MORBIDFEST - I Am Morbid // Belphegor // Hate at The Underworld - London Come watch David Vincent and Pete Sandoval... Posted by Mihai Coro Caraveteanu on Thursday, April 7, 2022
I AM MORBID, the band featuring former MORBID ANGEL members David Vincent (bass, vocals) and Pedro "Pete" Sandoval (drums), kicked off its "Morbidfest" 2022 European tour on March 24 in Berlin, Germany. I AM MORBID, which also includes guitarists Bill Hudson (NORTHTALE, DORO) and Kelly McLauchlin, is celebrating the 30th anniversary of MORBID ANGEL's second album, "Blessed Are The Sick".
Fan-filmed video of I AM MORBID's April 7 concert at the Underworld in London, England can be seen below.
The band's setlist was as follows:
01. Immortal Rites
02. Fall From Grace
03. Visions Of The Dark Side
04. Day Of Suffering
05. Blessed Are The Sick
06. Rapture
07. Pain Divine
08. Sworn To The Black
09. Eyes To See, Ears To Hear
10. Dead Shall Rise
11. Maze Of Torment
12. Dominate
13. Where The Slime Live
14. Dawn Of The Angry
15. God Of Emptiness
16. World Of Shit
I AM MORBID's current tour marks the first time Sandoval and Vincent have played together in 12 years.
Sandoval, who now lives his life as a born-again Christian, was forced to leave MORBID ANGEL in 2010 after undergoing surgery for a prolapsed disc.
Vincent told Invisible Oranges in a December 2013 interview that Pete had "found Jesus," which meant that Sandoval and MORBID ANGEL were no longer "compatible."
Sandoval has past the last few years recording and touring with TERRORIZER, whose latest studio album, "Caustic Attack", was released in October 2018 via The End Records.
A year ago, Sandoval released an Instagram video in which he addressed some of the most commonly asked questions regarding his time with MORBID ANGEL. He said: "I've been asked about who's my favorite singer or which era is my favorite one — the era with David Vincent or with Steve Tucker. Well, I wanna tell you that I love both eras. I had fun. I had a great time working with David Vincent, and I had a great time working with Steve Tucker as well. So, from 'Altars Of Madness' [1989] to 'Heretic' [2003], they're all masterpieces for me. We worked hard [on] those albums. So I'm telling you my answer that I don't have a favorite album, I don't have a favorite era, I don't have a favorite singer — I love 'em all. I had a great time in both eras with every album."
Sandoval added: "And as far as the album released in 2011" — referring to MORBID ANGEL's controversial "Illud Divinum Insanus" LP — "please don't ask me any questions about it, because I have no comments about it — no comments at all, man. I stay what I am, I did what I did, and I am so happy and grateful that I did what I did with these guys."
In a 2011 e-mail chat with Brazil's Som Extremo, Sandoval was asked for his opinion of "Illud Divinum Insanus", which incorporated industrial and electronic elements into MORBID ANGEL traditional death metal sound. "No comment! I don't play on that album," he wrote. He was then questioned about what he thought he would have done different on "Illud Divinum Insanus" had he played on the record. "More exreme deathgrind metal and less DJ, boring awful typical I care less industrial experimental same as everybody boring bull!" he said. "This is not what MORBID has been all about! ...Hmmmmmm, and I really care less...!"
Initially announced for 2021, I AM MORBID's "Morbidfest" tour had to be postponed due to the pandemic. But it's finally happening in 2022.
Vincent left MORBID ANGEL in 2015. He has since been replaced by a returning Steve Tucker, who previously handled bass and vocals on MORBID ANGEL's "Formulas Fatal To The Flesh", "Gateways To Annihilation" and "Heretic" LPs.
In a May 2019 interview with Jorge Botas of the "Metal Global" radio show, which airs on the Portuguese public TV and radio broadcaster RTP, Vincent said that he had every right to perform MORBID ANGEL's classic songs with I AM MORBID.
"Times come and life works the way that it does," Vincent said. "And there are times when… It's like a marriage — sometimes they don't always work forever. But that doesn't mean that the children that we've had together, that I don't still love my children. Although Trey [Azagthoth, MORBID ANGEL guitarist and sole remaining original member] and I have some irreconcilable differences, that doesn't in any way preclude me from still having the love and the passion for all of my children."
Asked what he has to say to people who insist that he should not play MORBID ANGEL's early material without the other members of the group's classic lineup, David said: "There's examples of this very situation… I mean, when Ozzy [Osbourne] left BLACK SABBATH, that didn't stop him from playing 'Paranoid' every night, even though he didn't write the song. All of the songs that I'm singing I wrote. So I don't really understand that. But different people become attached to different things. And they have their opinion and I have mine. And I don't really consider this kind of negativity. I don't have it in my life."
In 2019, Vincent released "Something Wicked Marches In", the debut album from his supergroup VLTIMAS, also featuring guitarist Rune Eriksen (formerly of MAYHEM) and CRYPTOPSY drummer Flo Mounier. Two years earlier, Vincent issued his debut country single, "Drinkin' With The Devil".
