GMD Poll: Morbid Angel's Discography Ranked
- Thread starter crimsonfloyd
- Start date
Phylactery
Active Member
It’s quite nice to see a variety of lists coming in for this. I thought the lists would look a lot more similar than they do tbh.
1: Covenant - best album of the genre
2: Altars of Madness - I picked this up in 98 or so with minimal expectations, and ended up spinning it (or rewinding my cassette) much much longer than expected
3: Domination - this album got me into death metal and was one of my favorites for a long time. I listen to this less than a couple of the albums ranked below it, but rank it at #3 for sentimental value
4: Blessed are the sick - I probably listen to this album more than any other MA release now, outside of Covenant
5: Formulas Fatal to the Flesh - The anti-Domination. I picture this as being their most difficult album to produce and it is quite accomplished.
6: Gateways to Annihilation - Some great tracks, but many seem to appreciate this album more than I
7: Heretic - Skip all of the interludes outside of maybe the drum solo and there is a decent album here. Better than it gets credit for
8: Illud Divinum Insanus
The Kingdoms album is solid, if unremarkable. I haven't heard it enough to know whether it would be ranked above or below Heretic so I'm not ranking that. I debated whether to include Illud by rationalizing that it is an album by the David Vincent Experience. But they put the MA logo on the album, not me
2: Altars of Madness - I picked this up in 98 or so with minimal expectations, and ended up spinning it (or rewinding my cassette) much much longer than expected
3: Domination - this album got me into death metal and was one of my favorites for a long time. I listen to this less than a couple of the albums ranked below it, but rank it at #3 for sentimental value
4: Blessed are the sick - I probably listen to this album more than any other MA release now, outside of Covenant
5: Formulas Fatal to the Flesh - The anti-Domination. I picture this as being their most difficult album to produce and it is quite accomplished.
6: Gateways to Annihilation - Some great tracks, but many seem to appreciate this album more than I
7: Heretic - Skip all of the interludes outside of maybe the drum solo and there is a decent album here. Better than it gets credit for
8: Illud Divinum Insanus
The Kingdoms album is solid, if unremarkable. I haven't heard it enough to know whether it would be ranked above or below Heretic so I'm not ranking that. I debated whether to include Illud by rationalizing that it is an album by the David Vincent Experience. But they put the MA logo on the album, not me
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Vegard Pompey
ALLY TO GOOD, NIGHTMARE TO YOU
Phylactery
Active Member
I demand you listen to Blessed are the Sick!
“Fall From Grace” “Blesed are the Sick/Leading the Rats” and “The Ancient Ones” are pinnacles of the genre imo. But everything is good, except “In Remembrance” which is a bit shit. “Desolate Ways” is beautiful, though.
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1. Altars of Madness
2. Blessed Are the Sick
3. Formulas Fatal to the Flesh
4. Covenant
5. Domination
6. Gateways to Annihilation
7. Heretic
8. Kingdoms Disdained
9. Illud Divinum Insanus
If Abominations of Desolation was counted, it would be #2 on my list with everything else moving down on slot accordingly.
2. Blessed Are the Sick
3. Formulas Fatal to the Flesh
4. Covenant
5. Domination
6. Gateways to Annihilation
7. Heretic
8. Kingdoms Disdained
9. Illud Divinum Insanus
If Abominations of Desolation was counted, it would be #2 on my list with everything else moving down on slot accordingly.
HamburgerBoy
Active Member
- Sep 16, 2007
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Yeah, I expected most people to have Altars on top by a mile. It is pleasant to see some diverstiy of opinion.
Hopefully Ill have rankings in by early next week.
Anom@nder Rake
lives on the internet
1. Altars of Madness
2. Formulas Fatal to the Flesh
3. Blessed Are the Sick
4. Covenant
5. Gateways to Annihilation
6. Domination
7. Kingdoms Disdained
8. Heretic
9. Illud Divinum Insanus
2. Formulas Fatal to the Flesh
3. Blessed Are the Sick
4. Covenant
5. Gateways to Annihilation
6. Domination
7. Kingdoms Disdained
8. Heretic
9. Illud Divinum Insanus
Slammed
Active Member
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1. Altars of Madness (1989)
2. Blessed Are the Sick (1991)
3. Covenant (1993)
4. Kingdoms Disdained (2017)
5. Gateways to Annihilation (2000)
6. Formulas Fatal to the Flesh (1998)
7. Domination (1995)
8. Heretic (2003)
9. Illud Divinum Insanus (2011)
Now for some random quotes for crimsonfloyd since there was mention of not enough quotes on the last thread.
Altars Of Madness: For me still one of the best in the genre and a regular spinner in my house.
Blessed Are the Sick: The intro sucks but thankfully that doesn't ruin the rest of the album. Mix of slower music and faster riffs works well for me.
Covenant: Blood On My Hands and Pain Divine will always be favourite tracks but for me that's not enough to lift this album past third.
Kingdoms Disdained: Definitely my preferred Steve Tucker album and with tracks like Architect and Iconoclast and The Pillars Crumbling it nearly lived up to the anticipation of a new Morbid Angel album, but not quite.
