Morbid Angel

Blessed Are the Sick (1991)

Blessed are the Sick makes heavy use of contrasting riff-sets and motifs to design structural death metal that explores the epic battle of the Wills. Chromatic nihilism meets the thematic melodicism of the baroque era, the tempo is varied; from dirge-like, traversing to the extremities of frenetic hyper-speed flurry and all in between. The cadence is often interrupted with jarring and abrupt movements, which abandon the fluidity of the previous album. Like an intense display of cosmic proportions or a war between the Gods, songs erupt with molten fury, major themes conflicting against each other, often buckling and deconstructing under their own weight and disintegrating into the dust of time. Always tearing through the listener with maximum impact. Composition is abstract, and implements a wide palette of styles, often technical or convoluted, but always progressively multi-faceted and vast in its nature. The evil found here is as irresistible as the allure of a Lovecraftian nightmare, repulsive but at the same time impossible to escape.

Altars of Madness (1989)

Morbid Angel were obviously the biggest landmark in American Death Metal (and possibly on the world scale). They took the base offered by fellow scene legends Slayer and Possessed, infused an inverted sense of classical melody, an even more frantic occult approach and a splice of Lovecraftian nightmare for good measure. The result, on their debut album, Altars of Madness is a breakneck speed descent into madness and back out the other side; but ultimately a changed, and more wise individual. Whilst this album is more a 'collection of songs' than their sophomore effort Blessed Are The Sick the band had a theme, or a concept for this album and it shines through. With this in mind, the songs include a morbid, irreligious feel and verge of images of labyrinthine nightmare. The riff-sets twist and transform around each other so much that they eventually envelop you. The key is that within the frenzy lies a sense of melody that acts as both the glue and method of continuity of the music.