Jammin' Jon, Shredlord and Necrotic Nick go through and rank all the studio albums from Tampa death metal legends Morbid Angel. DownFall NetWork / @downfallnetwork
Blessed are the Sick marked me for life. I actually love how the voice of David Vincent sounds on this album. Perceptibly and scary as shit for a 12 year old me in 1991-also, at this age, I had to hide the vinyl from my parents, because of the awesome artwork they chose for the album. :D
I’ve always been a thrash guy. But Covenant got me into death metal more and I thank Morbid Angel for expanding my metal experience. From there it was Entombed, Benediction, Unleashed, Obituary, and on and on
My #1 is Gateways to annihilation just love the snare and the kicks + vocals and guitar work with the background ambient sound just perfect for me, altars of madness is a solid #3 for me.
Great choice. It's some of their absolute best song writing. Thoughtful and interesting the entire listen. For me, it's the best production for the band to me personally.
Cannibal Corpse is not from Tampa-FL. They are from Buffalo - NY, where there is a huge death metal scene as well. CC had moved to Tampa to record the first albuns, though.
Great ranking guys, new fan of the channel here and I love the different takes on all these great albums . I would love to see you guys tackle Deicide's discography in the hopefully near future.
Came across this channel quite recently when I was reminiscing about all of the different bands discographies you guys have reviewed and absolutely loving just pausing whenever you mention a track to go and listen to it and remember how much I love these records! Great channel...
wow, this is fun, so much different album rankings for this great band. I´ll go as my favorite: Blessed are ... for the simply fact that it was my very first death metal album and to me was absolutely mind blowing.
Necrotic Nick- Napalm Death is definitely on my list but, again, we're waiting on that new album so we can review it and include it in their discography. I think Voivod has a new EP of original material coming out soon as well.
Never thought in my life that CoverKillerNation review of "Illud" would be topped by this one!.. Especially when Jammin' Jon called this album "Dave Vincent's Aenus", I legit spat my lungs out the window from laughing so fucking hard :D
Richard Brunelle played a key role in the design of Death Metal and obviously Morbid.. he wrote the greatest Death Metal instrumental, teetering a fine line.... He ( Richard) lost two projects being a major musical roll in the beginning, then handing off the torch while drugs took his soul! The last and final thing he lost was his life RIP Richard Brunelle.. No shout out!!! shame on you guys!!! Plus he was pure love. RIP..
Brunelle was an absolute genius, he left the world way too young, and I think his role in MA was always understated. All credit where it is due to Azagthoth, but we have to remember that he is the type of person who would cheat with a bandmate's girlfriend (he did that to Mike Browning).That, paired with the commercial success of Morbid Angel, does suggest that Trey is extremely ambitious, and perhaps not very interested in cultivating the idea that the band had more than one genius. Anyone familiar with After Death knows that the loss of Mike Browning was HUGE for Morbid Angel, and I think it has always been Trey's goal to ensure that no-one ever considers any of these members as a major loss to the band, because Morbid Angel is a huge band who operate in the same way as other huge bands. If you haven't heard it, you should check out Incubus' 'God Died on His Knees' demo. 2 of the musicians on that AMAZING demo were members of Morbid Angel. That incubus demo was PURE Death Metal in 1987 and was much more wild that anything Morbid Angel had done at that point. I think Trey has always been happy to let people run with the idea that he was the standout. In truth, he was jamming with some of the most creative musicians on the planet, but none of them had his commercial ambition, which is why people are quick to dismiss legends such as Richard Brunelle.
I can’t possibly put that or blessed as tops for me, they just sound too muffled, the major label production is better for me, covenant and domination I absolutely love, covenant is my top, I bought that recently and just can’t stop jamming that
Illud Divinum Insanus is so bad that every metal fan should have it on their collection; just like St. Anger, Octagon and Cold Lake... Preferably purchased from the used bin of course... :) It's not every day that we, the metal fans, come across albums so shitty... You've gotta have them... I love this channel. It has become one of my favourite metal channels on UA-cam. I love how you guys discuss albums even when you disagree on them. And you give a lot of trivia info as well which keeps the attention. I hope the channel grows fast and big. Respect and salutations all the way from Istanbul, Turkey...
My ranking: 1. Altars of Madness 2. Blessed are the Sick 3. Covenant 4. Formulas Fatal to the Flesh 5. Gateways to Annihilation 6. Domination 7. Heretic 8. Kingdoms Disdained 9. THE ILLUSIONARY ANUS!
Illud Divinum Insanus is Morbid Angel's best album, and a true work of genius. I got into Morbid Angel with that album. I went back in their discography and listened to Covenant. That sounded god awful. Gateways was god awful too. I like to bump I am Morbid before I go raving every Wednesday night. David Vincent inspired my wardrobe.
U just said 2 of their best albums sounded bad...that's the morbid angel sound man illud divinium was an experimental album,I dont completely hate it but it's just not their style 🤣🤣🤣🤣 but gateway's and covenant are literally them at their best...idk maybe u were trolling in that case lols.lmfaos ect.
Great video as always dudes! Super stoked for the Black Sabbath album ranking! covenant might also be my favorite record of all the music I’ve ever heard, through every genre and era, metal or other. Cheers
Awesome review guys, I'm really matched with the guy in the middle. But, the letter C and G occupy together the number 1 spot A, F and B then in second. There is something strange about that horrible letter I - it has the best Morbid Angel t-shirt design, or maybe it is just me.
Fair call, I was born in 94 and I prefer a lot of other albums over Altars but I understand why it would be so groundbreaking and influential at the time.
I instantly respect him more for rating it lower, just because it was revolutionary doesnt mean it was the best. Its unquestionably an incredible album and one of my favorite records that I can never get sick of listening to, but I'm sick to death of everyone pretending that all their other work isn't miles ahead of altars.
@@jasonberezowski2869 I love Blessed, Covenant even some of the post-Vincent stuff but something about Altars just keeps me coming back. I don’t expect it to be everyone’s number 1 pick but putting it that low is a bit crazy to me.