Gateways To Annihilation: Ageless Still I Am and Secured Limitations are probably my favourites but the album doesn't stand up to those above it.
Formulas Fatal To The Flesh: No matter how much I listen to this album I just can't get into it as others seem to. I don't hate it but I can't ever see it rating higher with such other strong albums in their discography.
Domination: Nothing But Fear is a good song but the rest of the album just lacks something for me.
Heretic: Not their worst album but it's close.
Illud Divinum Insanus: There is a few reasonable riffs but seriously WTF were they thinking???
2. Blessed Are the Sick (1991)
3. Covenant (1993)
4. Kingdoms Disdained (2017)
5. Gateways to Annihilation (2000)
6. Formulas Fatal to the Flesh (1998)
7. Domination (1995)
8. Heretic (2003)
9. Illud Divinum Insanus (2011)
Now for some random quotes for crimsonfloyd since there was mention of not enough quotes on the last thread.
Altars Of Madness: For me still one of the best in the genre and a regular spinner in my house.
Blessed Are the Sick: The intro sucks but thankfully that doesn't ruin the rest of the album. Mix of slower music and faster riffs works well for me.
Covenant: Blood On My Hands and Pain Divine will always be favourite tracks but for me that's not enough to lift this album past third.
Kingdoms Disdained: Definitely my preferred Steve Tucker album and with tracks like Architect and Iconoclast and The Pillars Crumbling it nearly lived up to the anticipation of a new Morbid Angel album, but not quite.
Gateways To Annihilation: Ageless Still I Am and Secured Limitations are probably my favourites but the album doesn't stand up to those above it.
Formulas Fatal To The Flesh: No matter how much I listen to this album I just can't get into it as others seem to. I don't hate it but I can't ever see it rating higher with such other strong albums in their discography.
Domination: Nothing But Fear is a good song but the rest of the album just lacks something for me.
Heretic: Not their worst album but it's close.
Illud Divinum Insanus: There is a few reasonable riffs but seriously WTF were they thinking???
Phylactery
Active Member
Slammed
Active Member
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I think if I'd have bought them in a different order Blessed probably would be my top but I got Altars the day it was released and it had a few years to eat into my brain before Blessed arrived.
Satanstoenail
My Larpstyle determines my Derpstyle
1. Blessed are the Sick
2. Altars of Madness
3. Covenant
4. Formulas Fatal to the Flesh
5. Domination
6. Gateways to Annihilation
7. Kingdoms Distained
8. Heretic
9. Illud Divinum Insanus
2. Altars of Madness
3. Covenant
4. Formulas Fatal to the Flesh
5. Domination
6. Gateways to Annihilation
7. Kingdoms Distained
8. Heretic
9. Illud Divinum Insanus
Rapture, Sworn to the Black, and Angel of Disease are also classics IMO. Only weak track is God of Disease, but I see that as just an experimental thing that many bands like to put at the end of the album, so it doesn't really drag it down for me.
I think this is their toughest album to digest. I bought this right after it was released, but could not get into this album for the longest time. Gave it another chance after I got back into death metal in about 2006 or so and it resonated more then. But definitely a more complex album than anything they had released prior or after
Slammed
Active Member
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For me it wasn't so much of a case of dragging it down but not lifting it up. I like the album but the other two have had way more spins. Maybe one day this could jump a spot but force of habit sees me going to the first two albums when I want to listen to MA.
I'm a bit selective with my death metal, I don't listen to every band that releases something and Formulas has just never done it for me when I want to listen to MA. Although in saying that I did think it was going to be lower on the list but relistening to Domination and Heretic proved me wrong.
Phylactery
Active Member
God of Emptiness is a great track, and one of the best on Covenant. What are you talking about. Anyway I find half of Covenant to be really good and half of it to be quite forgettable. Well, slightly more than half I find to be good.
World of Shit, Pain Divine, Angel of Disease and God of Emptiness are probably my favourites.
World of Shit, Pain Divine, Angel of Disease and God of Emptiness are probably my favourites.
