Written by Maco on 19.03.2013 at 02:07


if you really didn't care, you would not have started a pointless discussion where it has 2 opposite opinions, and marcel, I am not criticizing the vocalist because in later works has better performance it's just that in this album is very weak.

I don't care that you don't like it.
I care about the crooked reasoning behind it and the fact you said this album is not a big deal since historically it IS a big deal even more so than most of Death's albums.

Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 19.03.2013 at 02:16

Written by Maco on 19.03.2013 at 02:07


if you really didn't care, you would not have started a pointless discussion where it has 2 opposite opinions, and marcel, I am not criticizing the vocalist because in later works has better performance it's just that in this album is very weak.

I don't care that you don't like it.
I care about the crooked reasoning behind it and the fact you said this album is not a big deal since historically it IS a big deal even more so than most of Death's albums.

I explained that above. and if it's not enough for you. Sorry

I've been watching this discussion for a while now and felt the need to jump in to see if everything is clear.

Written by Maco on 19.03.2013 at 04:45
I explained that above. and if it's not enough for you. Sorry

When you say "it's not a big deal". There are two completely different ways to interpret your comment:
1) "I don't like it. It doesnt move me, no big deal for me".
2) "This album is no big deal when it comes to death metal".

There's an obvious difference here. The first one is a personal opinion regarding how much you like/dislike an album, giving nothing to argue about it.
Saying the second one though... It's ignoring fact. I'll be the first one to ask the question: Which one did you mean? Because I have the feeling you meant the first one and people just misunderstood you.

Language can be after all, a tricky thing specially in written form.
Cheers.

Not a big deal when it comes to death metal.

Then I rest my case. As you clearly have nothing of value to contribute to any discussion about death metal and metal history in general.

Written by Maco on 19.03.2013 at 22:21

Not a big deal when it comes to death metal.

When I said I was with you, it was because I didn't find the album appealing to me.
But denying it any of its legacy as influence to the DM scene and saying it's "not that big a deal" is just idiotic of you, not to mention narrow-minded.

Written by [user id=101272] on 19.03.2013 at 23:00


When I said I was with you, it was because I didn't find the album appealing to me.
But denying it any of its legacy as influence to the DM scene and saying it's "not that big a deal" is just idiotic of you, not to mention narrow-minded.

Thank you

Venom, Bathory's first couple of albums, Hellhammer, Celtic Frost don't appeal to me AT ALL and I find it horrendous but for me to say they are no big deal when it comes to their legacy and influence would be idiotic to say. Since clearly they all were and still of huge influence just like Altars Of Mdness was and still is huge influence

Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 19.03.2013 at 23:09

Thank you

First time we agree on something it seems.

I listened to death metal albums prior to this (though not many) and I think that influenced more than Altars if it actually did. but if everyone feels better i can say that this influenced too

Written by Maco on 19.03.2013 at 23:19

I listened to death metal albums prior to this (though not many) and I think that influenced more than Altars if it actually did. but if everyone feels better i can say that this influenced too

There are other albums that also had an influence for sure, yet they don't make this one less relevant.
It is not about making people feel better, but getting the facts right.

2013 - Still say 10/10!

Written by deadone on 14.03.2014 at 06:47

I've always wondered whether people listen to the whole album.
Up to and including Chapel Of Ghouls the album is awesome.
After that it comes across as filler.
I mean how many of you can remember:
Bleed for the Devil - mindlessly thrashes along with too much time given to typical Trey solos that invariably sound the same.
Damnation -Mainly midpaced by the numbers MA
Blasphemy - Another filler song
Evil Spells - Well I actually like this one! However my problem is I usually miss it cause the previous 3 filler tracks make me loose attention.

I haven't listened to Altars for YEARS. Yet, having read the above, I am remembering lyrics, and choruses of these songs. I remember riffs and solos. I remember them very well.

So no, these songs aren't filler.

On the subject of influence, Altars was massively influential on the soon to be burgeoning death metal scene at the time. Only "Seven Churches", and "Scream Bloody Gore" can reasonably lay claim to being more influential. Denying the influence of this album, is the type of revisionist nonsense which sees people trying to downplay, or even outright deny, the huge influence of Metallica and "Kill 'Em All" on thrash metal. It's denying facts, and just being plain stupid.

