Product Code Database
Morbid Angel is an American death metal band based in Tampa, Florida, formed in 1983 by guitarist, primary composer and sole remaining original member Trey Azagthoth, vocalist and bassist Dallas Ward, and drummer Mike Browning. It was one of the first bands to incorporate guttural vocals, up-tempo , multiple tempo changes and a dark atmosphere. Morbid Angel was also the first death metal band to experience mainstream success in connection with being signed to Giant Records in 1992, heavy rotation of its music videos on MTV, and having the music video for the song "God of Emptiness" shown on an episode of Beavis and Butt-Head. The band's first three albums β Altars of Madness (1989), Blessed Are the Sick (1991), and Covenant (1993) β are considered classics in the death metal genre.
British music magazine Terrorizer ranked Altars of Madness first in its list "Top 40 greatest death metal albums". Decibel magazine also rated guitarist Trey Azagthoth as the number one "death metal guitarist ever". The band's songs are complex in arrangement; this owes much to the considerable technical skills of both Azagthoth and drummer Pete Sandoval, the latter of whom also played in the grindcore band Terrorizer. According to Nielsen SoundScan, Morbid Angel's third album Covenant is the best-selling death metal album of the Soundscan era with over 150,000 units sold, and the band is the third-best-selling death metal act in the United States (after Cannibal Corpse and Deicide up until 2003 with sales of over 445,000).
The band's original lyrical themes, when helmed by Vincent (and Azagthoth and Browning respectively) focused mostly on Satanism, occultism and blasphemous subject matter, but from Formulas Fatal to the Flesh (1998) onward, via Azagthoth's influence, the lyrics moved toward the ancient Sumerian gods. Much of this is a nod to the Simon Necronomicon, which was influenced by Sumerian mythology, the author H. P. Lovecraft, and fascination with the Roman Empire, and during Steve Tucker's tenure they take on more anti-religious and barbaric themes, namely of the strong overcoming the weak.
The band's first studio album, Altars of Madness, was released in 1989, and is regarded by many as one of the most important death metal albums of all time. Music journalist Jason Birchmeier writes that:
Few albums struck a chord within the ears and minds of the late-'80s underground metal scene like Morbid Angel's Altars of Madness did at the end of the decade, setting a new precedent for metal bands to reach. With the arguable exception of Chuck Schuldiner's Death, never before had a heavy metal band carried their lightning-fast guitar riffs and equally spellbinding guitar solos into such horrific territory. Venom and Slayer redefined the extent to which a metal band could align itself with all things evil during the beginning of the decade, but Morbid Angel made these two groups sound like children's music compared to the Florida-based group's assaulting death metal sounds and their blasphemous lyrics.
Morbid Angel toured for nearly two years in support of Altars of Madness. The tour started in November 1989 when they opened for Napalm Death, Carcass and Bolt Thrower in the UK and Europe on the Grindcrusher Tour. Most of 1990 and 1991 were spent touring North America, playing with bands such as Pantera, Obituary, Atheist, Death Angel, Forbidden, Sanctuary, Ripping Corpse, Deicide, Sacrifice and Wrath. The Altars of Madness tour ended in April 1991 with a Brazilian tour, supported by SarcΓ³fago, Sextrash and Cambio Negro.
Following the success of Altars of Madness and Blessed Are the Sick, Morbid Angel was signed by Irving Azoff to Giant Records for one album, with the option of five more. In late 1992, second guitarist Richard Brunelle was kicked out of the band due to alleged substance abuse; instead of replacing him, Morbid Angel moved on as a three-piece.
On June 22, 1993, the band released their third full-length album Covenant, which went on to sell over 150,000 copies in the United States alone. Their record label dedicated promotional resources to the album, and commissioned music videos for the songs "Rapture" and "God of Emptiness". These music videos were put on heavy rotation by MTV, and the latter also appeared on the television show Beavis and Butt-Head. The success of the album enabled the band to tour with Black Sabbath and MotΓΆrhead across the United States from February through March 1994, which David Vincent credits with helping the band significantly expand their audience. Morbid Angel also toured North America with Kreator and Paradise Lost, and Europe with Grave and Dismember.
The band released its fourth studio album, Domination, on May 9, 1995, which featured new guitarist Erik Rutan of Ripping Corpse. It proved to be a somewhat controversial album among fans, featuring a slower, more atmospheric and experimental sound than on previous albums. AllMusic describes the album's sound as "more groove-oriented". The album has gone on to sell over 100,000 copies in the United States alone. Regardless, following the release of the album, their record label dropped them from their roster.
