Morbid Angel - Gateways To Annihilation (Earache Records) - Back
Well, it's easily put, Morbid Angel is back again with more vengeance then ever before! These death metal gods have put together another masterpiece taking sounds from all of their albums. The majority of these songs on "Gateways To Annihilation" are the heaviest ever. Its almost like they have tuned their guitars an extra note lower, and taken a little bit of influence from former death metal brethren Suffocation. Steve Tucker's vocals are more gutteral, almost like David Vincent was on "Domination," but with still his own touch. The blast beats seem to be faster then ever, Pete Sandoval must be on amphetamines or he's inhuman and is just the best drummer ever. The solos that Trey Azagthoth and Erik Rutan make scream out of their guitars remind me of the mid 90's when Morbid Angel was becoming the Kings of death metal, and it hasn't changed since. There are 11 tracks on this album and spans over 45 minutes. The songs "Summoning Redemption," "Ageless, Still I Am," and "Opening Of The Gates" absolutely blew me away, and "To The Victor The Spoils" and "I" are good as well. If you have a chance to see these legends take the stage this fall, don't hesitate to go. They will entertain as well as any other band, and the most pit is usually 10 times better!!

Rating: 96

Reviewed By: Jeffrey D. Adkins
Second Review:
It's been quite some time since I've heard this release. . I'd have to say that the first few times listening to it overall I did not like it because honestly I like David Vincent's vocals more and Richard Brunelle on Lead Guitar. But this is far in the past however Vincent did re-join the band. I don't wish to discredit Eric Rutan I think his rhythm section is way powerful. Trey worked on pretty much every instrument plus wrote most of the material Tucker and Rutan wrote only a few. Pete Sandoval still on drums after all of these years of Death Metal frenzy with Morbid Angel his efforts here are still commendable.

Morbid Angel slowed WAY down on Gateways To Annihilation though there are some blast beating overall the songs are slower but very very catchy. Just check out "Summoning Redemption" and you'll know what I'm referring to. The songs are longer as well but one department that was mediocre were the guitar leads. But the rhythm guitar pieces make the album more intriguing and definitely worth purchasing.

The vocal area has very little variation to it Steve Tucker doing most of the low-end vox and Trey is featured only a bit overall on this release. The guitars are tuned low I think to B-flat which makes the whole aura of the album so very HEAVY and transient. Everything on here seems to flow pretty well even though I had the little discrepency with the lead guitars here.

Gateways To Annihilation I think reigns in the top three best Morbid Angel releases to date. The others being (in my opinion) are "Alters Of Madness" and "Blessed Are The Sick". However, pretty much all of Morbid Angel releases I'm content with these albums merely the highlights in their discography. Gateways is defini

Rating: 85

Reviewed By: Death8699 - http://www.death8699.com/