1634 - Morbid Angel Chapel of Ghouls 1989

When Morbid Angel released "Altars of Madness" in 1989, it immediately assumed its place as death metal's first legitimate masterpiece. Building on the basic ideas of Slayer, Morbid Angel combined a stripped down, punk influenced rawness of performance with unconventional song structures and longer melodic phrases. In doing so, they created a style all their own, driven by churning, chaotic guitar riffing and solos that scream with reckless abandon. The interplay between Azagtoth and Brunelle's guitar styles makes the album - Azagthoth plays go-for-broke atonal solos, while Brunelle is more traditional and restrained. They complement each other perfectly, Azagthoth embodying the savage spirit of hellish death metal, while Brunelle's cleaner and more musically literate playing provides balance and distinction to the songs. "Chapel of Ghouls" is an exercise in not only intensity via Azagthoth and concrete jointwork via Sandoval, but arching and ebbing patterns of disgust that incessantly tear through the listener at unfriendly velocity before the magnificent breakdown and its epic, haunting keyboard line. The gates of the old chapel burst asunder, its contents spill forth into the cold night mist, rampaging silently through the sepulcher before they sate their undead hunger on the nearest village of unsuspecting living.