Seems like I'm in a morbid angel mood lately so I'm rewatching this great ranking episode again. Seriously Thralls of Metal is my go to "metalhead hang out".🤘 And speaking of MA, why does nobody ever mention how many of Trey's signature guitar sounds/techniques can be found in Gojira songs?!?!? It's almost criminal how much Trey I hear in Joe's guitar work to never hear anyone mention it.
Immortal Rites was the very first death metal song I'd ever heard. It was 1989, I was 14 years old and I recorded the video onto vhs from whatever show was airing it. I must've watched it 100 times at least. Have you guys done a Deicide ranking or are you planning one? That would be a fun one to watch. I'll have to go look through your uploads to see if there's already one up. Covenant is probably my #1 for the time being.
#1 - Gateways - Trey opens portals to the depths of hell and unearths ancient Mesopotamian secrets with his solos. Perfect mix of doom, speed and psychedelia. #2 - Covenant - Peak of the original line-up. Greatest selling death metal of all time, can't argue with it. #3 - Domination - Full of bangers, got to agree with shredlord about Ceasar's Palace. I just love the atmospheric stuff they do. #4 - Blessed - Love me some doom and death. I actually love the midi tracks like Doomsday Celebration and the end of Blessed are the Sick, gives me some real 90's vibes. #5 - Formulas - Trey shows he is the Jimi Hendrix of death metal. Tucker does a great job of replacing Evil D but the production could be better. #6 - Altars - Absolute classic but I can't rank it above other albums, Immortal Rites is what I show people when they ask what death metal is. #7 - Kingdoms - Beats Heretic on production alone and a few really good songs but it's bloated and isn't quite as good as earlier albums #8 - Heretic - Horrendous production and almost gave me an aneurysm when I was tripping on psychedelics LOL #9 - Illud - I agree with Jon, let's not even talk about it.
For me the first three albums revolve between 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place at different times. Domination , Formulas, and Gateway are much the same for 4,5,6. Well I finally settled on this... 1. Blessed are the sick 2. Covenant 3. Altars of Madness 4. Domination 5. Formulas 6. Gateways 7. Heretic 8. Kingdoms 9. There are no more Morbid Angel albums to rank. Kingdoms pisses me off because it’s so middle of the road. Nothing stands out and all I hear is drums and vocals. Where the hell are the guitars?? Upon listening to these again after ten or more years, I’m surprised how much my taste has changed. I used to love Heretic. Also, I deleted all of the instrumental/intro/interlude BS and wow! What a difference in listening pleasure. So much more concise. What a better flow. Death to all these damn intros and useless interlude crap bands are coming back to. I used to love that stuff back in the 80’s and 90’s but so much of it serves no purpose. Either tack it to the next song or the previous song, or get rid of it. Anywho. You guys rock. Love what you review. It’s more in line with my tastes than any other channel. Thank you!
Love the intro to Caesars's Palace; it sounds great really f'n loud, there's a lot of escalating nuance in the atmosphere that makes the payoff of diving into the song proper more epic. Will confess to liking the album that shall not be named. Thought the band was done, was glad another album even appeared, all seemed kind of like the band was being playful, light-hearted, loose, and deliberately having fun as they mixed it up in some industro-minimal version of Morbid Angel...maybe they could have called themselves Morbid Angle as a warning it was gonna be nothing like the other stuff.
Blessed are the sick as a wonderful artwork. Teh painting, by Jean Delville, from 1895, "Satans treasures"... i remember when i travelled to Belgium back in 2008... i think it was in antwerp, visting the arts museum,... suddenly i enter a room and there it is. I was surprised, i didn't know the painting was there. And not only it is a brilliant painting, it is a HUGE. Really impactful.
Wow! I cannot imagine a dbl album version of Heretic. I did not know about that. I mean the single album version desperately needs trimming. I do like Heretic though; it could have been a killer ep. My listing: 1. Blessed Are The Sick (particularly the 2nd half. For me this album gets amazing toward the end) 2. Formulas Fatal To The Flesh 3. Altars Of Madness 4. Heretic 5. Covenant and I'm good stopping here.
1. Covenant 2. Altars Of Madness 3. Blessed Are The Sick 4. Domination 5. Formulas Fatal To The Flesh 6. Gateways To Annihilation 7. Kingdoms Disdain 8. Heretic 9. Shit
I couldn't pick between Covenant or Gateways, such different records in so many ways but still mindblowingly amazing, I know Blessed is a lot of peoples fav but I put the Tucker records before that one, like you guys mentioned I cant appreciate Blessed because the production is just very meh, still incredible songs on it. Also, Dawn of the Angry is one of the best death metal songs ever written. awesome vid!
What about "lord of all fevers and plagues " I find it raw mental metal, love it, course next to the masterpieces youz already mentioned. But I always get loving something apart.
My ranking from least favorite to favorite is: 9. Illud Divinum Insanus 8. Heretic 7. Kingdoms Disdained 6. Formulas Fatal to the Flesh 5. Domination 4. Blessed Are the Sick 3. Gateways to Annihilation 2. Covenant 1. Altars of Madness Altars was one of my intros to death metal. I dig the hell out of it, still. All other albums are worth listening to, imo, except for Illud Divinum Insanus. I got excited when David Vincent returned to Morbid Angel because I dig the first four albums, and I listened to Illud, and was like "what the fuck is this?" It's not heavy at all, the lyrics are bad, and the drumming is just meat and potatoes. Even their non-industrial songs on Illud are a Diet Coke of death metal. For a discography that is this strong, Illud sticks out like two sore thumbs. I don't have much positive to say about it.
Gateways To Annihilation came out a year after Korn's Issues album came out! Korn was the biggest band in the world around '99-'00 and Nu Metal was in full force!
