### Morbid Angel: Covenant

#### 28/01/11 || Habakuk

##### Introduction

All of us have heard or heard of Morbid Angel. They even helped some of us considerably in learning the alphabet. That is a reality. And this album here significantly helped constitute it. “Covenant” supposedly sold over 500,000 copies, and arguably not all of them were pinned to the walls of first grade classrooms. Yes, 500,000, that is a lot for a death metal album. The beeping noise you should now be hearing, that’s the SELL OUT alarm that every metal home comes readily equipped with. Caution has to be exercised – if so many people like it, can it still be metal? Can it possibly be good? And most importantly, what will others think if I mention the album’s name in metal public? Put on some safety glasses and read on.

##### Songwriting

8. Before we make these conclusions, we will have to look at the album at hand, naturally. And while the songs are generally quite enjoyable, it has to be acknowledged that there is some variation present and we have a bit of a mixed bag, for better or for worse. Best example: “Angel of disease”, which is a great song, but with its chopped d-beat/groove alternations feels out of place amongst the other streamlined full-on death metal songs with a crushing flow like “Rapture”, “Sworn to the black” or “Vengeance is mine”. These form the major and strong part of the album, and propelled by endless double bass, they have this “unstoppable” feel to them that makes this album so enjoyable. Too bad that not all songs hold the same great level of awesomeness, and the band had to end the album on a rather unspectacular note with the ambient “Nar mattaru” which leads into the sludgy “God of emptiness”. Unfortunately, that one includes the cheesiest spoken word part (h-boooow to me s-p-leeeendidly) ever witnessed since the Ancient ones made a dick of themselves with that fhtaghn hagn nagn bullshit. Anyway, while it’s certainly more fun to bash the bad parts, the good parts still outweigh those shortcomings by far.

##### Production

4. Could have been a lot better, and you might wanna check out the Laibach remixes for a showcase of how that could have been done, mostly concerning the drums. The fuzzy guitars and vocals sound fine, and there is some average-sounding bass to be made out, too, but the fucken drums? frrrrrrrrrrr, that is the double bass sound. Believe me when I tell you that this is one of the most disturbing, clickety-clack drum sounds ever. brrp brrp – yep, that’s a snare fill, not Mario entering a green pipe. I don’t know what it was with Pete “Commando” Sandoval and shit-sounding drums, but he sure had it down to the fucken T, and this here is a prime example. Earth to Commando, Earth to Commando: ARE YOU FUCKEN DEAF?

##### Guitars

8. Downtuned, crushing and very straightforward. Azagthoth (what the fuck is your actual name you ubernerd) practically uses no pauses at all, but keeps his playing in a constant flow throughout the songs. Sometimes that means that it becomes a bit simplistic, but overall the riffs are quite good and retain an aggressive grit (see the opening minutes in “Rapture”), and the solos in Trey’s distinct, wacked out style are obviously high quality as well. Still, to me this is not a guitar-centered album, and you won’t find any killer riff that stands alone in its skullcrushing glory, maybe the chorus in “Angel of disease”, but that’s not really representative. It really is the combination of guitars, drumming and vocals that make this work. That doesn’t make the playing any worse, mind you, I just wanted to get it out.

##### Vocals

9. Except for the aforementioned and horrible spoken word thing (which won’t really affect my judgment as it’s on a track that’s mostly skipped by me anyway), David Vincent sounds fucken fantastic on “Covenant”. Snarly, somewhat intelligible, vicious, death and metal, he truly spews out his vocal lines with the best of them. A distinct approach with a lot of personality, and one of the various reasons why old school death metal is so much better than the brutal blubber soup that is cooked up these days.

##### Bass

5. Fucken not spectacular. Average-sounding and somewhere behind the guitars, its effects are minimal. There is no “Fear of napalm” vibe here, unfortunately.

##### Drums

9. Goofy as it may sound due to the hideous production, the quality of the playing remains almost untouched. And that’s saying something. Sandoval is absolutely tight, fast as hell, but on tracks like “Sworn to the black” with its awesome hi-hat/ride work, he shows that groove is by no means an alien concept to him either. On the other hand, his blasts are just as great, never turning one-dimensional. There’s always a fill or a little break to keep things interesting, and blasting isn’t overused to begin with. I’ve seen Sandoval being accused of using too many fills and going over the top, but that I can’t understand. I think his playing is very focused, and while there are many little things he pulls off, they all work in favor of the respective song.

##### Lyrics

9. Hateful and malicious, and focusing on all things Lovecraftian and occult. Many of these phrasings just scream death metal. Offerings to the Sado-Gods, anyone?

Repulsed by the light Heart pumping ice So cold to this world Reclude until the summoning I’m sworn to the black

Fuck yes.

##### Cover art

3. It’s bad, to be honest. Book, candle, feather. Proof that photographed covers suck. I mean, with a title like “Covenant”, is this seriously the best you could think of? Back to the drawing book, literally.

##### Logo

8. Jagged, cheesy and iconic. It features a trident , devil’s tail, pentagram and inverted cross all in one. In fact it’s pretty ridiculous (see also Death’s logo), but it spells one of the best band names imaginable (ditto), so that judgment is instantly turned upside down. For this, it works fantastically.

##### Booklet

5. Kediocre? Fuck! For once you had major label backing and you couldn’t make it “Kick-ass” or “Killer”? Completely ruined my letter parade! Way to go, assholes.

##### Overall and ending rant

Long story short, this is a good album. However, catchy as it may be in some instances, I don’t see why it sold that well. It’s far from commercialized, but also far from perfect. I believe that its success must have been at least partly a matter of reputation built up in the course of the band’s earlier days, as some weaknesses are obvious. Still, if you’re into death metal, you cannot make a mistake in getting your hands on this album. Please drop your safety glasses into the collection bin.

(No need to “color me impressed” here, this is Morbid Angel for fuck’s sake, but the numerical score is the correct one and I like the thing with the golden dildo, so what can I do…)

- Information
- Released: 1993
- Label: Warner(US)/ Earache(Europe)
- Website: www.morbidangel.com
- Band
- Dave Vincent: vocals, bass
- Trey Azagthoth: guitars
- Pete Sandoval: drums

- Tracklist
- 01. Rapture
- 02. Pain divine
- 03. World of shit (the promised land)
- 04. Vengeance is mine
- 05. Lions den
- 06. Blood on my hands
- 07. Angel of disease
- 08. Sworn to the black
- 09. Nar mattaru
- 10. God of emptiness