Live Report - Morbid Angel – Covenant 20th Anniversary Tour – 8th December 2014 – Sound Control, Manchester, UK
Live Gig

Release year: 0
Reviewed by Goat

It's hard to argue when a classic band decides to play a classic album in full on a live tour, and the chance to hear Morbid Angel blasting forth the satanic tunes of Covenant was too good to miss, even on a work night! Sadly I didn't get to the venue in time to hear more than a couple of songs from opener Neuroma, a fine bunch of Scouse lads playing a suitably grisly variety of death metal. Intense and brutal (can't argue with a band that names songs things like 'Centipaedophile'!) they set the scene well for the legends.

Of course, there's no competition when one of death metal's finest bands are in town, and although the first time I've seen them Morbid Angel did not let me down. A setlist that started with Rapture, ran through the whole of Covenant, and ended with a few more classics is pretty unbeatable, and the band were tight and powerful. The Sound Control is a small, stuffy venue, but has decent sound and terrific atmosphere, and with David 'Evil John Travolta' Vincent leading the crowd, turned into a delightful pit of hell. New-ish but well experienced members Destructhor and Tim Yeung felt very natural in the band, and with a vigorous pit and a clearly excited audience, this was the best live event I've been to this year, if not last, beating even At The Gates' tremendous return to town last week after nearly 20 years away.

Everyone has their favourite Morbid Angel songs, of course, but personal highlights were World of Shit, Lion's Den, Angel of Disease and a mighty God of Emptiness. The band kept it old-school, playing only Curse the Flesh and Existo Vulgoré from their most recent albums (as fun as it would have been to bop along to Too Extreme! live, this was probably a good choice). Where the Slime Live pulverised the venue, leaving even the pit too exhausted to do anything but stand transfixed through a furious Bil Ur-Sag, and the closing one-two of Immortal Rites and Fall From Grace suggested further classic album tours for Altars of Madness and Blessed Are The Sick would go down very well indeed. A brilliant evening that gave my sometimes flagging enthusiasm for metal a kick in the arse.

Killing Songs :
Goat quoted
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