Gateways was one of the albums of the late 90's that helped me and my brother-in-law bypass that Limp Bizkit, Korn and other nu metal shite that was taking over at that moment! We were from the late 80's and early 90's era when metal was brutal and the belt on your pants actually fitted around your waist and not halfway down your leg! 🤘
1 ALTARS OF MADNESS 2 COVENANT 3 DOMINATION 4 FORMULAS FATAL TO THE FLESH 5 BLESSED ARE THE SICK 6 GATEWAYS TO ANNIHILATION 7 HERETIC 8 KINGDOMS DISDAINED 9 THE ALBUM THAT MUST NOT BE NAMED.
1- Formulas 2- Gateways 3- Domination 4- Heretic (acquired taste production and guitar sound but lowkey genius especially place of many deaths) 5- Blessed 6- Covenant (worst guitar sound) 7- Altars 8- Kingdom (still a great record!) theres only 8, the other one is so bad it doesnt count, Im just grateful that Trey did Kingdoms and redeemed himself
Not getting much love.... But these are better than the complete tracklists from Heretic and Kingdoms! I like I'm Morbid & $ordid too .. but my go to track from illud is Destructos. A lttle long, but some great riffs in there.
Necrotic Nick- We may wait a bit on Immolation just to see if they go into the studio but Nile is definitely a possibility since they just released a killer album last year.
So glad you mentioned that tour in 2000 w/ Pantera & Soulfy. I saw them too for the first time that year out in Dallas at the Fairpark convention center. It was the first time Morbid Angel had played an arena sized venue in North Texas in years and they stole the show, by the time Soulfly and Pantera played everyone was completely drained of energy. The pit was easily the hottest, most violent and chaotic I have ever been in to this day. First off, it was indoors during Summer (June) in Texas = HOT AS FUCK, then add t-shirts on fire and glass bottles being thrown around, entire armies of Pitbulls and Gravediggers going apeshit on everyone, people trying to crowd surf getting stuck in impossible suspended positions while being contorted and nearly torn apart, everyone in the seating area rushed the stage so the pit was way beyond capacity, people were passing out, thick smokescreen of weed, cigarettes and whiskey spilling everywhere, footing was impossible. It was like when they started playing they opened a portal to the hell of a thousand bodies being 'Entangled in Chaos'. Now I know why they chose that title for their live album, shit was real! Craziest Pit Ever! You guys should maybe do a video on best pits you guys have been in, it would be interesting to hear everyone's war stories....
Necrotic Nick- I took my little sister with me to that show and we were right up front for Morbid Angel. They were awesome and I was blown away by Trey and Pete’s playing in particular. I don’t do pits anymore but there were some solid ones I’ve been in way back.
Hi all, I'm more like Shredlord because, well, maybe because I haven't heard all the other albums as many times as I have to Altars of Madness and then Blessed are the Sick and the next 2 and Jamin Jon, I respect you and maybe, just maybe can just a bit relate to you, but let me try to convince you that even though you've heard Altars in your car on your way to this album ranking, maybe you should rather consider hearing Altars in your room with your earphones from beginning to end of this amazing albums as I have done countless times! Now you must remember Slayer's Reign in Blood, right? I know there's some difference but you know something? I was 16 years old when I got Reign in blood and if my calculations are correct, I'm more than twice your age, right? Trust me, Altars of Madness is a classic! I know that maybe there's a difference in our tastes which can be cool, but I hope that was your official rating for this amazing band, okay?
Btw Pete's drums were triggered on a lot of albums not just Gateways, and I dont think they gave two flying fks about what was happening...its just them experimenting with things as always. Trey is an experimental kinda dude haha
I realize that you guys are probably younger than I am. I remember getting into the pinnacle thrash albums before I got Altars of Madness which I thought was more extreme than ever, so I wonder if they would ever make an album even more extreme like something as great as Altars and really smoke the Kerry King and Jeff Hanneman did in Reign in Blood sort of album and make some pinnacle for death metal?
I thought it was odd that half the vocals on Blessed sound like they do on Altars and others like on Covenant. It’s like David went through puberty during the recording or something.
1. Domination 2. Covenant 3. Altars of madness 4. Formulas fatal to the flesh 5. Gateway to annihilation 6. Blessed are the sick 7. Heretic 8. Kingdoms distained 9. Illud Divinum Insanus
So.. I watched this video about 2 weeks ago now and I made a list.. Though I did contemplate posting it on and off.. But decided not to. So I will put it like this. Love the Steve Tucker era. Love Formulas Fatal to the flesh(The album cover is a bit.. Off.. A bit loud) The cover should have been the inlay cover where the cd sits with Steve Tucker sitting in the swamp. Love Heretic.. Really love Heretic.. Oh and I have the 2 cd version as I bought Heretic the day it was released. Gateways is also rather good. I lost touch with MA during/just after the Domination era. Then a friend of mine said hey new Morbid Angel album.. Dave Vincent left(I've met Dave Vincent once when Morbid Angel came to Sydney in 2011. He was very polite and courteous to me.. yet assertive. Met him for about 2 minutes when he attended a Metal nightclub here in Sydney after the gig. I had had a few drinks when I met Mr Vincent and as I stated he was polite to me. He was actually very nice to me and even though I interjected(in a nice way) a conversation he was having with two people I knew)
1: Gateways to Annihilation 2: Covenant 3: Altars of Madness 4: Formulas Fatal to the Flesh 5: Blessed Are The Sick 6: Domination 7: Kingdoms Disdained 8: Heretic 9: Illud Divinum Insanus
Have you guys ever thought about a Top 10 'Old School' Death Metal show? Would love to hear/see that, but then there are too many to choose from. I'd have to nod to Rick Rozz's Massacre for From Beyond.
God of Emptiness on British Headbangers Ball while my dad was staioned in Wuertzburg Germany in the mid 90's was the life changer video for me!!!!!!!!!!!!! We used to have "a guy" that would have to decript the Sky network card every now and again to be able to watch all the British channels.
