Definitely at least too highly praised imo, Altars of Madness is my pick for their best. Much more consistent, not randomly divided by what I feel to be mainly cheesy interludes ("Desolate Ways" is obviously amazing though) and the songwriting relies much less on mechanical blasting that sounds awkward and doesn't work for them as much in the end (and worked even less for them on later albums). The production on BATS is also very lifeless and stale, and doesn't highlight the brutality and ferocity we can tell is there, so that affects my opinion too. I remember after first hearing BATS I wondered "is this it? This is Morbid Angel...?" but I am so glad I gave AOM a chance. So much better imo.
edit: also in regards to the cover comparison, Seagrave's portrayal of the incredible range of human emotions, portrayed by distinctly inhuman faces in a disturbing, grotesque play on "humanity" is much, much cooler than a random eyebleed-inducing painting with by far one of the worst and least appealing color palettes I've seen. Gotta love the apparent disregard given to the band logo and title; they got that same yucky color treatment. This doesn't really have to do with my judgment of the album and is more of an aside, but damn I don't care how classic that painting is, it's ugly.
