Artist : Morbid Angel And Various Artists
Title: Illud Divinum Insanus The Remixes
Type: Double Album and then some
Label: Season Of Mist
So you are a highly revered death metal band, one of the originators of the sound that so many try and copy today, you are the elite, the best, the uncompromising force that all shall bow down to. What do you do? Simplez, you go off the rails and release an album that goes against the grain of what two thirds your fan base worship you for and really piss them off. Mission achieved, what’s the next plan. Well, and this ones a classic, you get 39 artists to go and remix these songs and mangle them in ways that the metal purists who had stuck with you through the original album cannot comprehend in the slightest and piss off most of them all over again. Who is left, who is the last of the Ten Men not dead?’ Well I am putting my hand up as one thing I loved when DJ’ing to a load of metal heads was throwing a gabba song into the mix and have them howling for my blood, which is what in essence Dave Vincent and his cheeky chappies have gone and done here.
This is a double album with some sort of digital download card containing an extra eight tracks to go with the original 31. I was sent the complete package digitally anyway but if you expect a track by track review you can get bent! I listened to this in its entirety once on a journey by train and coach from Kings Cross to Huddersfield, it took me door to door but I really would not advise anyone trying to do this in one hit EVER. It scrambled my brain and made me realise that people of Yorkshire will never understand someone having Angel tourettes and spontaneously shouting out ‘MOOOORBIIID’ and ‘RADIKKKKULT at the top of their lungs, something that I actually found myself doing for the next month! Yes some artists do go for the obvious and ‘I Am Morbid’ for example gets no less than 12 remixes over the discs and will pretty much be with you forever. You need to attack this in bite sized chunks, even one albums worth might be a bit much for many.
I am, for the sake of reviewing, singling out some of the artists and the styles and attempt to give you a broad overview. The first track of them all is a no brainer and the best of the lot to a very biased fan of Laibach like me. The NSK collective who already remixed the group to great effect in 94 marry their conceptual neo Bach-Volk style with slamming pounds of pure Wat mayhem with ‘I’m Morbid (We Are Laibach); fucking have some this is excellent! For anyone left there’s another 38 numbers. Skinny Pup cEvin Key joins up with Hiwatt Marshall and gives ‘Omnidead’ the wobbling electro dubstep treatment. Yes Dubstep, as the kids are apparently calling it, gets quite a few look-ins here. Personally I can take it in short bursts but then it does my head in as the musical ketamine that it resembles. Listen to the likes of Metallyzer aka John Lord Fonda for an example of it all going really wobbly on his ‘Too Extreme Remix.’ One person you would think of being good to get in on the action is Xy of Samael and his dark techno rendition of Existo Vulgore sees the metal and industrial sides sound clashing perfectly. I mentioned Gabba and dipping backwards into the first disc again we have Evil Activities ‘Radikult’ yes sproooong action, bounce up and down like a mad Dutchman full of chemicals to this I dare you.
Taking a breather, disc two has some well known and many less known names taking part. Nachtmahr from Austria put an excellently austere and militant goose step beat to ‘Destructos Vs The Earth’ blasting any evil invaders firmly back into orbit and the ever reliable Project Pitchfork take us into EBM meltdown with the same track. Treponem Pal should need little introduction either and their ’10 Men Dead’ gets a techno guitar grating that really puts the song nicely through the shredder. Some of the unknowns here are great fun. Fixhead backtracks and bleeps all over ‘Radikult’ putting it through a blender in the process, there’s some mental gabba beats from DJ Ruffneck with the heaviest ‘I Am Morbid’ mix and The Horrorist really plays around with Existo ending the CD in an experimental meth lab of confusing manic beats and jelly like wobs.
Ah my head now exploding, let’s go to the extras. Heading them in with b-movie sample and great futuristic keyboard embellishments we have Combichrist version of Destructos in all its cosmic out there glory. This kind of really sells the extra package as they are one of the biggest bands around at the moment doing the whole dark EBM thing and they do it well here. Chrysalide give ‘Nevermore’ the seasick and headache treatment never letting the song stand still for a second and Roger Rotor’s Radikult goes off like an old racing game on the Atari complete with loads of skidding sounds. Last of all is the biggest joke and the shortest track in the form of Mulk who put in a 1 minute Existo via drill and bass and white noise, it’s more amazing that if you listen carefully you can just about make out the songs central guitar riff.
Is anyone still reading? Well done, you seem like just the lad or lady who wants this in their life and fair play to you. Music is not all about playing it safe and this is the ultimate statement in not doing so. I actually have to say that I enjoyed this more than the original album (cunt you say) for just that reason. It also helps if you are into the styles of music the remixers play as well I guess. So what’s next for Morbid Angel? Have they got all this out their systems and are they going back into the Lovecraftian swamps, time will tell but in the meantime those of you brave enough have plenty to listen to here.
(8/10 Pete Woods)
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