I liked this album. It's not nearly as bad as they say, though far from their best. It's an industrial tinged album in the vein of Ministry, with some Laiback influences thrown in here and there. This album marks the return of David Vincent on vocals and bass. The album is cut in half between the more traditional death metal songs and the industrial tracks. The death metal is standard issue Morbid Angel, helped along by the crisp production, and the drum program is barely noticeable, and actually helps with the precision. 'Heretic', their last album, was buried in muddy sound, and the clear distinction of instruments is welcome. The best of the death metal songs is 'Nevermore', with it's ferocious mid-pace precision, dissonant riffery, and psychotic ambiance. It's classic Morbid Angel. The other death metal songs chug alongs at varying speeds, but tend to be unmemorable, except come solo time, as Trey Azagthoth is in fine form. Its Bad. But Fun Bad.
bollocks, the production is terrible with vincent pushing his vocals even louder than they usually are in the mix (far too loud), the so called classic tracks are mostly written by the new guitarist they had for it and it shows, it was like hearing a ma cover band. trey has about 2-3 riffs during the entire album usually drowned out by crap. heretic was not buried in a muddy sound it had a good immersive production even if it takes a few listens to get used to it, place of many deaths is a very dynamic sound with massive depth for example. nevermore is a drab average ma track written about a year beforehand on its own which is why it doesnt sound like the rest, it doesnt have "ferocious mid pace precision, dissonant riffery and psychotic ambience" thats a bunch of wank id expect from metal hammer reviewers in the mid 90s it doesnt describe that song whatsoever, try forgettable b-side that wouldve been discarded on heretic and the only reason people even bother to give it attention is because the band hadnt made a song in 8 years....
Here’s my ranking at the moment: 1. Altars Of Madness 2. Covenant 3. Formulas Fatal To The Flesh 4. Gateways To Annihilation 5. Domination 6. Blessed Are The Sick 7. Kingdoms Disdained (actually really like this album, but the classics are better obviously) 8. Heretic Oh, I forgot one? No…I don’t think I did…
For me: 1. Gateways to A 2. Kingdoms 3. Domination 4. Blessed are the sexy 5. Heretic 6. covenant 7. Alters of mad 8. Formulas Fatal to something 9. The industrial Metal Album
I heard Blessed in my teenage years. Still a personal favorite--it's like listening to an occult journey into defiance, hedonism, primal power, mockery at hollow norms, atavism, and it's even darkly majestic. The line up of Azagthoth/Brunelle/Vincent/Sandoval was something else on that one.
Ok.. A few months ago now I decided to re visit Altars of madness. I was curious about it.. And even though I had association with it I decided to give it a listen. The first listen was a little weird.. Then I had a second listen and that was better. Then a third listen which was good. Yes.. Altars of madness.. It's a good album.. A very good album. Then I heard it a few more times. I'm glad I had the re visit to it.
1. Blessed Are the Sick 2. Covenant 3. Altars of Madness 4. Domination That's it, I was never able to get into any of their other albums. Sold the later stuff on ebay to make room for way better albums.
Blessed are the Sick marked me for life. I actually love how the voice of David Vincent sounds on this album. Perceptibly and scary as shit for a 12 year old me in 1991-also, at this age, I had to hide the vinyl from my parents, because of the awesome artwork they chose for the album. :D
Blessed are the Sick has always been my #1.
MIne also!
Indeed and the best live tour of a death metal band I ever saw !!!
Fuck yes!
1. Blessed Are The Sick 2. Altars of Madness 3. Covenant 4. Gateways To Annihilation 5. Domination 6. Heretic
3:33 and thus, Pandora’s box was opened. Never to be closed again.
It would be cool to see a Cattle Decapitation ranking
I’ve always been a thrash guy. But Covenant got me into death metal more and I thank Morbid Angel for expanding my metal experience. From there it was Entombed, Benediction, Unleashed, Obituary, and on and on
My #1 is Gateways to annihilation just love the snare and the kicks + vocals and guitar work with the background ambient sound just perfect for me, altars of madness is a solid #3 for me.
Great choice. It's some of their absolute best song writing. Thoughtful and interesting the entire listen. For me, it's the best production for the band to me personally.
It’s a boring and slow album which I rank last in their discog.
1-GATEWAYS
2-COVENANT
3-FORMULAS
4-ALTARS
5-Blessed
6-DOMINATION
7-KINGDOMS
8-HERETIC
9- THE ONE NOT RATHER MENTION😜
25:06 I love jon's genuine answer there
#1 - Blessed are the Sick! One of the Best Death Metal albums ever! It's a beautiful and brutal album.
My top 3 MA-
1. Domination
2. Formulas
3. Covenant
Cannibal Corpse is not from Tampa-FL. They are from Buffalo - NY, where there is a huge death metal scene as well. CC had moved to Tampa to record the first albuns, though.
Great ranking guys, new fan of the channel here and I love the different takes on all these great albums . I would love to see you guys tackle Deicide's discography in the hopefully near future.
Great video guys ! I love your passion and honesty here !
These ranking videos are great 🔥
Came across this channel quite recently when I was reminiscing about all of the different bands discographies you guys have reviewed and absolutely loving just pausing whenever you mention a track to go and listen to it and remember how much I love these records! Great channel...
You guys are great! Love the videos with Rin though. He is so funny without even trying
Great video I was looking forward to this. My Celtic Frost ranking will be out soon I will send you a link
wow, this is fun, so much different album rankings for this great band. I´ll go as my favorite: Blessed are ... for the simply fact that it was my very first death metal album and to me was absolutely mind blowing.
Been waiting for this one
Y'all should do an Obituary Discography someday it'd be fucking golden.
Necrotic Nick- It's definitely one I'd like to do, but I'd kinda like to wait for the follow up to their killer self titled album form 2017 first.
@@thrallsofmetal Napalm Death or Voivod Possibly?
Necrotic Nick- Napalm Death is definitely on my list but, again, we're waiting on that new album so we can review it and include it in their discography. I think Voivod has a new EP of original material coming out soon as well.
@@thrallsofmetal napalm & obituary listings will be very welcomed 👍
Looking forward to those videos when they come out some day.
The first two so outshines the rest of their disco. It's hard to come to terms.
Excellent work fellas!
