Altars of Madness
Encyclopedia
Altars of Madness is Florida-based death metal
band Morbid Angel
's debut album. Bonus tracks were included on the CD version as well as the remastered 2003 release. These are remixed versions of songs from the album. 2006 saw a dualdisc
release with the 2003 remaster on the audio side and Live Madness 89 recorded at Nottingham Rock City on November 14, 1989 on the DVD side.
The album contains seminal live favorites, including "Chapel of Ghouls", "Immortal Rites" and "Maze of Torment".
The cover artwork, by Dan Seagrave
, represents the different moods of human beings.
rates this album as Morbid Angel's and death metal's finest hour, describing it as "bludgeoning and raw but also technical, exacting and intimidatingly consistent". Robban Becirovic of Close-Up Magazine credits Altars of Madness with launching the popularity of death metal in Sweden:
Production
Death metal
Death metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal. It typically employs heavily distorted guitars, tremolo picking, deep growling vocals, blast beat drumming, minor keys or atonality, and complex song structures with multiple tempo changes....
band Morbid Angel
Morbid Angel
Morbid Angel is an American death metal band based in Tampa, Florida. UK music magazine Terrorizer ranked one Morbid Angel album in its “Top 40 greatest death metal albums”, with their 1989 debut Altars of Madness appearing at number 1...
's debut album. Bonus tracks were included on the CD version as well as the remastered 2003 release. These are remixed versions of songs from the album. 2006 saw a dualdisc
DualDisc
DualDisc was a type of double-sided optical disc product developed by a group of record companies including EMI Music, Universal Music Group, Sony/BMG Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group, and 5.1 Entertainment Group and later under the aegis of the Recording Industry Association of America...
release with the 2003 remaster on the audio side and Live Madness 89 recorded at Nottingham Rock City on November 14, 1989 on the DVD side.
The album contains seminal live favorites, including "Chapel of Ghouls", "Immortal Rites" and "Maze of Torment".
The cover artwork, by Dan Seagrave
Dan Seagrave
Daniel Seagrave is a British artist, who created many record covers for death metal bands especially in the early 1990s. He currently lives in Toronto, Canada. He grew up in Ravenshead, near Nottingham....
, represents the different moods of human beings.
Reception
Allmusic wrote that one "cannot deny its influence". UK magazine TerrorizerTerrorizer
Terrorizer is an American grindcore and death metal band formed in 1986 in Los Angeles, California. After disbanding, its members gained recognition by playing in influential extreme metal bands, such as Morbid Angel , Napalm Death and Nausea...
rates this album as Morbid Angel's and death metal's finest hour, describing it as "bludgeoning and raw but also technical, exacting and intimidatingly consistent". Robban Becirovic of Close-Up Magazine credits Altars of Madness with launching the popularity of death metal in Sweden:
"...Morbid Angel's Altars of Madness changed everything [about the Swedish scene]. Before that there was no clear distinction between death, speed, or thrash among regular metalheads. It was just brutal metal. But Altars of Madness opened people's eyes, and made us realize something new was going on. Everybody bought that record. Everybody. And thrash was executed by it – the whole genre just disappeared."
Track listing
Personnel
- David VincentDavid VincentDavid Alexander Vincent , also known as Evil D, is an American musician who is best known as the lead vocalist and bassist for the death metal band Morbid Angel as well as the bassist for Genitorturers...
– bassBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
, vocals - Trey AzagthothTrey AzagthothTrey Azagthoth is an American musician best known as founder and guitarist of the Florida death metal band Morbid Angel. Azagthoth began playing at the age of 16...
– lead guitarLead guitarLead guitar is a guitar part which plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs within a song structure...
, rhythm guitarRhythm guitarRhythm guitar is a technique and rôle that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse in conjunction with singers or other instruments; and to provide all or part of the harmony, ie. the chords, where a chord is a group of notes played together... - Richard Brunelle – lead guitar, rhythm guitar
- Pete SandovalPete SandovalPete Sandoval is an American death metal drummer. Born in Santa Ana, El Salvador, he is known for his accomplishments in the world of extreme metal drumming. His first significant stint as a drummer was for the grindcore band Terrorizer, formed in 1986, where he began to demonstrate some of his...
– drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
Production
- DigDigby PearsonDigby Pearson, also known as "Dig," is a British musician who founded Earache Records, which signed some of the most infamous heavy metal acts worldwide in the 1980s and early 1990s....
– executive producerRecord producerA record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music... - Morbid Angel – arrangement, production
- Tom Morris – engineerAudio engineeringAn audio engineer, also called audio technician, audio technologist or sound technician, is a specialist in a skilled trade that deals with the use of machinery and equipment for the recording, mixing and reproduction of sounds. The field draws on many artistic and vocational areas, including...
, mixingMix engineerA mix engineer, also referred to as "mixing engineer", is a person who, once all instruments, voices, and sounds, etc., have been recorded, creates what is called the final version of a song, hence the term "mix engineer"...