HamburgerBoy
Active Member
- Sep 16, 2007
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Sworn to the Black > all
EDIT: Here's the objectively correct Covenant hierarchy
Sworn to the Black - 4/5 (the worst flange abuse, but there's one really excellent riff in here as well as amazing leads that lift this to a 4, the arrangement is actually good as well)
Nar Mattaru/God of Emptiness - 2.5/5, 4/5 (former a cheesy spoopy synth intro) (maybe it's familiarity with Morbid Angel's Top 40 Pop Hit, but the downtuning feels more natural here, nice and lurching, the melodic change around 2 minutes is very powerful)
Angel of Disease - 3.5/5 (lol so out of place, the leads are an improvement, the flange is a downgrade, overall about as good as the original I guess)
Lion's Den - 3.5/5 (the Middle-Eastern riff-unit is nice but as with the rest it doesn't lead into anything interesting, the 1:45 tremolo-picked part is good but fleeting as usual, I guess this one does feel like it has a consistent rising tension though, fading riff was cool too, almost Ripping Corpse-esque)
World of Shit (The Promised Land) - 2.5/5 (almost obnoxious how downtuned this sounds after the first two songs, after the sludgy part it alternates between a basic thrash riff and blasting parts)
Pain Divine - 2.5/5
Vengeance is Mine - 2/5 (there are parts that almost sound genuinely tense on their own, but the whole formula on this album is so tiring, just an overglorified later-Lombardo Slayer song with added blasting)
Rapture - 2/5 (super boring riffs and structure, flange, decent break around 2:20)
Blood on my Hands - 1.5/5 (downtuning again, cookie-cutter riffs, goes nowhere)
EDIT: Here's the objectively correct Covenant hierarchy
Sworn to the Black - 4/5 (the worst flange abuse, but there's one really excellent riff in here as well as amazing leads that lift this to a 4, the arrangement is actually good as well)
Nar Mattaru/God of Emptiness - 2.5/5, 4/5 (former a cheesy spoopy synth intro) (maybe it's familiarity with Morbid Angel's Top 40 Pop Hit, but the downtuning feels more natural here, nice and lurching, the melodic change around 2 minutes is very powerful)
Angel of Disease - 3.5/5 (lol so out of place, the leads are an improvement, the flange is a downgrade, overall about as good as the original I guess)
Lion's Den - 3.5/5 (the Middle-Eastern riff-unit is nice but as with the rest it doesn't lead into anything interesting, the 1:45 tremolo-picked part is good but fleeting as usual, I guess this one does feel like it has a consistent rising tension though, fading riff was cool too, almost Ripping Corpse-esque)
World of Shit (The Promised Land) - 2.5/5 (almost obnoxious how downtuned this sounds after the first two songs, after the sludgy part it alternates between a basic thrash riff and blasting parts)
Pain Divine - 2.5/5
Vengeance is Mine - 2/5 (there are parts that almost sound genuinely tense on their own, but the whole formula on this album is so tiring, just an overglorified later-Lombardo Slayer song with added blasting)
Rapture - 2/5 (super boring riffs and structure, flange, decent break around 2:20)
Blood on my Hands - 1.5/5 (downtuning again, cookie-cutter riffs, goes nowhere)
Lol its not awful. Actually, probably their most memorable track on the album. Just a little hard to take seriously
Sirjack
Stinkupuss
Altars of madness
Blessed are the Sick
Covenant
Formulas Fatal to the Flesh
Abominations
Domination
Heretic
Gateways to Annihilation
Heretic
Kingdoms Distained
Blessed are the Sick
Covenant
Formulas Fatal to the Flesh
Abominations
Domination
Heretic
Gateways to Annihilation
Heretic
Kingdoms Distained
1. Covenant
2. Domination
3. Blessed
4. Gateways
---
then Altars, Formulas, Heretic...
That's what I really listen by them.
1 COVENANT was epic classic death metal that culminated with God of Emptiness for ffs.
2 DOMINATION gets shit for being too polished but it's still got some of the better songs they wrote and the Rutan experiment was very successful.
3 BLESSED is another classic, but it's got quite a bit of a filler and is a long album.
4 GATEWAYS return to powertuned Morbid Angel, brutal groovy, and the song-writing much more settled and trademark than the experimental but inconsistent and forgettable in many places FORMULAS.
- ALTAR is a sacred relic never to be criticized but they weren't nearly as mature and developed musically then as during the masterpieces that came after and hadn't entered the death metal period yet (it's in the 90's, not 80's, that MA culminate to establish their natural sound).
- HERETIC wasn't as bad as widely accepted. 'Beneath the Hollow' is a Top 10 ever MA song to me. Lackluster, lazy effort, but with a few things worth keeping.
- Illud have those high quality moments in certain songs. VUUUUUUUULGORRRRR !!! but I really don't know where they were going with the whole concept...
2. Domination
3. Blessed
4. Gateways
---
then Altars, Formulas, Heretic...
That's what I really listen by them.
1 COVENANT was epic classic death metal that culminated with God of Emptiness for ffs.
2 DOMINATION gets shit for being too polished but it's still got some of the better songs they wrote and the Rutan experiment was very successful.
3 BLESSED is another classic, but it's got quite a bit of a filler and is a long album.
4 GATEWAYS return to powertuned Morbid Angel, brutal groovy, and the song-writing much more settled and trademark than the experimental but inconsistent and forgettable in many places FORMULAS.
- ALTAR is a sacred relic never to be criticized but they weren't nearly as mature and developed musically then as during the masterpieces that came after and hadn't entered the death metal period yet (it's in the 90's, not 80's, that MA culminate to establish their natural sound).
- HERETIC wasn't as bad as widely accepted. 'Beneath the Hollow' is a Top 10 ever MA song to me. Lackluster, lazy effort, but with a few things worth keeping.
- Illud have those high quality moments in certain songs. VUUUUUUUULGORRRRR !!! but I really don't know where they were going with the whole concept...
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