Great ranking guys.
I smell a Suffocation Albums Ranked coming soon
Necrotic Nick- I can almost guarantee it'll be in the next poll we do.
@@thrallsofmetal that'll be a tough discography to rank
Necrotic Nick- I have classic favorites and modern ones as well. It'll be tough for sure.
@@thrallsofmetal all the albums hold up for the most part thanks to Hobbs legendary writing
Formulas was their Heaviest album, but I think Blessed Are the Sick was their best
Nothing Is Not is so nasty
@@thefilmeffect6089 Best intro of a metal song ever.
I love the album domination!! The solos!! The changeups, it connects with me more than the other ones - and i love the art work .
Domination is indeed great…agreed 👍👍
#9 - Illud Divinum Insanus
#8 - Heretic
#7 - Kingdoms Disdained
#6 - Blessed Are The Sick
#5 - Formulas Fatal To The Flesh
#4 - Domination
#3 - Gateways to Annihilation
#2 - Covenant
#1 - Alters of Madness
Never thought in my life that CoverKillerNation review of "Illud" would be topped by this one!.. Especially when Jammin' Jon called this album "Dave Vincent's Aenus", I legit spat my lungs out the window from laughing so fucking hard :D
Richard Brunelle played a key role in the design of Death Metal and obviously Morbid.. he wrote the greatest Death Metal instrumental, teetering a fine line.... He ( Richard) lost two projects being a major musical roll in the beginning, then handing off the torch while drugs took his soul! The last and final thing he lost was his life RIP Richard Brunelle.. No shout out!!! shame on you guys!!! Plus he was pure love. RIP..
Brunelle was an absolute genius, he left the world way too young, and I think his role in MA was always understated. All credit where it is due to Azagthoth, but we have to remember that he is the type of person who would cheat with a bandmate's girlfriend (he did that to Mike Browning).That, paired with the commercial success of Morbid Angel, does suggest that Trey is extremely ambitious, and perhaps not very interested in cultivating the idea that the band had more than one genius.
Anyone familiar with After Death knows that the loss of Mike Browning was HUGE for Morbid Angel, and I think it has always been Trey's goal to ensure that no-one ever considers any of these members as a major loss to the band, because Morbid Angel is a huge band who operate in the same way as other huge bands.
If you haven't heard it, you should check out Incubus' 'God Died on His Knees' demo. 2 of the musicians on that AMAZING demo were members of Morbid Angel. That incubus demo was PURE Death Metal in 1987 and was much more wild that anything Morbid Angel had done at that point.
I think Trey has always been happy to let people run with the idea that he was the standout. In truth, he was jamming with some of the most creative musicians on the planet, but none of them had his commercial ambition, which is why people are quick to dismiss legends such as Richard Brunelle.
Agree. Richard actually played more solos on Altars than Trey and in my opinion was a better player.
I know Altars is a classic, but it’s not #1 for me either.
I can’t possibly put that or blessed as tops for me, they just sound too muffled, the major label production is better for me, covenant and domination I absolutely love, covenant is my top, I bought that recently and just can’t stop jamming that
FORMULASSSSSS
Illud Divinum Insanus
is so bad that every metal fan should have it on their collection; just like St. Anger, Octagon and Cold Lake... Preferably purchased from the used bin of course... :) It's not every day that we, the metal fans, come across albums so shitty... You've gotta have them...
I love this channel. It has become one of my favourite metal channels on UA-cam. I love how you guys discuss albums even when you disagree on them. And you give a lot of trivia info as well which keeps the attention. I hope the channel grows fast and big. Respect and salutations all the way from Istanbul, Turkey...
You really made my day at 19:14. 😄👍🤘
#1 Formulas Fatal to the Flesh #2 Gateways to Annihilation #3 Altars/Blessed/Covenant #4 Kingdom/Heretic
I’m the season of mist mail guy and you are spot on. Lol I got stories man
Blessed Are The Sick was way ahead of it's time.
My ranking:
1. Altars of Madness
2. Blessed are the Sick
3. Covenant
4. Formulas Fatal to the Flesh
5. Gateways to Annihilation
6. Domination
7. Heretic
8. Kingdoms Disdained
9. THE ILLUSIONARY ANUS!
Illud Divinum Insanus is Morbid Angel's best album, and a true work of genius. I got into Morbid Angel with that album. I went back in their discography and listened to Covenant. That sounded god awful. Gateways was god awful too. I like to bump I am Morbid before I go raving every Wednesday night. David Vincent inspired my wardrobe.
U just said 2 of their best albums sounded bad...that's the morbid angel sound man illud divinium was an experimental album,I dont completely hate it but it's just not their style 🤣🤣🤣🤣 but gateway's and covenant are literally them at their best...idk maybe u were trolling in that case lols.lmfaos ect.
@@jmorbid7319 dude was being sarcastic
@@jmorbid7319 r/wooosh
good joke man
@@Mdrobile Who's joking?
Great video as always dudes! Super stoked for the Black Sabbath album ranking!
covenant might also be my favorite record of all the music I’ve ever heard, through every genre and era, metal or other. Cheers
Awesome review guys, I'm really matched with the guy in the middle.
But, the letter C and G occupy together the number 1 spot
A, F and B then in second.
There is something strange about that horrible letter I - it has the best Morbid Angel t-shirt design, or maybe it is just me.
I like this type of video. I’m going to go find the rest of them.
The dude in the middle wasn't around in 1989 if Alters was his #6 choice. It's #1, no question.
Fair call, I was born in 94 and I prefer a lot of other albums over Altars but I understand why it would be so groundbreaking and influential at the time.
@@thevomit5851 Best death metal band of the late 80s
@@jamesmiller6217 Leprosy
I instantly respect him more for rating it lower, just because it was revolutionary doesnt mean it was the best. Its unquestionably an incredible album and one of my favorite records that I can never get sick of listening to, but I'm sick to death of everyone pretending that all their other work isn't miles ahead of altars.
