Morbid Angel - Altars of Madness (1989)

   The best thing about the old school Floridan death metal scene was that every band had it's own genuine style, and it wasn't hard to distinguish them. Morbid Angel was one of the earlies and most successful bands of this notorious scene.
   "Altars of Madness" was the result of long progress of experimenting with thrash metal from the early '80s, and therefore the band appeared as the musically most developed death metal band. Their music was way more complex compared to the other classics of the genre, and showed wider diversity. To debut with a musically so mature album is kind of rare in all new found styles, so Morbid Angel was ahead of it's time. Similar complexity in death metal was usual only from the mid '90s. The album was quite intense and included plenty of thrash metal influences, but also opened a way further. While the guitar themes reminded to the wildest thrash bands of the '80s, the drumming style of Pete Sandoval was sometimes like a pre-introduction into the meanwhile developed grindcore style. And such as all other Floridan death bands they also gained wider attention by shocking the audience with their blasphemous and satanic lyrical concept. No wonder that "Altars of Madness" became one of the most remarkable death metal classics.