MORBID ANGEL — Altars of Madness (review)

MORBID ANGEL — Altars of Madness album cover

Album · 1989 · Death Metal

4/5 · 2010-05-26
J-Man

The debut album from Morbid Angel was my introduction to the band, and what an introduction it was! At first listen I was blown away by its pure intensity and power, as well as the way it managed to be so accessible at first listen. A lot of death metal albums take a while to sink in at first, but Altars of Madness is filled with memorable riffs that made my first experience with this band a very pleasurable one.

The musical style played on Altars of Madness is old school U.S. death metal. The sound is pretty typical of the Tampa, Florida death metal scene at the time, and if you enjoy bands like Death and Cannibal Corpse, Morbid Angel (especially on this album) should be right up your alley. The tempo is usually pretty fast (not as fast as grindcore or black metal, though), and the music is usually pretty heavy. However, Altars of Madness isn’t as heavy as some other death metal albums, mostly due to the light production and evident thrash metal elements. Despite the fact that Altars of Madness isn’t as brutal as some other death metal albums, it still isn’t melodic by any stretch of the imagination, and not recommended for the faint of heart.

When it comes to old school death metal from the late eighties, you can almost always count me out. Seminal albums like Eaten Back To Life (Cannibal Corpse) and Scream Bloody Gore (Death) do absolutely nothing for me, and I’d much rather listen to a modern death metal masterpiece. That is not the case with Altars of Madness, however. I absolutely love almost everything about this album. One of the reasons why I praise this album so much is that there is a lot of variation, which isn’t too common in old school death metal albums. There are a lot of tempo changes, killer solos, and riff changes that keep the album interesting.

The musicians are fantastic on Altars of Madness, though they would get even better on future albums. Pete Sandoval deserves a special note for his fantastic drumming. He’s improved over time, but he shows his chops more than enough on this debut album. David Vincent’s bass playing is solid, and his vocals are generally enjoyable, though not flawless. His voice isn’t really a deep guttural roar, but more like a higher pitched growl. The vocals can be a bit questionable at times, and I wish he would go into the lower register a bit more. It’s still good, though. Trey Azagthoth and Richard Brunelle are both great guitarists, and fit the mood of Altars of Madness perfectly. Expect a lot of fast, shredding guitar solos backed by rapid riffing on this album.

The production is very good. Usually I don’t care for this type of thin and raw sound, but it works well here. The production is stripped down to the bare bones, yet still powerful enough to get the job done.

The original version of Altars of Madness is 35:09, consisting of 9 songs. That’s a pretty perfect length for music of this nature. It never gets repetitive and stays intense and powerful for the entire duration. My favorite songs are Immortal Rites, Suffocation, Chapel of Ghouls (this one especially), Maze of Torment, and Evil Spells. They’re all great death metal tracks, though.

Conclusion:

Altars of Madness is a great album by Morbid Angel, and is an essential album if you’re into old school US death metal. I only have a handful of Morbid Angel’s albums right now, but I really look forward to buying and reviewing all of their other works in the near future. A 4 star rating is deserved for this fantastic death metal album.