Review by Ben for Morbid Angel - Covenant (1993)
Every death metal fan seems to agree that Altars of Madness was an amazing release and fully deserving of classic status. Those same fans also seem to agree that follow up Blessed Are the Sick was almost as good, slowing things down a bit without losing any brutality whatsoever. It's only with the bands third release that things start to get a bit uncertain. From reading reviews below, it's apparent that many were disappointed with Covenant, but I can't for the life of me figure out why. This is completely crushing death metal with fantastic structure, musicianship and sheer brutality. In my opinion, Morbid Angel's reign at the top of death metal (along with Death of course) was certainly not limited to their first two albums. It existed from their debut right up to the very moment that Dave Vincent departed (after fourth album Domination). Almost everything released since that moment has been far below in terms of quality and consistency.
If I break this album down into performances, it's easy to see why it's so effective. Trey's riffs are pure darkness and excitement turned audible. Every single track has riffs that deserve worship while sounding like no other player on Earth. As for his leads, well they've always been incredible and are no different here. Then there's Pete Sandoval on drums. I don't think there's anyone as good as Pete when it comes to double bass kicking and overall his performance is downright godly throughout. Finally, there's Dave! I don't really understand how he made such a difference to Morbid Angel, as a bassist / vocalist wouldn't normally be considered the main writer when it comes to song structures. I can only think that as a front man for the band, he somehow managed to keep the egotistical side of Trey at bay, which is certainly not something that the band have been able to do since Dave's departure (check out his wankery on Heretic for proof). Dave has the best death growl in the business in my opinion. There are plenty more guttural out there, but he always conveys pure, unadulterated passion without losing decipherability (yes, it's a word, I checked) and could almost single-handedly make these songs come to life.
As is the case with just about every album in existence, there is always a negative to be found somewhere. In this case it's the extremely out of place Angel of Disease smack bang in the middle of the album. This is a rerecording, complete with raspy vocals, of a track Morbid Angel released on the bands demo Abominations of Desolation. It's not that it's terrible at all. It just sounds nothing like the rest of the album and is incredibly distracting amongst all the newly written material. If they'd recorded it with the exact same production including vocals, it wouldn't stick out so badly. But I still can't give Covenant anything less than five stars. Any album containing Rapture, Pain Divine, World of Shit, The Lion's Den, Sworn to the Black and God of Emptiness deserves nothing less. I pray to the Ancient Ones (no, not really) that the band can finally create something awesome again now that Dave is back in the band. Please let it be so!