I remember the actual Nielsen soundscan sales figures for all Morbid Angels records being bandied about (either on this forum or somewhere else) and from memory it was something like this
Covenant - 120,000
Domination - 100,000
Formulas - 80,000
Gateways - 60,000
Heretic - 30,000
that was US sales only I believe, but that was in in 2003 or so, so I guess all the sales figures will be higher now, and if you factor in the rest of the world you could be talking double for total sales...
here's a related article:
http://blogcritics.org/music/article/ca ... ing-death/
[quote name="TranscendingMusic"]
[quote name="WhereTheSlimeLives"]The the only one's I have low expectations for are the fans (especially after reading all the forums). There's such a pervasive negativity about this still unreleased album I think is sad actually. I feel kinda sorry for Trey and the rest of the band having to stand up against all of this. I don't think half of the people claiming to be dedicated to Morbid Angel will care to give this album the time it needs to be understood. Most will probably just write it off before they get to the third song just like they did with Heretic. I just hope my interview and review once they are printed will reach a couple of open minds.[/quote]
I think you may be confusing "fan" with "sychophant"... There are a good number of very dedicated MA fans who have been following the band's work for quite some time now. Myself included; been beguiled and captivated by everything surrounding the MA vibe, the music, the attitudes, the power-centering philosophies. Whether these be indirect sublimations of power such as with the occult ideaologies or the militant/philosophical perspectives like on Domination: they are/were all good, geniune, relavent, and classy. Now, for the sake of NOT circumventing this other notion being thrown around here that MA records are all distinctive and this new one follows suite, I must say that in respects to the delivery of these ideaologies; and yes the music even; the vibe, all MA records shared a common thread. What bothers us veterans of the classic MA camp is that all of that is missing so far with the new stuff. The idea that something must be blaringly different to be considered not "rehashed" is a dangerous and wanton attitude towards anything artistic! I mean, what kind of life-contradicting sentiment is this?? Things are recognizable because they are what they are! To utterly remove that identity is to fabricate something else. MA, as I said before, is now something else. At times I feel like I am sensing, hearing, feeling some kind of eletric-shock-industrial band who has influences of MA in it, not MA garnishing what MA should be! Have you considered the idea that this is indeed what has happened? That "The MA" ship has sailed? I feel almost suspicious that you are so overtly optimistic about this. And you are severely mistaken about only wanting to hear A - C. Nothing further from the truth. Our "negativity" is a reaction not a culprit. To that end, i wouldn't even call it negativity, just sincere backlash and to be honest severe disappointment. These are in good faith though: they only demonstrate how commited we were to MA all of these years; the amount of spiritual sovereignty it gave us - even if one didn't believe in the literal meanings of the lyrical content. It's a big insult to call geniune fans of so many years "close minded". It's actually irritating; it seems like side-stepping in accepting what is actually happening here. Our inveterate dedication all of these years in fact dictates our hypersensitivity to what we sense is coming - in many cases now, what has already arrived. All of their albums were distinctive, yet MA. This thus far, even beyond the tangibility of it, is not MA - as we knew it. It is something else. It is new in the sense that its identity is lost.[/quote]
Great post.

