Interview :Steve Tucker of Morbid Angel

Originally did this interview for No Clean Singing, but figured this would give me another chance to edit it, and for those of you who don't read that blog, then here is your chance to catch it here. I reviewed the new Morbid Angel "Kingdoms Disdained" last week and it continues to grow on me, so I am glad I got to catch up with Steve Tucker and get some further insight on the album's creation. It went like this...

Not only does the album have big sound but it’s very dense, sonically closer to blessed are the sick , what did you guys do differently in the studio this time around ?


 We worked with Erik rutan. Erik just delivered a lot of very real sounds. It’s a bit old school but with high quality. The older stuff like “Blessed “ had that live feel, which is what we got here.


 Scott Fuller seems to have a more powerful style of playing than Tim’s what has it been like working with him what sets him apart from other drummers ?


 Scotty is great . He has years of playing of drums under his belt even though he is a young. As a drummer he is very well developed. We have a good dialogue talking about different kinds of beats. He understands what we need. The best thing is he is capable of anything, yet doesn’t insist on over playing. He serves the song can play in the pocket or flashy. It's a hard combination to find. Scotty is technically sound and knows when to back off.


 Was Dan involved in the making of the new album?


 Not so much. It was just the three of us . The way we did for formula and heretic.The line of communication was short so there was never any misunderstanding. I felt like anyone else it would have been undue work . It would be unnecessary stress in the equation.

 Vocally your best work, harsh vocals can take on uniform stereotypes but there is a lot of emotional nuance in this performance, what do you attribute that to ?


 I think it's working with Erik he is somebody who I trust when. If you have seen any of his behind the scenes videos then you know, when he feels the need to give his opinion he doesn't pull punches. It allows everyone to perform up. i think the topic is so deep and dark at the end of the wick passion was called for.


 Which leads right into my next question, the lyrical theme of the old gods awakening to find the world in it’s current state has a more confrontational feel and less of the escapism when this is given a more occult perspective, is this the mood meant to capture and how did this theme come about?


 That is absolutely what it felt like it was happening. This is something we have always talked about sumerian gods and mythology. To us it seemed like it has come to head. These prophecies being fulfilled. CivilizationS across the planet from different time frame come together now. What was once hypothetical is now more realistic, this idea of chaotic order . The whole earth is heaving with volcanoes and tidal waves. There is serendipity to the things we speak about . This sickens the gods.


Things like mass shooting becoming so frequent must fall into that 


 That would be one of the things. Bred off of an outsider mentality. Society builds the molds. It becomes a spiritual thing. It affects their souls and psyche’s ability to see right and wrong. How can people be shocked with all the negativity. Elections all across world shifted in the more conservative direction. For the government's Middle East this means muslims. In the United States it falls back to christianity. England the more conservative is Brexit wanting to break away from United Nations. When things are forced upon you, when you force change people snap. The song “Righteous Voice” is about how people never really see the truth. They see what is righteous. These people doing mass shootings have the righteous voice in their head. So all these individual rights are based on what is going on their life. So 8 billion individuals wanting this , it’s ridiculous. The Earth was never meant to sustain that many people. These people want rights and willing to die for what seems right. It affects the planet . Being more that disruptive more negative. The upheaval is there is getting to be more natural disasters coming with more force. The hurricane this fall was more violent. Some say it’s the greenhouse effect, it could be the overall hatred and selfishness of people. The average person that works in high rise would mock that. Well I mock what they do, the 9 to 5. Why live under someone's thumb like that ?

 In his marketing p/r of Kiss ,Gene Simmons said said Kiss was not anyone person but a bigger concept. On you new album you can hear the bigger concept of Morbid Angel, you can hear more of the classic Morbid Angel signatures was that part of the mission statement when you guys were in the writing process of these songs ? 

 Honestly the chemistry of Trey and Myself creates a pretty gluttonous monster of music. Morbid has had a few different entities. They had their own chemistry and vibe prior to when i came along. Then when I came on board we did some albums that were dark and mean. David came back with a different vibe. What I want to do musically, my drive and goal has not changed. It's not different from 15 or 10 years ago. It is not that I rely on the same ideas. I have grown , have been playing more playing guitar and becoming a better musician. What I want out of the music is nt different than when i was 17. I want people to head band, throw horns, yell and get out hatred and aggression. Trey and I might follow a similar spiritual path so that also creates a unity .


 What can fans expect going forward from you guys live ? 


 They can expect to see Morbid Angel and hear songs from all different times. We are changing the songs a lot , not playing the same exact set. Not sticking to the same songs. Trey said to me “Come on Dude, I love these songs, I don’t want to get bored playing them.” Some songs are coming back with a renewed excitement. Morbid Angel has some big songs, but we are going to play a lot more of the catalog. There are a few that haven't been played as much. We want to pull those out. We want you to be able to see us twice in the same year and not get the same set.