@@jasonberezowski2869 I love Blessed, Covenant even some of the post-Vincent stuff but something about Altars just keeps me coming back. I don’t expect it to be everyone’s number 1 pick but putting it that low is a bit crazy to me.
Covenant is definitely #1. Blessed kills! Pretty surprised to see it further down the lists
Seems like I'm in a morbid angel mood lately so I'm rewatching this great ranking episode again. Seriously Thralls of Metal is my go to "metalhead hang out".🤘
And speaking of MA, why does nobody ever mention how many of Trey's signature guitar sounds/techniques can be found in Gojira songs?!?!?
It's almost criminal how much Trey I hear in Joe's guitar work to never hear anyone mention it.
1. Altars
2. Covenant
3. Formulas
4. Blessed are the Sick
5. Gateways
6. Domination
7. Kingdoms
8. Heretic
Immortal Rites was the very first death metal song I'd ever heard. It was 1989, I was 14 years old and I recorded the video onto vhs from whatever show was airing it. I must've watched it 100 times at least.
Have you guys done a Deicide ranking or are you planning one? That would be a fun one to watch. I'll have to go look through your uploads to see if there's already one up.
Covenant is probably my #1 for the time being.
Necrotic Nick- We'll definitely do Deicide at some point. I'm a big fan of them especially all those early albums.
#1 - Gateways - Trey opens portals to the depths of hell and unearths ancient Mesopotamian secrets with his solos. Perfect mix of doom, speed and psychedelia.
#2 - Covenant - Peak of the original line-up. Greatest selling death metal of all time, can't argue with it.
#3 - Domination - Full of bangers, got to agree with shredlord about Ceasar's Palace. I just love the atmospheric stuff they do.
#4 - Blessed - Love me some doom and death. I actually love the midi tracks like Doomsday Celebration and the end of Blessed are the Sick, gives me some real 90's vibes.
#5 - Formulas - Trey shows he is the Jimi Hendrix of death metal. Tucker does a great job of replacing Evil D but the production could be better.
#6 - Altars - Absolute classic but I can't rank it above other albums, Immortal Rites is what I show people when they ask what death metal is.
#7 - Kingdoms - Beats Heretic on production alone and a few really good songs but it's bloated and isn't quite as good as earlier albums
#8 - Heretic - Horrendous production and almost gave me an aneurysm when I was tripping on psychedelics LOL
#9 - Illud - I agree with Jon, let's not even talk about it.
For me the first three albums revolve between 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place at different times. Domination , Formulas, and Gateway are much the same for 4,5,6. Well I finally settled on this...
1. Blessed are the sick
2. Covenant
3. Altars of Madness
4. Domination
5. Formulas
6. Gateways
7. Heretic
8. Kingdoms
9. There are no more Morbid Angel albums to rank.
Kingdoms pisses me off because it’s so middle of the road. Nothing stands out and all I hear is drums and vocals. Where the hell are the guitars?? Upon listening to these again after ten or more years, I’m surprised how much my taste has changed. I used to love Heretic. Also, I deleted all of the instrumental/intro/interlude BS and wow! What a difference in listening pleasure. So much more concise. What a better flow. Death to all these damn intros and useless interlude crap bands are coming back to. I used to love that stuff back in the 80’s and 90’s but so much of it serves no purpose. Either tack it to the next song or the previous song, or get rid of it. Anywho. You guys rock. Love what you review. It’s more in line with my tastes than any other channel. Thank you!
Love the intro to Caesars's Palace; it sounds great really f'n loud, there's a lot of escalating nuance in the atmosphere that makes the payoff of diving into the song proper more epic.
Will confess to liking the album that shall not be named. Thought the band was done, was glad another album even appeared, all seemed kind of like the band was being playful, light-hearted, loose, and deliberately having fun as they mixed it up in some industro-minimal version of Morbid Angel...maybe they could have called themselves Morbid Angle as a warning it was gonna be nothing like the other stuff.
Blessed are the sick as a wonderful artwork. Teh painting, by Jean Delville, from 1895, "Satans treasures"... i remember when i travelled to Belgium back in 2008... i think it was in antwerp, visting the arts museum,... suddenly i enter a room and there it is. I was surprised, i didn't know the painting was there. And not only it is a brilliant painting, it is a HUGE. Really impactful.
Nossa! Que incrível! É uma pintura fantástica mesmo.
You guys are out to lunch, Blessed us easily the best, Covenant second.
Wow! I cannot imagine a dbl album version of Heretic. I did not know about that. I mean the single album version desperately needs trimming. I do like Heretic though; it could have been a killer ep.
My listing:
1. Blessed Are The Sick (particularly the 2nd half. For me this album gets amazing toward the end)
2. Formulas Fatal To The Flesh
3. Altars Of Madness
4. Heretic
5. Covenant
and I'm good stopping here.
1. Covenant
2. Altars Of Madness
3. Blessed Are The Sick
4. Domination
5. Formulas Fatal To The Flesh
6. Gateways To Annihilation
7. Kingdoms Disdain
8. Heretic
9. Shit
I couldn't pick between Covenant or Gateways, such different records in so many ways but still mindblowingly amazing, I know Blessed is a lot of peoples fav but I put the Tucker records before that one, like you guys mentioned I cant appreciate Blessed because the production is just very meh, still incredible songs on it.
Also, Dawn of the Angry is one of the best death metal songs ever written. awesome vid!
What about "lord of all fevers and plagues " I find it raw mental metal, love it, course next to the masterpieces youz already mentioned. But I always get loving something apart.
My ranking from least favorite to favorite is:
9. Illud Divinum Insanus
8. Heretic
7. Kingdoms Disdained
6. Formulas Fatal to the Flesh
5. Domination
4. Blessed Are the Sick
3. Gateways to Annihilation
2. Covenant
1. Altars of Madness
Altars was one of my intros to death metal. I dig the hell out of it, still.
