Author and Metal Hammer reporter Joel McIver received an unexpected phone call in the evening of Tuesday, July 8 from MORBID ANGEL frontman David Vincent. "I was arrested in Italy today — and charged with a weapons offense," explained the furious singer. Vincent went on to explain that the veteran death metal outfit had arrived at Milan airport that morning for a flight to Greece, but that he was detained after customs officials found a bullet-belt inside his checked-in luggage.
Arrested and escorted by a group of 15 to 20 armed police officers to a holding cell, Vincent endured over two and a half hours of questioning before being released. "I asked them again and again if they were kidding," recalled Vincent, "but they said no. The belt is obviously not made of real bullets. Metal is clearly not fashionable in the fashion centre of Europe." The bullet-belt, given to Vincent in 1989 by the Earache owner Digby Pearson when MORBID ANGEL signed to his label, was confiscated and the singer was charged with an offense that translates approximately as "possession of contraband weapons."
Asked for a statement by McIver, Vincent replied: "My comment is this. For 20 years I've had my same friendly bullet-belt with me at all metal occasions. After 20 years of being a lawless individual, I'm happy that the Keystone Kops of spaghetti western fame have been able to show me the error of my ways." He was given a document requesting his attendance in an Italian court, with the date yet to be decided, and was required to contact a lawyer on his return to the USA in order to arrange his defense. "I doubt very much that I'll ever get the belt back," he fumed down the line from Greece, where his band are playing tomorrow evening (Wednesday, July 9). "We barely made our flight," he added. "We only made it to the plane because we make a point of showing up early at airports in case of bullshit like this."
Musica Metal has posted video footage of MORBID ANGEL performing a brand new song, "Nevermore", at the Gods of Metal festival on June 29, 2008 in Bologna, Italy. Watch the clip below.
MORBID ANGEL played its first show with new touring guitarist, ZYKLON's longtime axemeister Destructhor (a.k.a. Thor Anders Myhren), on June 22 at the Hellfest in Clisson, France.
Although MORBID ANGEL's upcoming album does not currently have a name, its title will likely begin with the letter "I", in keeping with the band's tradition of titling their albums in alphabetical order beginning with 1989's "Altars of Madness", and continuing through "Heretic".
"A lot of people around the world have come up with titles that they thought it would be," Vincent told Norway's "Tinitus" radio show in an interview that aired last month. "There is no title yet — we've not decided on it. We've not decided whether it's going to continue following the alphabet or not. So anything that you hear or read on the Internet is totally speculation by anyone."
MORBID ANGEL's follow-up to 2003's "Heretic" will mark the group's first release to feature David Vincent since 1995's "Domination".
MORBID ANGEL is presently unsigned, having parted ways with Earache Records following "Heretic"'s release.
Regarding Destructhor's addition to the band's touring lineup, Vincent said, "We had a fairly long audition process. We looked long and hard at this. We decided when we began this process that it was gonna be a unanimous decision. We had several people [apply for the job] — very good players from, really, all over the world — and we got a video from Thor — the same video that we asked from all the different players; the same two songs — and some people didn't get past the initial discussion stage, and then some people went on to the next stage and it ended up that the band unanimously felt that Thor would be the best guitarist for the band."
MORBID ANGEL's current lineup is rounded out by guitarist Trey Azagthoth and drummer Pete Sandoval.
