Morbid Angel - Formulas Fatal to the Flesh (1998)

Formulas Fatal to the Flesh is the fifth full-length studio album by death metal band Morbid Angel. The Satanic themed lyrics of previous albums had been replaced with lyrics about the Old Ones, which would become the primary source of Morbid Angel's lyrical content from this point on. This is the first album to feature singer/bassist Steve Tucker, replacing David Vincent, and has some lyrical content written in Sumerian. The title refers to the biblical symbol of the Antichrist. The letter "F" is the 6th letter of the alphabet; therefore, it could be read as "6ormulas 6atal to the 6lesh" or 666 for short, the number of the Beast. The tunings for this record as on Covenant and Domination remained E♭ on six string guitar songs, and B♭ on seven stringed guitar songs. The album saw considerable changes in tone from Domination. Whereas it was more clean and melodic, Formulas is more brutal and powerful. The album is characterized with very fast drum tempos, especially extremely fast blast beat, aggressive riffs with atmospheric solos, and a more demonic growl from Steve Tucker. "Invocation of the Continual One" is made of unused music the band had composed in its early days in 1984, which they put together and re-recorded for this album. The album was met with mixed critics upon release, but nowadays the reception is very positive, due to its role as a landmark for the brutal death metal genre that developed in the late nineties.

Tracklist

1. Heaving Earth
2. Prayer of Hatred
3. Bil Ur-Sag
4. Nothing Is Not
5. Chambers of Dis
6. Disturbance in the Great Slumber
7. Umulamahri
8. Hellspawn: The Rebirth
9. Covenant of Death
10. Hymn to a Gas Giant
11. Invocation of the Continual One
12. Ascent Through the Spheres
13. Hymnos Rituales de Guerra
14. Trooper

Total playing time 51:36