All other albums are worth listening to, imo, except for Illud Divinum Insanus. I got excited when David Vincent returned to Morbid Angel because I dig the first four albums, and I listened to Illud, and was like "what the fuck is this?" It's not heavy at all, the lyrics are bad, and the drumming is just meat and potatoes. Even their non-industrial songs on Illud are a Diet Coke of death metal. For a discography that is this strong, Illud sticks out like two sore thumbs. I don't have much positive to say about it.
Gateways To Annihilation came out a year after Korn's Issues album came out! Korn was the biggest band in the world around '99-'00 and Nu Metal was in full force!
Necrotic Nick- The late 90’s and early 2000’s were rough if you were a death metal band.
Gateways was one of the albums of the late 90's that helped me and my brother-in-law bypass that Limp Bizkit, Korn and other nu metal shite that was taking over at that moment! We were from the late 80's and early 90's era when metal was brutal and the belt on your pants actually fitted around your waist and not halfway down your leg! 🤘
1 ALTARS OF MADNESS
2 COVENANT
3 DOMINATION
4 FORMULAS FATAL TO THE FLESH
5 BLESSED ARE THE SICK
6 GATEWAYS TO ANNIHILATION
7 HERETIC
8 KINGDOMS DISDAINED
9 THE ALBUM THAT MUST NOT BE NAMED.
Formulas was Treys peak perfomance. so brutal and spiritual at the same time. Such an influence, and Pete's drumming.....
The 'project' I Am Morbid is really something to see live. Its David playing with some decent other mucicians the first four Morbid Angel albums.
1- Formulas
2- Gateways
3- Domination
4- Heretic (acquired taste production and guitar sound but lowkey genius especially place of many deaths)
5- Blessed
6- Covenant (worst guitar sound)
7- Altars
8- Kingdom (still a great record!)
theres only 8, the other one is so bad it doesnt count, Im just grateful that Trey did Kingdoms and redeemed himself
Blessed Are The Sick is god-tier
Nevermore, Blades For Baal, Existo Vulgore, 10 More Dead from ILLUD are pretty amazing tracks IMHO :)
Not getting much love.... But these are better than the complete tracklists from Heretic and Kingdoms! I like I'm Morbid & $ordid too .. but my go to track from illud is Destructos. A lttle long, but some great riffs in there.
An Immolation or Nile discography ranking would be cool
Necrotic Nick- We may wait a bit on Immolation just to see if they go into the studio but Nile is definitely a possibility since they just released a killer album last year.
Thatd be cool thanks
So glad you mentioned that tour in 2000 w/ Pantera & Soulfy. I saw them too for the first time that year out in Dallas at the Fairpark convention center. It was the first time Morbid Angel had played an arena sized venue in North Texas in years and they stole the show, by the time Soulfly and Pantera played everyone was completely drained of energy. The pit was easily the hottest, most violent and chaotic I have ever been in to this day. First off, it was indoors during Summer (June) in Texas = HOT AS FUCK, then add t-shirts on fire and glass bottles being thrown around, entire armies of Pitbulls and Gravediggers going apeshit on everyone, people trying to crowd surf getting stuck in impossible suspended positions while being contorted and nearly torn apart, everyone in the seating area rushed the stage so the pit was way beyond capacity, people were passing out, thick smokescreen of weed, cigarettes and whiskey spilling everywhere, footing was impossible. It was like when they started playing they opened a portal to the hell of a thousand bodies being 'Entangled in Chaos'. Now I know why they chose that title for their live album, shit was real! Craziest Pit Ever! You guys should maybe do a video on best pits you guys have been in, it would be interesting to hear everyone's war stories....
Necrotic Nick- I took my little sister with me to that show and we were right up front for Morbid Angel. They were awesome and I was blown away by Trey and Pete’s playing in particular. I don’t do pits anymore but there were some solid ones I’ve been in way back.
I thoroughly enjoyed this description.
Also, Nothing Face. Saw that tour when they played in Corpus Christi Texas
Rockin' Rod killed it on this one
Hi all, I'm more like Shredlord because, well, maybe because I haven't heard all the other albums as many times as I have to Altars of Madness and then Blessed are the Sick and the next 2 and Jamin Jon, I respect you and maybe, just maybe can just a bit relate to you, but let me try to convince you that even though you've heard Altars in your car on your way to this album ranking, maybe you should rather consider hearing Altars in your room with your earphones from beginning to end of this amazing albums as I have done countless times! Now you must remember Slayer's Reign in Blood, right? I know there's some difference but you know something? I was 16 years old when I got Reign in blood and if my calculations are correct, I'm more than twice your age, right? Trust me, Altars of Madness is a classic! I know that maybe there's a difference in our tastes which can be cool, but I hope that was your official rating for this amazing band, okay?
Btw Pete's drums were triggered on a lot of albums not just Gateways, and I dont think they gave two flying fks about what was happening...its just them experimenting with things as always. Trey is an experimental kinda dude haha
1, Covenant 2. altar 3 domination 4 formulas 5 blessed 6 gateways
I realize that you guys are probably younger than I am. I remember getting into the pinnacle thrash albums before I got Altars of Madness which I thought was more extreme than ever, so I wonder if they would ever make an album even more extreme like something as great as Altars and really smoke the Kerry King and Jeff Hanneman did in Reign in Blood sort of album and make some pinnacle for death metal?
I thought it was odd that half the vocals on Blessed sound like they do on Altars and others like on Covenant. It’s like David went through puberty during the recording or something.
Necrotic Nick- He was growing into death metal adulthood. 😂
He quit smoking. I saw it in a documentary
I like it I wish more bands had more variation in their vocals
1. Domination
2. Covenant
3. Altars of madness
4. Formulas fatal to the flesh
5. Gateway to annihilation
6. Blessed are the sick
7. Heretic
8. Kingdoms distained
9. Illud Divinum Insanus
In my opinion, the best album of Morbid Angel is Altars of Madness.
I think covnent Is my favourite
*”L E T T H E C H I L D R E N C O M E T O M E”*
- David vincent, 1993.
Covenant, Formulas, Domination, Gateways, Altars, Blessed, Heretic, Kingdoms
So.. I watched this video about 2 weeks ago now and I made a list.. Though I did contemplate posting it on and off.. But decided not to. So I will put it like this.
