MORBID ANGEL Heretic LP (2003)

Nobody talks about Heretic the way they talk about Altars of Madness or Covenant, which is precisely why it's interesting. Released in 2003 as Morbid Angel's seventh full-length, it is sprawling, uncompromising, and deeply indifferent to what anyone wanted from a death metal record that year.

Trey Azagthoth in full occult-obsessed freeform mode, Pete Sandoval's drumming still mechanical and inhuman in the best possible way, and a tracklist that runs over an hour and treats tempo as optional. It is not the entry point, but death metal collectors who've worked through the Tampa scene's foundational records know the back catalogue is where the obsession really lives. This reissue pressing brings it to vinyl properly, and it belongs in any collection that takes the dark aesthetic of extreme metal seriously.

Full length LP, reissue, US pressing, 2003. Death metal.

Fans of: Malevolent Creation, Vader, Possessed, Nile, Behemoth, Deicide, Hate Eternal, Krisiun.