Morbid metal

Morbid Angel preach to the Ancient Ones

by Don Fluckinger

Heavy-metal music used to mean Blue Öyster Cult, a little Ozzy, and, of course, Iron Maiden. Then came the softcore boys like Crue and Cinderella, who spun hard licks into quaint ballads and turned the genre into pop music. That music, soft and faddish, quickly faded. The last metal band left standing at the top, Metallica, might be best-advised to turn out the lights on popular metal and leave the genre to the history books. There's nothing more to be played.

Real heavy metal went back underground, mutating into many little splinters of funk, industrial, and hardcore death-metal. Formed in 1989, Morbid Angel, who play the Palladium this Tuesday, will never chart a hit single -- can you imagine Casey Kasem uttering "this week's number-four hit comes from death-metal progenitors Morbid Angel. Here they are with `Hellspawn: the Rebirth' from their brand-new album, Formulas Fatal to the Flesh"? They will never be a hit with parents, with their wildly satanic imagery and CD titles like Altars of Madness and Blessed Are the Sick. It's scary stuff, which partly explains Morbid Angel's popularity with young metalheads.

The group's fan base has grown tremendously over the past 10 years. In the United States and Europe, Morbid Angel fans bought more than a million albums. In their heyday, of course, Quiet Riot could sell a million albums in the first few days of an album's release. But it's been quite an accomplishment for these guys, the only death-metal band to be signed to a major label (Giant). In fact, they'll probably end up the genre's bestseller when they finally pack it in and sail into their eternal damnation, or wherever it is these guys -- who manage to pack both a downward-pointing pentagram and an upside-down cross in their logo -- go after the Final Gig.

Musically, Formulas Fatal to the Flesh is brutal, thanks to the total takeover of the band by guitarist Trey Azagthoth, who composed and produced the songs on the CD, as well as playing the keyboard parts. Dark, ferocious, and powerfully rhythmic, the album, to the naked ear, sounds at times like a washing machine with an unbalanced load recorded on a lo-fi tape machine. But to fans in the know, it's some of the most intense music you can listen to.

Those fans will also recognize the individual sound of new lead vocalist Steve Tucker's barking, menacing singing. The former Ceremony/Internecine singer -- who doubles on bass -- was hired when original lead singer/bassist David Vincent left after Morbid Angel's 1996 world tour and eventually joined the Genitorturers.

"The new album is pure, brutal death metal that really doesn't fit into any other category," Azagthoth says. "As far as sound [goes], [Vincent] was getting more influenced by industrial type of stuff and digital-sounding things, and moving away from the living feel that I was going for."

Ideology was also part of the split with their longtime frontman. Azagthoth has studied and has dedicated his life to the Ancient Ones of Sumerian mythology; over the years he has developed a system of beliefs that include elements similar to those found in the writings of Deepak Chopra, the Cabala, and motivational speaker Anthony Robbins, known well by viewers of late-night TV infomercials.

"David, in the beginning, was really a part of what we were doing," Azagthoth says. "Over the years, he started moving away from that, changing his interests, and that's why he's gone."

After Azagthoth got back to his roots and wrote the 14 "hymns to the Ancient Ones" heard on Formulas, he and drummer Pete Sandoval brought in Tucker and set out to stretch the concept of "power trio" once and for all. Although he had left the band along with Vincent, rhythm guitarist Erik Rutan returns for their six-week, coast-to-coast tour.

Now that they're squarely in the center of the death-metal scene once again, Morbid Angel stand ready to convert legions of new fans. But it's not fame, fortune, or sold-out arena shows that Azagthoth and his band covet; he's there to play his music, no matter who shows up at the gigs.

"It's not as much about the market or what happens in the economy, it's what you do that makes the difference," Azagthoth says. "We just do our best with what we have, write music that we enjoy, and we always have people who enjoy listening to us. If it gets bigger, great, but if we have the normal cult following, that's great, too. It's all about having a concert and exchange of energy."

Morbid Angel play at 8 p.m. on June 30 at the Palladium. Tickets are $12. Call 797-9696.