Where to Start Listening to Death Metal*
Back when I was first considering dipping my toes into death metal proper, I didn’t know where to start. I’d heard Demolition Hammer, Sepultura’s Beneath the Remains and Sodom’s Agent Orange, but I wasn’t sure where to go next. So I looked to the internet for popular or influential death metal albums (or something of that sort), put this album on for the first time, and subsequently exploded my understanding of what metal could be.
Altars of Madness turns 35 years old this year, and still sounds fresh, evil and heavy as can be. Many of these songs had been recorded a few years prior with Mike Browning (of later Nocturnus fame) on drums and vocals, but due to some band drama, he ended up leaving the band. As a result, many of these songs were rerecorded for this album.
Starting with a riff played in reverse, Immortal Rites starts off strong with staggering drums and a truly iconic riff. The album doesn’t let up after Immortal Rites as live staples like Maze of Torment, Blasphemy and Chapel of Ghouls and more go by in quick succession. This album is quite quick, but doesn’t use as many blast beats as later Morbid Angel albums like Blessed Are the Sick and Covenant, instead having a bit more of a thrash-inspired drum performance. Still, tracks like Suffocation see the band cranking up the speed. The songs on this album also generally stay between 2 to 4.5 minutes, keeping them concise, catchy and relentless. The shortest tune on the album “Bleed For the Devil” is a predecessor to later songs like Rapture where Pete Sandoval’s endurance and metronomic expertise are put to the test.
Unlike the next 3 albums, David Vincent’s voice stays raspy, as opposed to his later vocal approach which takes on more of a barking quality. I think this approach works wonderfully on this album. The closing track “Evil Spells” is my personal highlight on the album, as David Vincent’s voice truly shines here. He sounds possessed, yet more understandable than many of his contemporaries like Glen Benton and Jon Tardy.
The lyrics match the atmosphere on Altars of Madness extremely well. Occasional keyboard bits on tracks like Immortal Rites help build suspense for the listener, as well as add to the horror movie atmosphere. The angularity of the riffing and drumming on this album also contribute to its uniqueness. Instead of just being speedy throughout the album, when the band lets the songs breathe with mid-tempo sections, the guitars ooze with menace.
The last topic I’d like to talk about is the production on Altars of Madness. I should add that I have 3 different versions of this album that all sound different. I have a bootleg I found used many years ago which includes half of the Entangled in Chaos live album, a full dynamic range version that Earache put out a few years ago, and a pressing that has a DVD with a live show from 1989.
The bootleg edition sounds pretty rough. The version with the DVD has the original CD mix, and the full dynamic range edition sounds magnificent. Make sure to pick up either a copy with the original mix or the full dynamic range edition. A word of warning for those who love physical media. The Earache full dynamic range editions have little to no liner notes. There are no lyrics included in these packages and they come in poor quality digipaks where you can barely get the disc out. I have seen CDs come cracked due to the choice of packaging Earache used for these. As well, the full dynamic range edition comes with a terrible attempt at recreating Dan Seagrave’s original artwork. This is due to a contract dispute between Earache and Dan Seagrave (Decibel Magazine has a great article about this called “Immortal Rights”). A similar issue has come up with Earache and the album cover for Realms of Chaos.
This was one of the earliest Morrisound Studios death metal releases, and they knocked it out of the park here. Scott Burns was not involved on this particular release, but Tom Morris did a fantastic job of making the album sound excellent without being overly shiny and overproduced. If you’re looking to get into death metal, look at Tom Morris and Scott Burns pages here on the Metal Archives and you will be hard pressed to find many duds during the 1989-1996 period.
To finish off this review, if you’re cruising the Metal Archives looking for a guide as to where to start with death metal, start with this album. From here, go listen to Blessed are the Sick, Scream Bloody Gore, Severed Survival, Mental Funeral, Deicide, Cause of Death, Piece of Time, Left Hand Path, The IVth Crusade, Like an Everflowing Stream and Necroticism-Descanting the Insalubrious. I can’t think of a better entry to death metal than this album.
*Note: Originally posted on the Metal Archives by CelestialEmissary
