Morbid Angel - Kingdoms Disdained review
| Band: | Morbid Angel |
| Album: | Kingdoms Disdained |
| Style: | Death metal |
| Release date: | December 01, 2017 |
| A review by: | nikarg |
01. Piles Of Little Arms
02. D.E.A.D.
03. Garden Of Disdain
04. The Righteous Voice
05. Architect And Iconoclast
06. Paradigms Warped
07. The Pillars Crumbling
08. For No Master
09. Declaring New Law (Secret Hell)
10. From The Hand Of Kings
11. The Fall Of Idols
When your debut is one of the best metal records ever released, also defining an entire genre, it takes a lot of effort to live up to it through the rest of your career. Morbid Angel have not recorded a death metal album in the last 14 years; they have not recorded a great death metal album in the last 24 years. Kingdoms Disdained is a death metal record through and through. Keep reading to find out if it is great or not.
Morbid Angel's new release finds the band with only one of the members that participated in the legendary A-B-C albums. On the other hand, Trey Azagthoth is Morbid Angel and I guess not many people care much about David Vincent being replaced by Steve Tucker; after all, Vincent's glorious return to the band resulted in the abomination that was Illud Divinum Insanus. Iconic drummer, Pete Sandoval, is once again absent; behind the drum kit is Scott Fuller (Annihilated, ex-Abysmal Dawn) and he is pretty much the main reason why you should listen to Kingdoms Disdained.
The artificial-looking cover artwork, coming straight from a '90s video game and displaying an elderly, gigantic beast resurrecting from the earth's core spreading fire and destruction, is actually an apt visual description of the album's music. Kingdoms Disdained is undeniably brutal and on fire, but it also deeply lacks variety and emotion. It is an offering that comes from an old, once pioneering and massively influential band, which has resurrected only to play it as safe as possible. The music sounds dated and obsolete and the album's bland production goes hand in hand with the generic death metal featured in it.
On a more positive note - and if you manage to disregard the awful, guitar-burying and plastic mix - there are some interesting moments in Kingdoms Disdained, such as the constant tempo and riff changes in "D.E.A.D.", Tucker's bass lines in "Paradigms Warped", the magnificent lead guitar work in the outro of "The Pillars Crumbling" and the dissonant riffing over Fuller's drum orgy in "From The Hand Of Kings". The mid-tempo crushers, "Architect And Iconoclast" and "Declaring New Law (Secret Hell)", might also get you excited in their beginning, until you realise that they lack the necessary juice to keep you pumped up. This is the main problem with Kingdoms Disdained; its only steady characteristic throughout is repetitiveness, with tracks that play out without real edge. Trying to find something identifiable and memorable is like looking for a needle in a haystack.
If the purpose of this release was to clear the stain the previous album left on Morbid Angel's reputation, Kingdoms Disdained should be considered a success. At least it is a decent effort, albeit too often dull and monotonous for its own good. If it is viewed as a release of one of the trendsetting and most prominent death metal bands in the history of the genre though, I am afraid it doesn't live up to the logo on the cover. In all fairness, if said logo wasn't on the cover we probably wouldn't be discussing it at all.
"A shattered ego fallen,
Dismissed and soon forgotten,
Your name will soon be erased?"
Rating breakdown
| Performance: | 8 |
| Songwriting: | 6 |
| Originality: | 3 |
| Production: | 3 |
 | Written on 02.12.2017 by Only way to feel the noise is when it's good and loud! |
Guest review by
Morbidron
Morbidron
Rating:
8.0
8.0
|
Rating: 8.0 |
I find myself in a somewhat weird position. Even though I am a long-time fan of Morbid Angel, I always found the incredible David Vincent to be incredibly cringy. Anything the man does on and off the stage causes an imaginary nail to grind against every single one of my bones. He is an amazing vocalist and MA owes a huge part of their success to his whole persona, but I do think that you can blame many of their mishaps on him, too. Weird elitist interviews, silly fights over politics with other bands while on tour, the alleged gifting of Mein Kampf to the immortal Lemmy (who in turn allegedly smashed him over the head with it) are just a few examples of what I mean. In retrospect I do feel that he did more harm than good and Trey would have always been better off without him in the band. Read more ›› |
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Comments: 35
Visited by: 433 users
| X-Ray Rod Skandino Staff Posts: 18374  |
24 of years? Fuck you, man! I like Domination!  Jokes aside, great review! I agree with you with the production it truly sank the album from "meh" to "haha, no". Unimpressive and certainly no one would have mentioned it if the members were anonymous because so is the music.
