Asked if the negative response to 2011’s “Illud Divinum Insanus” album made MORBID ANGEL “scared” to try to experiment with new sounds on the band’s latest effort, 2017’s “Kingdoms Disdained”, Tucker said: “No, man. I think MORBID‘s always been a band that experiments. I think that’s been really one of the things that set MORBID apart from the very beginning is that MORBID‘s always been a band that, when a new album comes out, each and every time, it always is a shock to people because it’s always different. I think the last album [‘Illud Divinum Insanus’], that was a much more drastic difference than normal. But it’s still always death metal; there’s just some new sort of vibe to it. I haven’t read, really, any reviews or anything like that — I never do. So, really, the influence from what other people’s opinions are, man, has never really been a big deal in MORBID. That’s why I think you end up with such diverse albums. I think it’s really all about whatever the vibe is at the time and the combination of people involved. On [1995’s] ‘Domination’, the combination of having David [Vincent, vocals/bass] and Erik [Rutan, guitar] involved with Trey [Azagthoth, guitar] and Pete [Sandoval, guitar], the outcome was one thing. And then [1998’s] ‘Formulas [Fatal To The Flesh]’ was a completely different album. I mean, it’s a completely different monster, because the chemistry involved is completely different. And I think the same with ‘Illud’ and ‘Kingdoms Disdained’; I think that the chemistry of the people involved is just different, and therefore the outcome is different.”

Tucker, who is back for his third spell with MORBID ANGEL, also talked about the writing process for “Kingdoms Disdained” and how it was different from the way previous MORBID ANGEL albums were made.

“The only odd thing about it was once we started rehearsing and Pete wasn’t there — that, for me, was the odd part,” he said. “Other than that, everything seemed really natural. We did things exactly how we had done things previously. We exchanged tracks through… previously, it would have been through the mail and handing each other discs, and now [it was done] through the Internet. [Trey would] e-mail me a new track, a new version of a track, and we would work on songs that way. So there really wasn’t anything strange [about it] until we actually got in a room and started playing songs. And then at that point we were playing with [new drummer] Scotty Fuller and it was a little bit odd; it was definitely odd. But the thing about MORBID is Trey has pretty much always worked straight to the drums, so immediately the drums start to have a MORBID ANGEL feel to ’em anyway. With Tim [Yeung, former MORBID ANGEL drummer], it was there still, and it’s really just because of the way Trey writes. So I quickly adapted and it pretty quickly became normal to me; it really wasn’t a stretch at all. But that was really the only strange time — when we first got in a room playing with Scotty Fuller, the drummer, that was an odd moment.”

MORBID ANGEL will embark on a U.S. headlining tour in April. Support on the trek will come from DREAMING DEAD and HATE STORM ANNIHILATION, with MISERY INDEX providing direct support from April 16 through April 25 and ORIGIN providing direct support from April 26 through May 17.

“Kingdoms Disdained” was released December 1 via Silver Lining Music in the U.S. and JVC in Japan. The disc was recorded at Mana Studios in St. Petersburg, Florida and produced by MORBID ANGEL with Erik Rutan (CANNIBAL CORPSE, HATE ETERNAL, SIX FEET UNDER, BELPHEGOR).

In January 2017, MORBID ANGEL announced the addition of Dan Vadim Von (guitarist/frontman of the American death metal band VADIMVON) to the band’s lineup on second guitar. He joined the group as the replacement for Norwegian guitarist Destructhor (a.k.a. Thor Anders Myhren), who left the band three years ago.