Morbid Angel

Florida death-metal pioneers Morbid Angel are among the genre's greatest bands, and that’s not up for debate. Released a half-dozen years after the Tampa group’s formation, their 1989 landmark debut, Altars of Madness, was a key stage in death metal’s ungodly birth. Their attack grew increasingly ruthless over the course of their next three records: 1991’s Blessed Are the Sick, 1993’s Covenant, and 1995’s Domination. The individual musicianship is unreal: Singer and bassist David Vincent unleashes guttural devastation, while guitarist and songwriter Trey Azagthoth and drummer Pete Sandoval are so fast and complex that they threaten to overwhelm the recording technology. And whereas fellow Florida legends Obituary descend into bodily gore, Morbid Angel are passionate about spinning tales of cosmic horror and otherworldly evils inspired by the author H. P. Lovecraft. The band have undergone considerable personnel turnover since the mid-’90s, yet outside of the rare curveball (see 2011’s industrial-inspired Illud Divinum Insanus), albums such as 2000’s Gateways to Annihilation and 2017’s Kingdoms Disdained have continued to honor the unremitting brutality of Morbid Angel’s original vision.