---- Written by BloodTears on 19.08.2011 at 18:29 Written by Milena on 20.06.2012 at 10:49
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| nikarg Staff Posts: 7345  |
Written by X-Ray Rod on 02.12.2017 at 17:08 I do too.. I can also find some nice things to say about all the albums from Domination up to - and including - Heretic. But none of them is great 
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| LeKiwi High Fist Prog Posts: 4099  |
Influential albums aside, Domination is their crowning achievement in my opinion so I don't know if I can trust this  Otherwise, well-written review man!
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| Daniell _爱情_ Elite Posts: 6100  |
Quote: Let me rephrase this for you: if said logo wasn't on the cover, we would be praising a good album from an obscure band. Because it is a good album. The only thing hat prevents you from liking it is that logo on the cover. You expect Morbid Angel to re-invent death metal? They co-invented it (in a way). That's enough achievements for one band. Quality-wise "Kingdoms" is somewhere close to "Formulas", and better that "Gateways" and "Heretic". (The "I" album doesn't even deserve a mention). The production is not so great I agree, but my only real gripe is the vocals being too low in the mix.
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| LeKiwi High Fist Prog Posts: 4099 |
Written by Daniell on 02.12.2017 at 20:35 Maybe he doesn't think so?
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| nikarg Staff Posts: 7345 |
Written by Daniell on 02.12.2017 at 20:35 To me, Morbid Angel is a legendary band because they did co-invent a genre. They have achieved more than enough for one band, but I don't think I am very influenced by the logo because I wasn't expecting much anyway. Tbh I was pleasantly surprised, because this was a great improvement compared to its terrible predecessor. I tried very hard to like it, listened to it so much, but in the end it always came down to this: it is decent, but fucking boring. It reminds me a lot of this year's Suffocation album. If it was released by an unknown band, I might have bumped up the final score by half a point.
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| Boxcar Willy yr a kook Posts: 9155  |
Written by Daniell on 02.12.2017 at 20:35 That's a pretty big stretch
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| Kub Posts: 106  |
So it's just like every other Tucker album - boring and average. Meh. Say what you want about Illud, at least it changed the formula and was something new. Somehow, without David VIncent, Trey just cannot compose fresh sounding and memorable music. I can easily recall every song from ABCDI albums, but none from Tucker ones. I would love for Vincent to come back again and do another experiment with Trey. On their own they don't seem to be able to do too well.
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| nikarg Staff Posts: 7345 |
Written by Kub on 02.12.2017 at 21:50 The only thing I can recall from Illud is killacopkillacopkillakillakillacop.. it took a long time for my ears to recover after this.
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| Daniell _爱情_ Elite Posts: 6100 |
Written by Kub on 02.12.2017 at 21:50 "Invocation Of The Continual One" is brilliant. As are a few more tracks on "Formulas"
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| Darkside Momo Retired Elite Posts: 9089  |
Written by nikarg on 03.12.2017 at 11:39 that's not TOO EXTREME!!!!!!!!
---- My Author's Blog (in French)  "You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you" "I've lost too many years now I'm stealing back my soul I am awake"
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| nikarg Staff Posts: 7345 |
Written by Darkside Momo on 03.12.2017 at 18:51 Please.. I have tried so hard to forget  Seriously, compared to Illud, Kingdoms Disdained is a fucking masterpiece.
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| Darkside Momo Retired Elite Posts: 9089 |
Written by nikarg on 04.12.2017 at 00:48  (and I guess that's not too hard)
---- My Author's Blog (in French) "You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you" "I've lost too many years now I'm stealing back my soul I am awake"
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| BitterCOld The Ancient One Admin Posts: 15287  |
Truthfully i enjoy it more than anything they've done in 20 years. bordering on 7.5 for me. Only reason i might prefer Domination is some of the werider tracks.
---- get the fuck off my lawn. Beer Bug Virus Spotify Playlist crafted by Nikarg and I. Feel free to tune in and add some pertinent metal tunes!
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| Daniell _爱情_ Elite Posts: 6100 |
Written by BitterCOld on 04.12.2017 at 23:58 Finally someone else than me that appreciates the album 
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| Marcel Hubregtse Grumpy Old Fuck Elite Posts: 40071  |
Spot on review. I would say it is their best album since Heretic. I know, that is not a difficult feat.
---- Member of the true crusade against European Flower Metal Yesterday is dead and gone, tomorrow is out of sight Dawn Crosby (r.i.p.) 05.04.1963 - 15.12.1996 
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| Daniell _爱情_ Elite Posts: 6100 |
Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 05.12.2017 at 12:58 Best since "Heretic" That's not hard at all.It's better than I, H, and G.