 How has the current state of tensions in the world affected you guys touring?


 Now everything is scrutinized. There was an issue with passports and it took six months to get things done cus of a mistake . Everything is scrutinized, there is a lot of shit going on. In Poland Behemoth got in trouble for representing the polish flag in some way. There have been a couple bands that have gone to Russia and been arrested. Extreme views clash with the uptight views. This tension is a good thing for us as people turn to metal for relief .

 “Yeah I mean death metal came about under George Bush senior “


 Every one felt oppressed , we have been at war for thirty years. theory testing young dude who are bad i respect them now a lot more diversity takes on metal didn't exist it feeds this people are looking for controlled aggression metal been an outlet for that.

 Funny you brought that up as my next question was going to be...How do you feel about where heavy metal as a whole is heading in 2017 ? 

 It’s great a lot of great diversity. One good thing internet has done is made a generation of musicians that are phenomenal. They are learning arpeggios online it’s amazing. I was listening to XM Radio Liquid Metal and hear this band Kyng. They kicks ass, good to hear a band that is just heavy metal and not much different than Dio. Then on the rawer side there are great bands like battle cross and goatwhore ,

 Haha well Goatwhore is the band that is duking it out with you guys on my iPod for death metal album of the year.

 Thanks , man it means a lot coming from you. When finally got a chance to sit down and listen to our new album I was like holy shit it takes you on a journey

 What are plans for 2018?

 Going back out, a lot of touring States in the early spring, and now that we got everything worked out rest of the world in the summer.

Warfather : "Orchestrating the Apocalypse"

I guess Culted was the first release of 2014 I reviewed on here making this the second. This band is the vehicle of Steve Tucker the one time replacement for David Vincent, and more often than not this reminds me more of Deicide than Morbid Angel in its straight ahead attack though by the middle of the first song I can begin to hear it. It is pretty one dimensional, I guess I have been spoiling myself by listening to such experimental death metal that when it comes down to really meat and potatoes fare like this. The riffs are mean and this is not sloppily thrown together by any means.

Like Deicide the songs are tight and to the point a quick brutal blast and its hit and run from there. The drumming is pretty decent as death metal has to be , the drums could have used a little more boom in the mix. "Legions' has a pretty good groove towards the second half and Tuckers sticks to his lower Vincent impersonation.  They tend to go right for the throat not really dabbling with the sonics of their attack until ' the Shifting Poles". The riff here is the most intricate in the albums first half and the swells of siren like keyboards sweeps in to haunt the song. This is the first song that I really like on here where the others seem like they would have to grow on me. This does sound more like Morbid Angel than Morbid Angel currently does.

The fast and furious "Waltz of the Solstice"  beats the bloody meat of it's raw snare hatred. I can hear the Behemoth influence on this song, the riffs break down and the choral synths ride over the groove, but the riffs are not as thick and groove heavy as the Polish bands. Hearing this for the first time  I find myself looking forward to the new Behemoth. The lyrics sound like Tucker is just growling off a list of black metal album titles. I do like how the shifting riffs modulate to allow room for the solos so they sound like they are a part of another movement and not just blasting out over the riffs for no reason.

The speed is maintained on "Ageless Merciless" , the thing that stand out about this song to me are the effects on the vocals , which sound like Tuckers find his own voice using them rather than filling Vincent's shoes.The vocal layering in the songs final minute is pretty cool and sounds like someone is falling down a long hole to hell.  

He is not the only fan of Morbid Angel in the band as the guitarist learned those weird harmonic sweeps that Trey does. "Gods and Machines" does capture enough strangeness in the periphery to no come off as much of a Tampa clone. The guitarist begins to forget his voice that I heard earlier in the album as his solos kinda sound like stock death metal from the 90's.

The more Formulas Fatal to the Flesh sound really doesn't bubble up until "Ashes and Runes". The blast happy drumming feels like it is all over the place and the solos seems to flow free . The angry chant that brings the song back together comes midway through. This song is more technical than what we got from Morbid Angel. Some of the riffs don't sound like they have had enough thought put into the process of arranging them as the rest of the album. Their is a more cohesive and angry tone to "We Are the Wolves".This also reminds me more of decide , particularly in some of the more straight forward blasty masturbation.

 Overall this tends to be too straight forward for what I normally listen to so I'll give it a 7.5 , but if death metal is more of your thing you can round it up to an 8. No new ground is tread upon here, but they are pro's at what they do.

LISTEN TO A NEW WARFATHER SONG NOW! STEVE TUCKER IS BACK!