Blessed Are the Sick

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Customer reviews

review by: mccanns23 date: 2006-08-24 rating:
AH THE MEMORIES!
This album was first given to me back in 1992 i would say and for a young lad who was into guns n roses,skid row and metallica this was something of a shock,never before had i heard such anger,spite and evil and sheer heaviness on a record in my life.But somehow it was what i always wanted to hear,over the following years death metal has become a genre i have walked in and out of but blessed are the sick is an album i will always admire.
It is a slower album than you may think given that it is regarded as a death metal masterpiece and there is a doomy feel to it,but make no mistake this is death metal from a band that had the powers back in 1991 when this was released.David vincents vocals were gutteral but strangely audible,the riffs were relentless and there is a feeling of a death metal band trying something just a little different here.
The great songs on here include brainstorm,thy kingdom come and rebel lands.What works so well for this album is that the songs are shorter than latter day morbid angel so the interest factor is maintained,i have never been keen on 7 or 8 minute death metal songs,the ferocity is such that it should be contained in shorter,leaner songs so there you have it,blessed are the sick is an album that defined a genre and cant be ignored.

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review by: date: 2005-02-18 rating:
Bonecrunchingly Excellent
I am a 32 yr old rocker/headbanger. Likes stretch from glam to death metal
This album is splendid. Axe work is precise and well put together.
Im my humble opinion Morbid Angel are only surpassed by the Gods Of Death Metal aka Mr Schuldiner and co.
Like death metal then this album is a must.

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review by: Black Cat Theory date: 2005-01-05 rating:
A Defining Moment in Early Nineties Death Metal
For well over a decade now Morbid Angel have been battering us with some of the most forward thinking, varied and musically competent death metal the human race has ever produced. As a spotty, long-haired teenager I was obsessed with them and their occult image. Now as a clean-cut, 29 year old civil servant who recently heard their latest offering I was inspired to go back and buy up their back catalogue on CD.

Back in the days Blessed are the Sick was the first Morbid Angel album I ever heard. After the blistering pace and intensity of Altars of Madness it immediately alienated many extreme metal heads. What a shame, because for its time and genre it is an album of truly breathtaking scope, variety and production. Amongst, admittedly talented peers such as Carcass, Entombed and Deicide, Morbid Angel were the only band who had the guts to fully utilise a clean, tight production, decipherable lyrics and numerous melodic segways making use of non-rock instrumentation.

Blessed are the Sick is, all in all, a text book lesson on how to do a heavy album well. A distorted, loop driven intro brings things around to first track 'Fall From Grace' which right away showcases a breathtaking mix of tempo changes, catchy riffing and ridiculously fast and accurate drumming. From here the tone for the album is set. There is no repetition, no treading water just songs which at times reach levels of catchiness never seen before or since in death metal (see Rebel Lands, They Kingdom Come, Unholy Blasphemies, Ancient Ones).

As the songs progress one is reminded of the true brilliance of Trey Azagthoth's guitar playing. He truly was (and is) the death metal Jimi Hendrix. Although rhythmically fast and accurate, when he solos he switches to a noisy, bendy, almost freeform style of playing that serves to give Morbid Angell an almost bluesy quality which eluded all other bands of the era. Trey is often thought of as the key member of Morbid Angel, but on these earlier albums David Vincent is an awesome presence. Possibly the best ever vocalist in death metal he retains a brutal edge along with a quality of diction which makes the vast majority of his lyrics immediately decipherable.

So all in all if you are interested in heavy music either past or present or even if you are just looking for some great guitar work then this album deserves its place in the history books.


review by: date: 2004-07-23 rating:
Classic Morbid Angel
While this is not my favourite Morbid Angel album, it is clearly a very good one. You can hear the transition in style from Altars of Madness to their later, more distinct sound, with the introduction of atmospheric instrumentals, and slower, darker songs like Blessed are the Sick/Leading the Rats.

There is some strong material on this release, being the one that saw them starting to break the mould, but it wouldn't be until its successor Covenant, that we saw them becoming possibly the best band in their genre. 'Blessed are the Sick' is essential to any Death Metal fan with its blinding speed sitting in close proximity to its bleak despair and dark fury.

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