Review by Rexorcist for Morbid Angel - Formulas Fatal to the Flesh (1998)

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.