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Rating: What a great album, guys. "Altars of Madness" is the emblem of death metal that any fan of this, in my opinion, fantastic genre, should have in their discography. I called it the emblem of death metal and it really is because it will not only serve as inspiration for subsequent generations of metalheads, but it will also set the fundamental rules for crafting an album of this genre.
The year was 1986, and the metal world had its eyes set on the raw thrash of Slayer and Metallica, and this small band had in mind to revolutionize, to extreme metal with a growl singing never tried before and a sound more violent than ever. Surely that group that met on Saturdays to play in a garage would become a cult band? Well, who knows if not them.
But let's start analyzing the album better. Thirteen tracks of catastrophic power that heavily hit the listener's mind, leaving them strongly impressed and ecstatic. How can one say they are bad songs like "Immortal Rites," "Maze Of Torment," "Damnation"? Milestones where every note, every solo, every scream of pain will be considered a masterpiece by the public opinion.
The album is fast, powerful, and at times melodic that transports you into the deepest darkness of the underworld. The production is good, the sounds are defined; naturally, it is not excellent, and therefore the sound will be dark (better that way, right?). So, all good metalheads must rush to get this album, not having it would be sacrilege (like calling oneself a metalhead and not owning Slayer's "Reign In Blood" or any album by Metallica and/or Iron Maiden). So, in conclusion, what can we say? Great performance by Morbid Angel!!
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
02 Suffocation (03:15)
Laugh at the tragedies
Mock with disrespect
Goats under rule of father time
Leaches pass judgement on their fellow kind
And die when their inner self goes astray
Alas, I pay homage to the ancient ones
Speak my name!!
Raise the staff of the morbid priest
Descend into the fires of the true law
Suffocating evil smoke arise
Cleansing the masses in iniquity
Cauldrons blaze in sanctifying ritual
Vile crematory burns my eyes
Mortals filled with despair
They quest to foresee their fate
Caverns below await the wine to flow
Rape the harvest of souls
I watch in awe as the crucifiers march
Killing time, killing all I see
Another moon rise, human waste
Screaming "Why hath thou forsaken me?"
Suffocating evil smoke arise
Cleansing the masses in iniquity
Cauldrons blaze in sanctifying ritual
Vile crematory burns my eyes
It's the dawn of the crucifiers
Suffocation
04 Maze of Torment (04:25)
Life betrayal - a warping rage
Evil ripping caverns through your mind
Immolation - in blood you've signed your soul away
Sickening life ends but the horror has just begun
Vultures moaning a funeral dirge
Walls await to cradle you and rip your soul apart
Incessant screaming echoes through the maze
Insanity approaches - imminent demise
Maze of torment . . .
Stricken from the holy book deliverance to pain
Effigy of Jesus Christ burning in your mind
Voices cry out to bid you welcome
Locked within the dungeons of darkness - no escape!!
Maze of torment . . .
Passing through corridors embedded with
Scars of those who have gone before you
And left their marks
Warning comes too late to save you now
Visions of suffering stab from the inside
You pray for death
Mourning does no good as you can only die once
Souls are being raped by the maze
Lost in these halls . . . endlessly
Maze of torment . . .
05 Chapel of Ghouls (04:58)
Ghouls attack the church
Crush the holy priest
Turning the cross towards hell
Writhe in Satan's flames
Crush the priest
The feeble church
Dead - your god is dead
Fools - your god is dead
Useless prayers of lies
Behold Satan's rise
Crush the priest
The feeble church
The family of dog
Lust upon my altar
Demons attack with hate
Satan in the fires of hell awaits
Death against you all
God hear my death call
07 Damnation (04:10)
Evil Minds grievious sins
Pagan lives have no place for law
Twisted worship exhume the dead
Minds unite for evil cause
Death corrodes the book once strong
Evil lourd destroys his foes
Plague has spread throughout the land
Revelations have begun.
Call of evil's mastermind
Christians flock to the beast
Burning crosses burn souls
Exterminate the altar of laws
Atrocities of a new reich
Holy war and holocaust
God weeps and turns his back
The time is right to destroy the world
Damnation
Fill the world with plague
Force of devastation
Tyranny from above
Churning cities lust so profane
Driving the will to destroy
Crippling powers I'm forced to partake unholy rituals
Crimes of a world barely alive
Melting debauchery
Ashes to ashes, so must I be
Lost in this misery
There's nothing left here for me
I know of no other way
Even death cannot change my ways
I'm first in the line
To hell we shall go
Calls of evils mastermind
Christians flock to the beast
Burning crosses burn souls
Time is right to destroy the world
08 Blasphemy (03:32)
I am the god of gods
Master of the arts
I desecrate the chaste
Writhe in the flesh
Blasphemy
Chant the blasphemy
Mockery of the messiah
We curse the holy ghost
Enslaver of the weak
God of lies and greed
God of hypocrisy
We laugh at your bastard child
No god shall come before me
Blaspheme the ghost
Blaspheme the ghost
Blaspheme the ghost
Blasphemy of the holy ghost
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law
Rebel against the church
Drink from the chalice of blasphemy
Rise up against the enslaver
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Other reviews
By jigoro
"Morbid Angel created one of the most extreme, dark and fast bands that the world had ever known."
"Altars Of Madness is a masterpiece... guaranteed ear destruction."
By Prometheus
Altars Of Madness can be considered the album that more than any other defines the very nature of the Death Metal phenomenon.
Listening to this album is like delving into the dark recesses of the Human mind, in a universe where the truths we know no longer exist.