Love the Steve Tucker era. Love Formulas Fatal to the flesh(The album cover is a bit.. Off.. A bit loud) The cover should have been the inlay cover where the cd sits with Steve Tucker sitting in the swamp.
Love Heretic.. Really love Heretic.. Oh and I have the 2 cd version as I bought Heretic the day it was released.
Gateways is also rather good.
I lost touch with MA during/just after the Domination era.
Then a friend of mine said hey new Morbid Angel album.. Dave Vincent left(I've met Dave Vincent once when Morbid Angel came to Sydney in 2011. He was very polite and courteous to me.. yet assertive. Met him for about 2 minutes when he attended a Metal nightclub here in Sydney after the gig. I had had a few drinks when I met Mr Vincent and as I stated he was polite to me. He was actually very nice to me and even though I interjected(in a nice way) a conversation he was having with two people I knew)
1: Gateways to Annihilation
2: Covenant
3: Altars of Madness
4: Formulas Fatal to the Flesh
5: Blessed Are The Sick
6: Domination
7: Kingdoms Disdained
8: Heretic
9: Illud Divinum Insanus
1. Gateways 2. Covenant 3. Domination
Have you guys ever thought about a Top 10 'Old School' Death Metal show? Would love to hear/see that, but then there are too many to choose from. I'd have to nod to Rick Rozz's Massacre for From Beyond.
My favorite album is heretic, I was crushed when illud divinum insanus came out.
God of Emptiness on British Headbangers Ball while my dad was staioned in Wuertzburg Germany in the mid 90's was the life changer video for me!!!!!!!!!!!!! We used to have "a guy" that would have to decript the Sky network card every now and again to be able to watch all the British channels.
The first REAL death metal band right here!!
Make a Maiden/Morbid mosh-up: "6.6.6! The number of Altars of Madness!"
I liked this album. It's not nearly as bad as they say, though far from their best. It's an industrial tinged album in the vein of Ministry, with some Laiback influences thrown in here and there. This album marks the return of David Vincent on vocals and bass. The album is cut in half between the more traditional death metal songs and the industrial tracks. The death metal is standard issue Morbid Angel, helped along by the crisp production, and the drum program is barely noticeable, and actually helps with the precision. 'Heretic', their last album, was buried in muddy sound, and the clear distinction of instruments is welcome. The best of the death metal songs is 'Nevermore', with it's ferocious mid-pace precision, dissonant riffery, and psychotic ambiance. It's classic Morbid Angel. The other death metal songs chug alongs at varying speeds, but tend to be unmemorable, except come solo time, as Trey Azagthoth is in fine form.
Its Bad. But Fun Bad.
bollocks, the production is terrible with vincent pushing his vocals even louder than they usually are in the mix (far too loud), the so called classic tracks are mostly written by the new guitarist they had for it and it shows, it was like hearing a ma cover band. trey has about 2-3 riffs during the entire album usually drowned out by crap. heretic was not buried in a muddy sound it had a good immersive production even if it takes a few listens to get used to it, place of many deaths is a very dynamic sound with massive depth for example. nevermore is a drab average ma track written about a year beforehand on its own which is why it doesnt sound like the rest, it doesnt have "ferocious mid pace precision, dissonant riffery and psychotic ambience" thats a bunch of wank id expect from metal hammer reviewers in the mid 90s it doesnt describe that song whatsoever, try forgettable b-side that wouldve been discarded on heretic and the only reason people even bother to give it attention is because the band hadnt made a song in 8 years....
It's funny how the same band can put out one of best albums in death metal but also something like Illud Divinum Insanus
Here’s my ranking at the moment:
1. Altars Of Madness
2. Covenant
3. Formulas Fatal To The Flesh
4. Gateways To Annihilation
5. Domination
6. Blessed Are The Sick
7. Kingdoms Disdained (actually really like this album, but the classics are better obviously)
8. Heretic
Oh, I forgot one? No…I don’t think I did…
1.D
2.C
3.A
4.F
5.B
6.H
7.G
8.K
9.I
@@SecretAgentBeans B, A, F, C...
Yes! Finally hit 2k subs!!! I hope that I get a cd!
For me:
1. Gateways to A
2. Kingdoms
3. Domination
4. Blessed are the sexy
5. Heretic
6. covenant
7. Alters of mad
8. Formulas Fatal to something
9. The industrial Metal Album
imma puke
Cesar palace was one of my fav track also.
Gateways To Annihilation is definitely my number 1!! What a unique sound
1. Altar
2. Of
3. Madness
Gateways and Nile saved death metal during those nu-metal pandemic years. At least, we had black metal also.
for me Blessed are the sick, Altars, Covenant anything after that can go fly a kite
I heard Blessed in my teenage years. Still a personal favorite--it's like listening to an occult journey into defiance, hedonism, primal power, mockery at hollow norms, atavism, and it's even darkly majestic. The line up of Azagthoth/Brunelle/Vincent/Sandoval was something else on that one.
I enjoyed heretic songs like praise the strength and stricken arise Pete’s drumming is non stop on those tracks solid record in my opinion
What's with the hate on Hatework? Sounds almost like some apocalyptic martial industrial track with some dm vocals on top which is just damn awesome!
Ok.. A few months ago now I decided to re visit Altars of madness. I was curious about it.. And even though I had association with it I decided to give it a listen. The first listen was a little weird.. Then I had a second listen and that was better. Then a third listen which was good. Yes.. Altars of madness.. It's a good album.. A very good album. Then I heard it a few more times. I'm glad I had the re visit to it.
1. Blessed Are the Sick
2. Covenant
3. Altars of Madness
4. Domination
That's it, I was never able to get into any of their other albums. Sold the later stuff on ebay to make room for way better albums.
14:02 his hat matches Formulas theme lol
I currently have Domination and Covenant. What would you guys recommend for a next album
Blessed are the sick is my number oneBlessed are the sick as my number #1