saved. At best, "Ilaria Divina Senz'Ano" sounds uninspired, incoherent, and tedious; at worst... Well, you decide. Now we find ourselves with an embarrassing collage of pseudo-experiments past their prime and weak metallic forays, a ridiculous tracklist as much as the lyrics, a cover clearly copied from a hypothetical new album by Behemoth and, the cherry on the cake, a mid-school Latin title to crown the epic fail of gargantuan proportions.

All this is really entertaining, seriously. But where is the new Morbid Angel album?