That pimple faced, horridly scraggly bearded fool in the video above is me a little over a year ago. The video in question was my immediate thoughts on Illud Divinum Insanus, the then-newest release of death metal titans Morbid Angel. I, like most other death metal fans, could not believe what I was listening to; Morbid Angel went all Marilyn Manson on us! They sold out! This sounds like dog shit melting in the hot summer sun! Well, a year has passed and my musical tastes have expanded beyond just extreme music or even just metal by itself. Looking back on the record, it's not as bad as I initially thought. Don't get me wrong, there's still stuff about the album that's mediocre, bad, or outright sucks (looking at you Radikult), but my opinion on the record has changed to be more favorable of it.
Firstly, if you haven't read my original full text review of the album, here's the version I posted on Metal Archives a year ago.
http://www.metal-archives.com/reviews/Morbid_Angel/Illud_Divinum_Insanus/302987/Subrick
The biggest change in opinion is that there are a couple songs on the album that I despised before that I've embraced with open arms now, those songs being 10 More Dead and Destructos vs. The Earth/Attack. The former I listened to on my own about half a year after the record came out and I quite enjoyed it. It's got the vibe of Domination in the latter half of the song while retaining a very catchy, very headbang friendly feel throughout the entire track. I remember seeing a video before the album came out of Tim Yeung playing along to the instrumental track of it at a drum clinic, and looking back on it I don't know why I didn't like the song when I first listened to the album. Destructos I was tempted to listen to again after hearing from my fellow Sorrowseed compadre Morte McAdaver that the song was just pure goofiness and very enjoyable. Upon listening to it again, I became tempted to agree with him. It is a bit too long at seven minutes, but for the most part the track is a fun bit of industrial death metal. The lyrics from what I can gather are about an intergalactic alien military invading Earth with the intent to wipe out humanity; it's like a more serious Ziltoid the Omniscient, minus the coffee, or something you'd see out of a 1950s sci-fi B movie.
As for the other songs, my opinions on them remain relatively the same. Blades for Baal, Existo Vulgore, Nevermore, and Beauty Meets Beast, the only full on death metal songs on the record, are still the best tracks in the collection. Upon listening to Too Extreme! again, I wasn't as put off by it as I originally was, probably because since the album came out I've become a bigger fan of Nine Inch Nails and other industrial metal groups like The Kovenant and Death Stars. The biggest problem with the track really, aside from the incredibly stupid song title and lyrics, is that it goes on FAR too long. The track is six and a half minutes, which is quite a long time to listen to the same techno beat on loop. If the song was only three minutes or even four minutes it would be a hell of a lot more bearable. I Am Morbid has elements of the slower side of Morbid Angel, but also somehow has this radio friendly feel to it that can be very off putting even if you like the song as a whole. The chorus is quite good though, and the song is rather catchy too. Radikult still sucks; my opinion on that track will always be the same. It's like if nu metal and Marilyn Manson decided to have a very fucked up love child. Profundis - Mea Culpa, hilariously ironic name aside, is actually quite decent as well. It's very atmospheric and I could definitely see it as video game music, particularly for a fighting game like Mortal Kombat. The only real problem I have with the track now is the drum sounds. If they hadn't used electronic samples lifted right out of FL Studio, I think more people would be willing to give the song another chance. Still, the drum samples aren't as annoying as the drum sounds in Too Extreme!.
Overall, my opinion on the record has changed quite a bit. I like more of the songs from it now, and some of the songs I've hated before I can see the good in while also recognizing the problems they have. I'm sure a fair amount of you will probably want me hung from my balls on the flag pole in the town square, and I can understand why. I too once despised this album, thinking it to be the bane of my existence. However, my expanded musical tastes as well as having found MUCH worse music out there (fucking Lulu) have made me look back on Illud Divinum Insanus and realize that it's not so bad after all.
The remix album completely blows, though. Do not ask me to review that, because the entire review would just be 94 lines of "I FUCKING HATE THIS ALBUM!".
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