Morbid Angel - Formulas Fatal to the Flesh (1998)Release ID: 322
As many fans know, this is the point where bassist and vocalist David Vincent had actually left. As a key figure in the band's development, replacing him would seem impossible. The band had taken the world by a powerful storm with their first three albums, and a drop in quality seemed fairly imminent with their fourth, Dominion. So could this new guy keep up with these pros?
What I like about this album in comparison to the wild and unpredictable debut, Altars of Madness, is that each song here is more straightforward, giving each time signature and composition proper time to develop. Each song feels complete, and not using powerful and clever riffage to justify so much unpredictability that the songs occasionally blend with each other. As well, this album knows how to be dramatic, such as with songs like Prayer of Hatred and Nothing is Not, and then go right into the menacing early stages of brutal death metal with songs like Chambers of Dis. Altars of Madness was already a major force in heaviness that was difficult to beat, but this album overpowered that. Hell, Sandoval's drums are at some of his most overpowering. I suppose it helps A's case that its production is a little more noticeably "metallic," carrying just the right, slight amount of studio reverb necessary to bring it out. The question for me, is whether or not the general absence on F helps the time-shattering riffs to be more clear, or whether it's missing something. I may only want the Altars production on this album out of curiosity.
Now there are two small things I need to bring up. Does that horror synth midtro Disturbance in the Great Slumber really need to be there? And of course, at 50 minutes, ideas are shared between songs eventually. So overall, this is another amazing death album that rivals Altars of Madness, but I'm chucking it out of my top 100 albums.
Formulas... I feel exemplifies perfectly how the overall composition of a release can all but ruin any quality contained within the fourteen tracks (in this instance) being showcased. All I really remember whenever I see this album cover or hear it being discussed is the pointless and irritating instrumental pieces that slow and smother the album as they interject and then takeover from the actual songs at the end. Who closes an album with three (yes, fucking three) instrumental tracks? I mean FFS Sandoval and Azagthoth!
It was bad enough that the band had lost Vincent and Rutan and therefore any concept of quality control it would seem. Steve Tucker does his best, in fact I would go as far as to say he does a good job on the vocals. I level all blame for the poor quality of this album at the door of the remaining two aforementioned members for the spurious and rushed feel to this record. The sound isn't the best either, with barely any meat on the bones the guitars sound too thin and the drums too "tappy".
The irony was that this record was still a step up from Domination. Therefore it lies as testimony to how poor that record was if the hurried horrors of Formulas... could be considered an improvement. This album epitomises what's been wrong with MA for years. The inability or general unwillingness for anyone to want to control Trey without having major line up changes has been the Achilles' heel of the band throughout their career. In its finer moments the album does retain some semblance of the Morbid Angel of old (Nothing Is Not). But any real flow is destroyed by the atmospheric interludes that completely douse the sparks of hope before they even develop into flames.
