As previously reported, MORBID ANGEL’s new album, Heretic, is scheduled to hit stores on September 23rd (22nd in Europe) through Earache Records. The band have unveiled the cover art for viewing here. Guitarist Trey Azagthoth offered the following insight into the meaning behind the artwork:
“The female form on the cover is the Goddess of the Heretic. She has many names – Lilith, Mahummuhu, Amah-Ushumgal-Anna. She dances in the silent spaces in one’s thoughts. She embraces those who break free from the chains of conditioning, the prisons of mass hypnosis caused by global indoctrination. Her likeness can be seen in many various religious systems, and with various names.
“As for the fire and the water on the cover, dualism has been a part of many spiritual teachings. In many ancient writings, there is a reference to the four elements: Air, Fire, Water and Earth. There are as many different interpretations as there are interpreters. In the Qabalah, Air is referred to as the Breath of Awareness, Fire is the Awareness of One’s Potential, Water is the Awareness of One’s Imagination, and Earth is where it all finalizes as manifestation. In my own interpretation, Fire represents Force, and Water represents Form. These two Principles are apparent in the ‘great balancing act’ of the Universe. Look at our Sun; here is a perfect example of the interplay of Force and Form. The outward expanding energies being contained by the retracting energies of the gravity. Eventually the force will deplete it’s energy and no longer be able to withstand the constricting energy of the gravity and will be crushed in upon itself, but does that mean that Form is the most powerful? I associate Form with entropy sometimes, that always-present energy that seems to eventually erode all things. One must not forget those new stars being created from nothing, elsewhere in the Universe. In the big picture it’s all simply necessary.
“The cover also depicts a ‘Reflection’. Zero becomes One the instance of self-realization and, by joining with one’s ‘reflection’, one becomes two. One plus two becomes three and this meager interpretation attempts to do the impossible task of defining the Creative Force of the Universe. This is the start of the downfall of the Intellect.
“This is our eighth official release and I, being more an Instrument of the Living Continuum than a guitar player/songwriter, I go with what flows through me even when I may not fully ‘analytically’ comprehend it. The term ‘knowing without knowing’ works for me in these cases because any real ‘knowing’ is subjective anyways and then we enter the realm of interpretation where this is no longer the ’true or false’ format.
“To know one’s experiences by objective/estranged evaluations is like trying to smell a flower by reading a seed catalog.”