MORBID ANGEL Frontman On Fans' Negative Reaction To New Album: 'They'll Figure It Out'

Barry Anderson of Metal Storm conducted an interview with vocalist/bassist David Vincent of Florida-based death metal veterans MORBID ANGEL on November 21, 2011 in Sheffield, England. You can now watch the chat below.

On the fan reaction to MORBID ANGEL's "controversial" new album, "Illud Divinum Insanus", which incorporates industrial and electronic elements into the band's traditional death metal sound:

Vincent: "I still think it's a great record. And I stand by that. And other people just need to They'll figure it out. A lot of them actually have, which That's also a good thing."

On how willing some of the other MORBID ANGEL bandmembers were to change to a more industrial/electronic-inspired direction on the new album:

Vincent: "It's not a question of changing. We've always pooled from different sources, and we've always sort of decided in the moment, in a very artistic fashion, what it was that we were gonna do . . . There were some very interesting ideas on the table, and we all worked hard to bring those ideas to fruition."

On what MORBID ANGEL's expectations were, prior to the new album's release, with regards to the fan reaction to the CD:

Vincent: "There's not that much that thought [being put] into things. We're artists and we just sort of do what we do. We do stuff that feels interesting, and that's what we do. Our responsibility is more to that than it is to sort of test the winds and see what should we do and get a panel of experts up there. We've never been that band."

On having MORBID ANGEL's new album extensively scrutinized by the band's fan base:

Vincent: "It's part of the territory. When you stand up and you raise your hand, then you're gonna have people that are going to be swayed by that; they're gonna have, perhaps, some commentary or an opinion in many different directions, and [that's] good. I'm glad that people think about things. I'm glad that they take the time to form an opinion. That's part of the message of the band to think for yourself and has been since day one."

On whether MORBID ANGEL's current touring and recording drummer Tim Yeung is a permanent member of the band (Tim replaced Pedro "Pete" Sandoval last year after Pete underwent back surgery for a deteriorating disc problem):

Vincent: "Permanent is an interesting word. When we got Tim to do this record everybody knows what the story is on that it was to do the record and to do the subsequent touring for the record. So that's what I'm prepared to discuss this evening. Tim is a very capable drummer, a very talented fellow. He's a good friend, and I feel very pleased that his schedule worked out, as such, that he could do this, 'cause we're having a good time."

On whether he paid attention to MORBID ANGEL's recorded output during the years that he was away from the band and what he thought of those albums:

Vincent: "Trey [Azagthoth] is a very gifted guitar player he always has been and there's some great material on there. In fact, we've been working over the past few months, working on what sort of material we can take from that period of time and add to the set. I mean, our set is already too long I keep getting told that every night so it's just like, 'What do you replace in order to put in these other things?' But yeah, [there's some] great material [on those albums]."