In 2002, Anderson left the band and Tucker re-assumed his position as bassist and vocalist.
Morbid Angel's appearance on some of the mid-summer 2008 European festivals was announced as a "short break from writing and pre-production of their new 8th studio album". In May 2008, it was announced that Destructhor from Zyklon would be the band's new guitarist, and Destructhor would appear on the new album.
On March 18, 2010, the band announced that Tim Yeung would play drums on the upcoming album, allowing Pete Sandoval to recover from back surgery. On June 22, the band entered the studio to begin the recording of their new full-length album. On March 5, 2011, the band headlined the Scion Rock Fest in Pomona, California. This performance was their first in the US in six years, aside from a one-off show in Los Angeles in May 2009. On March 9, Morbid Angel confirmed that their new album would be called Illud Divinum Insanus. The album was released on June 7 via Season of Mist. The album incorporated electronic sounds and deviated from the usual sound of the band. In an interview in December 2013, David Vincent confirmed that Pete Sandoval is no longer a member of the band, claiming that Sandoval had "found Jesus", and stating, "Pete Sandoval and Morbid Angel are not compatible", laying to rest speculation that Sandoval would eventually be returning to the band.
Asked in a December 2014 interview about Morbid Angel's plans for 2015, Vincent replied, "We're done touring for awhile. It's time to write." Yeung said that the band was in talks of recording an EP.
On January 9, 2017, Trey Azagthoth announced on his Facebook page that drummer Scott Fuller joined Morbid Angel for the recording of their new album. Additional details indicated that the album title would presumably start with the letter "K", given the band's history on naming their albums alphabetically. On January 10th, the band announced that Dan Vadim Von has joined as second guitarist. They also announced a U.S. tour with Suffocation, Revocation and Withered, which would begin in late May and continue into late June. In a March interview on The Metal Magdalene with Jet show on Metal Messiah Radio, Steve Tucker explained that the album would be a "death metal album". When speaking to Orlando Weekly in May 2017, Tucker said that the tour setlist would not feature any David Vincent era material and would then perform songs featuring him instead. He also said that they would play "probably one or two new songs" from the new album, in which he said that it was "almost done, but we don't want to put out too much with YouTube putting it up the next day." On the opening night on May 23, they performed a new song entitled "Warped". Morbid Angel canceled their European appearance twice due to passport issues from one of the members. The band's management explained that a new passport would not be issued in time for the shows. The band expressed disappointment with the news and issued an apology. On October 5, the cover artwork for the forthcoming album titled Kingdoms Disdained was revealed, which was released on December 1 by Silver Lining Music. Later that day, the brand new song "Piles of Little Arms" was made available for streaming, followed by "For No Master" on November 29.
Morbid Angel toured the U.S. in the spring of 2018 with Misery Index and Origin, performing on separate legs. In early 2019, Morbid Angel and Cannibal Corpse toured together for the first time ever, promoted by heavy metal magazine Decibel, with Necrot and Blood Incantation as additional support. Immolation replaced Cannibal Corpse for the final week of the tour.
In a February 2019 interview with Metal Wani, Tucker stated that Morbid Angel was planning to begin working on a new album that year: "I'm gonna actually start writing some new music, and I think Trey will probably start writing some new music. We'll probably do a couple of more tours throughout the year. We have some stuff that's being talked about now, but nothing concrete. It's that time. It's been a little bit over a year since the last album came out. I've kind of got the urge and desire myself to write some more music. So we'll start getting into that and continue doing shows." In March 2019, Morbid Angel appeared on the Adult Swim television series FishCenter Live.
On September 27, 2019, it was made public that former Morbid Angel guitarist Richard Brunelle died on September 23 at age 55. The cause of death remains unknown.
During the March 31, 2023, show in Belvidere, Illinois, the roof of the concert venue collapsed after it was struck by an EF1 tornado, resulting in the death of one concertgoer, and injuries to at least 40 others.
Morbid Angel was originally scheduled to take part in the Devastation on the Nation tour, commencing on November 15, 2024, but was dropped off from the lineup due to unforeseen circumstances and was replaced by I Am Morbid.
On their early albums, they pushed metal to its most extreme level, musically and lyrically. The band has evolved their anti-Christian lyrical themes from these early works. On Altars of Madness, the lyrics largely consist of simple blasphemous and overtly Satanism proclamations. However, the sophistication and depth of the lyrics has grown over time. On their 1993 album Covenant, the band articulate more broadly anti-theistic lyrics, and profess "anger at a higher power". Today, "the band's lyrics are even more philosophical and thought-provoking. Current lyricist Trey Azagthoth has diagramed his personal ideology in the album Formulas Fatal to the Flesh. His stance is blasphemous and non-traditional, but hardly evil." Azagthoth stated in an interview, "I'm not evil as far as, 'I want to hurt people'".
