Why haven’t we heard or read about you before already?
“We haven’t sent any tapes out because we wanted to make a great first impression and that only can come on time. So we waited till our record deal worked out and we went in the studio with engineer Bill Metoyer and label producer David Vincent and recorded our LP and that was our clearest tape up to date for us to send out! In the past we made some homemade demos but not with very good sound quality. I didn’t want people to think of us as a noise Metal band! We only have recorded home made demos with very poor sound quality.”
How did you get your record deal with Goreque Productions?
“Their talent scout was in Florida checking out the local Metal bands and he came to our door to pick up our (homemade) demo. I’m glad that the president of Goreque Productions (David Vincent) could see through to poor quality tape.”
Will the album be released in Europe as well?
“Goreque said that our LP will be released worldwide, but I don’t know which European license partner they will work with.”
Which songs will be on the LP and what will the cover look like?
“I wrote and composed all material for this first LP. It will have the following songs: ‘Chapel Of Ghouls’, ‘Unholy Blasphemies’, ‘Angel Of Disease’, ‘Azagthoth’ (this song isn’t about me, it’s about the insane God of the Abyss!), ‘Lord Of All Fevers And Plague’, ‘Hellspawn’, ‘Abominations’, ‘Demonseed’ and ‘Evil Spells’. The cover will be an original painting of Shub Niggurath – goat of a thousand young.”
Your lyrics are about satanic things. Do you feel as a Black Metal band?
“I think of us as Black Satanic Horror Chaos Death Insanity Metal! Total hideous Death!”
Is it only an image, or do you really believe in this?
“MORBID ANGEL laughs at God (Jehovah)! We don’t look at Satan the way christians look at him. We don’t need any God to tell us how to live our lives. People should be their own master. Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law! This is the code that we live by. To us, Satan stands for freedom and being without a master. He was cast out of heaven because he refused to be God’s puppet. The church of Jehovah gives Satan a bad name. MORBID ANGEL is a mockery of the christian faith! Our music is a mockery of the Bible because we feel that God wants to enslave people and control their lives. I don’t worship Satan, but I believe in what he really stands for. I don’t believe in sacrificing virgins or anything like that. We only believe in freedom from any master or God. Every person is capible of being a God, so why worship something else? We are on the side of the Ancient Ones, for they are most hideous and chaotic death!”
Do you play many live shows?
“Not too many, we started out being too evil and people were afraid of us. So we had to calm down a little for this area. We headlined a two day show with five bands each day, that was great! We are planning to do some Hardcore shows soon. I’m sure that will be fun, we are playing so fucking fast and heavy now. The Hardcore people as well as the Death Metal people really get into our shows!”
How would you describe your music?
“Our music has a lot of variety and that is important. The lyrics are blasphemous chants of insanity. They are hideous invocations, calling forth the Ancient Ones and blasphemy against the Holy Ghost! We have slow heavy songs, heavy medium fast songs and super mega-fast thrashing songs that will fucking rip your head off! Our music is twisted and haunting. The guitar solos will totally possess your soul and tear through your mind!”
Which bands have influenced you?
“We try to be original. We try mostly not to sound like any band, but it’s very difficult. We are influenced by drugs and evil. My favorite bands are SLAYER, KREATOR, CELTIC FROST, GENOCIDE, old POSSESSED and NECROPHAGIA. The new NECROPHAGIA LP will kill! I would say I’ve been influenced some by all these bands.”
Anything else you’d like to mention?
“MORBID ANGEL believes in helping other bands, and we totally support the underground. Death Metal is the only thing I listen to. We look forward to tour the Metal scene in Europe, and we hope everyone enjoys our “Abominations Of Desolation” LP. It should be released in your area around September / October. The first part of ‘87 we should be in the studio working on our second LP, which will totally kill! Rage in the Maze of Torment. Praise the underground and Death fuckin Metal! We want to thank Frank Stöver for this interview and all the help that he gives us (you are God like!). I send my greetings to KREATOR – you guys are great, hope to do some shows with you! We know the Europe scene is great and we hope to see and hear from you all real soon. Check out our LP and join the Covenant Of Death!”
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Frank Stöver