Morbid Angel

MORBID ANGEL “COVENANT” EUROPE TOUR 2014
In early 2013 the band decided to begin touring the album “Covenant” in it’s entirety as a celebration on it’s 20th anniversary release in North America. The tour was a great success and was followed by immense interest from other areas of the world. The band has tried to reach some of these areas with this show, most recently Australia and Jakarta. Due to fan request, the band has decided to perform Covenant again one last time in it’s entirety in Europe this fall. A brief history of Covenant is attached below.

Covenant, the third album released in 1993, was a true milestone for the underground metal community and remains so to this day, being the first and only major label release by a death metal band at that time in North America on Giant records / Warner Bros.. The European release was on Earache Records, JVC was the Japanese Partner and Modern Invasion was the Australian label. Four different record deals and No compromises were made. In fact, this album is considered to be one of the darkest and most Satanically-inspired releases by the band throughout its collection. The lineup for this masterpiece consisted of Trey Azagthoth, David Vincent and Pedro Sandoval. The album was written by Azagthoth and Vincent and showcases some of the best work of the two together as cohesive brilliant song writers. Covenant was produced at the familiar Morrisound Studios, this time with the expertise of Flemming Rasmussen behind the board. The final mixes were made at Sweet Silence Studios in Copenhagen. This would prove to be a massive success for MORBID ANGEL, as over one hundred and fifty thousand copies would be sold world-wide after release and this has increased to well over 250,000+ sales to date. The band toured extensively, enlisting live guitarist Erik Rutan for European dates. Brunelle would make a brief return for a line of American concerts with Motorhead and Black Sabbath a worthy fan highlight during the album touring cycle. The videos for the singles ‘Rapture’ as well as for ‘God Of Emptiness premiered on Headbanger’s Ball to further build the band’s underground legendary status. At this point MORBID ANGEL had become the living proof that creativity did not have to meet the demands of conformity in order to achieve commercial success.
The band is ready to conquer and dominate further bringing this masterpiece to the stages of Europe in 2014.

Throughout history, only a handful of artists have been able to rise to a truly iconic level within any given genre. MORBID ANGEL are among those select few. Shattering the boundaries of creativity and imagination while evolving with each groundbreaking release throughout their historic career, the band stands alone as the true icon in extreme music, serving as source of countless inspiration to the multitude of fans and never failing to amaze with each evolving chapter.

Evoked into being in the year 1984 by founding member Trey Azagthoth, the Floridian band went through a number of line-up changes and recorded the now highly sought-after demos, “Scream for Blasphemies” and “Bleed for the Devil” in 1986. Azagthoth’s interests in the occult, ancient magic, witchcraft and the Necronomicon poured into the band’s lyricism, as the musical context grew darker and attained definitive sophistication. Their next demo “Thy Kingdom Come” (1987) was released as a 7’’ single one year later in Europe. With it’s new lineup MORBID ANGEL were prepared to make a profound universal statement in the shape of guitarist Trey Azagthoth, bassist/vocalist David Vincent, drummer Pete Sandoval and second guitarist Richard Brunelle.

“Altars of Madness” descended upon the worldwide metal community in May of 1989 as a raging storm and defined the band as the new masters of death and extreme Metal. It was followed by “Blessed Are the Sick”, 1991’s sophomore full length release adorned in J. Delville’s painting ‘Les Trésors De Satan’ as cover art, is considered to be one of the most revered albums in metal history as well as a pure musical masterpiece.
“Covenant”, the third album released in 1993, was a true milestone for the underground metal community and remains so to this day, being the first major label release by a death metal band in the US. No compromises were made. In fact, this album is considered to be one of the darkest and most Satanically-inspired releases by the band throughout its collection as well as the biggest commercial success.
“Domination”, out in May 1995, was the band’s second major label release. This release was a grandiose, slime-ridden departure from its predecessor, applying a generous use of heavy grooves and power-driven detuned chordal progressions. It introduced Guitarist Erik Rutan to the fold.
The official live album “Entangled in Chaos” was recorded during the “Domination” touring cycle. The band had become an otherworldly organic slime-dripping machine from the swamps of Florida, far evolved musically and thematically from its initial commercial success. MORBID ANGEL had once again placed itself at the forefront of the extreme metal community with this incredibly powerful live album.
“Formulas Fatal to the Flesh” was released in 1997 as a strikingly different MORBID ANGEL effort in comparison to its predecessor. Gone were the polished edge production and the Romanesque themes of militancy. David Vincent's departure from the band had shocked the fan-base. Yet MORBID ANGEL brought forth its underground roots with a truly awe-inspiring release and another beautifully additions to its catalog. This release introduced a new bassist/vocalist into the line-up - Steve Tucker.
“Gateways to Annihilation” was the highly anticipated metal release of 2000. Opening with a chorus of swamp frogs, the album delivered another devastating blow to the ears of metal fans across the world. The song structures appeared to be very tight and focused, drawing more on power and form rather than the chaotic brutality of the previous release.
“Heretic”, out in 2003, saw MORBID ANGEL as an entity truly out of this Universe. Recorded at D.O.W. Studios in Florida and engineered by the band’s soundman Juan ‘Punchy’ Gonzalez, this was the first effort to be created outside of Morrisound Studios.
During the summer of 2008 the band played a number of European dates. The deadly trio of Vincent, Azagthoth and Sandoval, joined by live guitarist Thor “Destructhor” Anders Myhren (ex-Zyklon, Myrkskog), has torn up stages all across Europe. Even a new crushing song was being played live during these shows - "Nevermore".
This led to “Illud Divinum Insanus” A new MORBID ANGEL album featuring the return of David Vincent as a bassist / song writer / vocalist for the first time in over ten years and was released by Season of Mist in 2011. The album was mixed by Sean Beavan. This ninth masterpiece written by Azagthoth & Vincent as well as two songs penned by Myhren / Vincent again produced worldwide controversy and huge interest in the band’s history and catalogue.

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