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| Marcel Hubregtse Grumpy Old Fuck Elite Posts: 40071 |
Written by Daniell on 05.12.2017 at 14:48 Nowhere near as good as Gateways, could argue for it being on a par with Heretic. Of course better than Illud, but that one was one gigantic disaster on a par with Lulu.
---- Member of the true crusade against European Flower Metal Yesterday is dead and gone, tomorrow is out of sight Dawn Crosby (r.i.p.) 05.04.1963 - 15.12.1996
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| Daniell _爱情_ Elite Posts: 6100 |
Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 05.12.2017 at 15:11 Illud had a few decent songs, while Lulu had none.
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| Marcel Hubregtse Grumpy Old Fuck Elite Posts: 40071 |
Written by Daniell on 05.12.2017 at 15:46 Okay, true, I should have compared it to St. Anger.
---- Member of the true crusade against European Flower Metal Yesterday is dead and gone, tomorrow is out of sight Dawn Crosby (r.i.p.) 05.04.1963 - 15.12.1996
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| nikarg Staff Posts: 7345 |
It's sad that so many of the great death metal bands of the early '90s released pretty average albums this year. Only Immolation managed to deliver something worthy of their name. Luckily, plenty of newer bands have offered us outstanding dm stuff in 2017. @Marcel: I would rate KD equal to Heretic, too. And Illud's comparison with St. Anger is a very accurate one. @Daniel: I agree, Lulu is far worse than Illud. But then again, Lulu is far worse than almost everything, it probably only tops Justin Bieber's shit. Marginally.
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| BitterCOld The Ancient One Admin Posts: 15287 |
Written by Daniell on 05.12.2017 at 15:46 I liked this track... back on track... Gateways and FFF (666) had a few weirder tracks towards the end I enjoyed as well. Heretic was completely forgettable. don't think I listened to it more than 3 times. never clicked or piqued with me. i did go into it with 5-6 expectations, it was better than I thought. this one I'll check out a few more times to see if it goes up or down, but on an initial two spins while blowing shit up on PS4 and drinking watery Aguila (AguaLa) i liked it enough not to delete from SPotify after one pass... something I can't say for fistful of other DM albums i've checked this year in similar circumstances. though perhaps checking it out after a bunch that failed to interest me helped it... had this come on immediately after Venenum, likely would have scored lower.
---- get the fuck off my lawn. Beer Bug Virus Spotify Playlist crafted by Nikarg and I. Feel free to tune in and add some pertinent metal tunes!
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| Daniell _爱情_ Elite Posts: 6100 |
Written by BitterCOld on 05.12.2017 at 17:06 I've always thought those weird tracks were stupid, bad and redundant. "Ascent Through The Spheres", "Hymnos Rituales De Guerra", "Trooper", "Hymn To A Gas Giant", " Victorious March of Reign The Conqueror", "Drum Check", "Born Again", "Nar Mattaru", "Dreaming", "Kawazu". Almost every album has them. Completely skippable.
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| Maco Pvt Funderground Posts: 3593  |
Written by Daniell on 06.12.2017 at 10:05 Amen to that. The only interludes I really enjoyed were in Blessed Are The Sick.
---- Crackhead Megadeth reigns supreme.
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| Daniell _爱情_ Elite Posts: 6100 |
Written by Maco on 08.12.2017 at 18:19 And that's why I didn't mention them
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| Jaeryd Nihil's Maw Posts: 1062  |
Haven't listened to the whole thing yet, so I can't say much about how much I enjoy the album overall, but so far there's been some decent moments here and there. Production is awful, but tbh so was the production on Domination and Gateways.
---- 
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| Baz Anderson Staff Posts: 13254  |
Seems like they'll get criticised whatever they do. Yeh, maybe it's not going to be a classic album, but I'm enjoying it!
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| Big-Al Posts: 548  |
Got it on vinyl today, the sound is perfect, crystal clear & sharp. The mix is perfect after all! (unlike the muddiness of the mp3s i heard 1st) - Kingdoms Disdained is such an addictive throwback to Formulas Fatal to the Flesh <3
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| nikarg Staff Posts: 7345 |
Written by Big-Al on 16.12.2017 at 22:47 Really? This is interesting. I wonder if other people owning the vinyl share this view.
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| Big-Al Posts: 548 |
Written by nikarg on 17.12.2017 at 13:39 Nergal: https://www.instagram.com/p/BcXAIFxBXlx/?taken-by=nergal69
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