Their early release Abominations of Desolation as well as Altars of Madness are considered two of the earliest true examples of death metal, as well as two of the most boundary-pushing albums of their time in terms of extremity. MetalSucks named them one of the most important bands of the 1990s, writing that "The band released three seminal albums β Blessed Are the Sick, Covenant, and Domination β between 1991 and 1995 alone (and there are definitely fans who'd say we're being unfair to 1998's Formulas Fatal to the Flesh). And thanks to a little show called Beavis and Butt-Head, Morbid Angel became death metal's ambassadors to the outside world, acting as the gateway drug for who even knows how many scores of kids."
Guitarist Trey Azagthoth is one of the most influential and widely revered guitarists in heavy metal. Loudwire named him one of the top 10 rock and metal "riff lords", writing that "Trey Azagthoth left his fingerprints all over the early death metal scene with a unique riffing style still unmatched within the genre today. ... His unconventional style sounds haphazard in its approach, awkwardly stepping over piles of rubbles left from previous riffing attacks, but with crushing effect." VH1 has described him as "a unique and thrilling lead player more following in the adventurous footsteps of Eddie Van Halen than a stiff tactician." SPIN wrote that "he has blazed a tension-filled style all his own" and that "when he solos, he enters a mystical mind state he calls the "Temple of Ostx".
During the nineties, the band were one of a number of bands involved in the scare created around death metal, and were featured in a news report about the issue due to the band's overtly Satanic and occult lyrics and imagery.
| 1989 | Altars of Madness
| β | β | β | β | β | β | β | β | β | β |
| |
| 1991 | Blessed Are the Sick
| β | β | β | β | β | β | 26 | 81 | β | β |
| |
| 1993 | Covenant
| β | 24 | β | β | β | β | β | β | β | β | ||
| 1995 | Domination
| β | 13 | β | β | β | β | β | 93 | β | 124 | ||
| 1998 | Formulas Fatal to the Flesh
| β | 22 | β | β | β | β | β | 93 | β | β | ||
| 2000 | Gateways to Annihilation
| β | β | β | β | β | β | β | β | β | β | ||
| 2003 | Heretic
| β | 27 | 28 | β | β | 146 | β | β | β | β | ||
| 2011 | Illud Divinum Insanus
| 141 | 3 | 24 | 97 | 18 | β | β | β | 41 | β | ||
| 2017 | Kingdoms Disdained
| β | β | β | 73 | 31 | β | β | 169 | β | β | ||
| "β" denotes a release that did not chart. | |||||||||||||
| 1996 | Entangled in Chaos
|
| 2015 | Juvenilia
|
| 2012 | Illud Divinum Insanus β The Remixes
|
| 2016 | The Best of Morbid Angel
|
| 1991 | Abominations of Desolation
| 77 |
| 1994 | Laibach Re-mixes
|
| 2017 | Complete Acid Terror
|
| 1988 | "Thy Kingdom Come" | Non-album single |
| 1991 | "Fall from Grace" | Blessed Are the Sick |
| "Abominations" | ||
| "Day of Suffering" | ||
| "The Ancient Ones" | ||
| 1993 | "Rapture" | Covenant |
| 1994 | "God of Emptiness" | |
| 1995 | "Where the Slime Live" | Domination |
| 2001 | "Opening of the Gates" | Gateways to Annihilation |
| 2011 | "Nevermore" | Illud Divinum Insanus |
| 2017 | "Piles of Little Arms" | Kingdoms Disdained |
| 1989 | "Immortal Rites" | Altars of Madness | |
| 1991 | "Blessed Are the Sick/Leading the Rats" | Wayne Gillian | Blessed Are the Sick |
| 1993 | "God of Emptiness" | Tony Kunewalder | Covenant |
| "Rapture" | |||
| 1995 | "Where the Slime Live" | Domination | |
| 2003 | "Enshrined by Grace" | Pete Bridgewater | Heretic |
| 2012 | "Existo VulgorΓ©" | Thomas Mignone | Illud Divinum Insanus |
| 2018 | "Garden of Disdain" | Nader Sadek | Kingdoms Disdained |
| 2019 | "Architect And Iconoclast" | Adult Swims Centre |
|
|
