- Domination · 1995
- Covenant · 1993
- Altars of Madness · 1989
- Blessed Are the Sick · 1991
- Altars of Madness · 1989
- Covenant · 1993
- Altars of Madness · 1989
- Kingdoms Disdained · 2017
- Altars of Madness · 1989
- Gateways to Annihilation · 2000
- Altars of Madness · 1989
- Domination · 1995
- Domination · 1995
Essential Albums
- At the time of its release in 1993, Morbid Angel’s third album was probably the most extreme album to ever appear on a major label. As a result, this master class in death metal virtuosity infiltrated suburban living rooms via MTV’s Headbangers Ball and Beavis and Butt-Head with videos for “Rapture” and “God of Emptiness.” Guitarist Trey Azagthoth’s unorthodox and hyper-technical style produced some of the band’s most vertiginous material while increased exposure helped make Covenant one of the top-selling death metal albums of all time.
- Florida’s Morbid Angel didn’t merely ensure thrash’s transition into death metal on their 1989 debut. Thanks to cranium-cracking solos by guitarists Trey Azagthoth and Richard Brunelle on tracks like “Immortal Rites,” “Maze of Torment,” and “Damnation”—and time signature changes that induce serial whiplash—the album sets a standard of technical mastery that death metal bands are still trying to match. Yet Pete Sandoval’s bludgeoning drums manage to keep pace with the axe attack. Atop it all, David Vincent’s guttural growling sounds downright sick.
Artist Playlists
- Blistering and blasphemous classics from these fearsome death metal pioneers.
Singles & EPs
- 2017
- 1994
Live Albums
- 2015
About Morbid Angel
Florida's Morbid Angel played a significant part in the spread of death metal in the United States. Formed in the early 1980s, the band refined the metal sounds emerging from the west coast, playing a faster more sonically brutal version of that scene's thrash style. Morbid Angel was signed to the now legendary metal label Earache in the late '80s, and unlike that of their more politically minded counterparts in England, the band's subject matter stuck to the classic metal themes of Satanism, ritual gore, and occult mythology. With their signing to Giant Records in 1993, Morbid Angel are also significant for being the first death metal band to ink a major label deal. The band returned to Earache in the late 1990s, and continued to record and tour into the 2000s.
- ORIGIN
- Tampa, FL, United States
- FORMED
- 1983
- GENRE
- Metal