Morbid Angel's third album blew open the doors for death metal's mainstream popularity. The release of Covenant represented the commercial peak of death metal, a peak that neither Morbid Angel nor death metal as a whole followed up on.
The first element of the album that must be examined here is the guitar, as Morbid Angel is very much a guitar driven band. The riffs on Covenant consist of two main kinds, those that are slow and sludgy, such as the main riff on “God of Emptiness” and those that are fast, and consist mostly of tremolo picking by Trey Azagthoth, such as “Rapture”. Covenant is very much dominated by the fast tremolo style riffs, though when slower and more mid-tempo riffs appear, they mix much better with the surrounding music unlike on Altars of Madness, where they mesh poorly. The proper meshing of these slow chugging riffs and fast tremolo riffs raises the overall quality of the songs on Covenant. Trey's solos also finally come into their own as a unique variation of the Slayer screaming whammy-bar solo, now with a thorough NWOBHM attitude, though they have not yet developed into the warped lava that they would become in the Tucker-Era albums.
Next is Pete Sandoval’s drumming. Sandoval doesn't really change his style of constant blast beats, double bass rolls, and occasional fills. This is because he doesn't really need to, and, as we will see in later albums, he mostly doesn't. “God of Emptiness” is notable for seeing a large slow-down in his tempo, but the drums on Covenant mostly serve as a metronome for Trey to buzz out riffs.
By far the biggest improvement on this album is David Vincent. Vincent carries over his deeper and more guttural vocal style form Blessed Are the Sick, and uses it to great effect. The only song where he uses his rasping Altars-era vocal style is on “Angel of Disease”, a fine song, but slightly held back by Vincent’s vocal style. The most novel and interesting of Vincent's vocals on Covenant, however, are his cleans, which he puts to great use on “God of Emptiness”. Vincent's cleans break up the monotony that can develop after listening to 40 minutes of death metal vocals. On another note, “God of Emptiness” is one of the best Morbid Angel album closers of all time as it gradually gets slower and fades away.
As for Vincent's bass, despite mostly playing behind Trey's guitar, it surfaces during an interlude in “Angel of Disease” to magnificent effect. Other than that, the bass doesn't do anything interesting except hold up the low end like it’s supposed to.
Now I would normally take a look at the bad (or in this case, least good) aspects of the album, but there aren't very many. Even the crappy dungeon synth interlude (perhaps the worst reoccurring aspect of Morbid Angel's sound) serves as a great segway into the wonderful album closer, "God of Emptiness". The worst part of the album, Vincent's raspy Altars-era vocals on “Angel of Disease”, are still amazing. I award this album a 100%, and declare it free of any serious errors. It should serve as an introduction into all extreme metal for any new listener. Even though it is a "mainstream" album by extreme metal standards, their sound is not simplified by any means. As a new listener gradually progresses into the territory of demos and obscure bands, Covenant will hold up to scrutiny.
Sample: https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
Official promo video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
Official promo video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