Written by deadone on 14.03.2014 at 06:47

I've always wondered whether people listen to the whole album.

Up to and including Chapel Of Ghouls the album is awesome.


After that it comes across as filler.

I mean how many of you can remember:

Bleed for the Devil - mindlessly thrashes along with too much time given to typical Trey solos that invariably sound the same.

Damnation -Mainly midpaced by the numbers MA

Blasphemy - Another filler song

Evil Spells - Well I actually like this one! However my problem is I usually miss it cause the previous 3 filler tracks make me loose attention.

Well, the only one from this list that I don't remember very well is Bleed of the Devil. The others I remember very well, and they are good

After a long time I decided to try this album again. I take back everything I ever said about Altars Of Madness and Morbid Angel. This is totally amazing. I don't know why it didn't click on the first listen. I guess my ears aged well, lol.

Apologize to Morbid Angel and especially, this album.

Written by Maco on 05.04.2015 at 00:59

I guess my ears aged well, lol.

Ironic considering your first comment on this page It is indeed a great album.

Mindblowing effort from the genre's pioneers. Tracks like
01. Immortal Rites
02. Suffocation
04. Maze Of Torment
06. Chapel Of Ghouls
will never get out of my mind.

Am I the only one that hears something akin to black metal in this? Like, it's certainly not black metal, but from the awesomely fuzzed-out production quality and the lyrics that deal less with gore and brutality and more with blasphemy and otherwordly beings, it seems like this likely influenced black metal quite a bit, whether it was directly or indirectly. I almost feel like this album may have been an early influence for the more chaotic and dissonant forms of black metal, and wouldn't be surprised if stuff like DsO's FAS took a page or two from this.

I mean, I'm still relatively inexperienced in the world of extreme metal, and don't know a ton of old school death metal, but this album seems really unique to me in so many ways, both when compared to the albums of its time and the albums of today--I still haven't heard anything quite like this in extreme metal (maybe Nocturnus comes somewhat close) not even from Morbid Angel themselves.

In any case, I'd be really surprised if it didn't have a huge hand in shaping all of extreme metal (both black and death) as we know it now.

Written by Jaeryd on 24.06.2017 at 06:42

Am I the only one that hears something akin to black metal in this? Like, it's certainly not black metal, but from the awesomely fuzzed-out production quality and the lyrics that deal less with gore and brutality and more with blasphemy and otherwordly beings, it seems like this likely influenced black metal quite a bit, whether it was directly or indirectly.

I definitely hear some Emperor in "Chapel Of Ghouls" and I think it's safe to say that this album influenced the 2nd wave of black metal both lyrically and (to a lesser extent) musically. Either way, a great album.

Raw, suffocating, rigid and dry but I still prefer my pussy wet, sloppy and flexible.

This album doesn't have the conventional death metal production. It has the mid-late 80s clean and crisp production that I prefer, and it makes this album so enjoyable and listenable. No other death metal albums does this for me.

Big name, big legendary band, but to me its just an DM album, many bands did it better, many Swedish DM plaid it better. Album to listen once, unless you're not big dm fan and listen MA and CC 90% of time. I am not I dont do it, just blast from the past, I did it I have it from teenage era. Listened it , cant say much now.

What I found really striking about this album was its speed! I haven't heard a death metal release that was this ultra-fast - it's borderline thrash!

I like the vocals; I find they fit the music perfectly. I enjoy the first half more than the second, although "Evil Spells" is a great concluding track! I see that "Chapel of Gouls" is a popular song. I find it is an interesting mix of the styles of Slayer and Emperor, but it's also full of solos that I don't find that impressive.

I listen to death metal mainly for the badass riffs and those are definitely present in my favorite songs here: "Immortal Rites" (an immortal classic ), "Visions from the Dark Side" (excellent riffs throughout! ), "Maze of Torment", and "Evil Spells".

Written by F3ynman on 20.12.2021 at 16:30

What I found really striking about this album was its speed! I haven't heard a death metal release that was this ultra-fast - it's borderline thrash!

I like the vocals; I find they fit the music perfectly. I enjoy the first half more than the second, although "Evil Spells" is a great concluding track! I see that "Chapel of Gouls" is a popular song. I find it is an interesting mix of the styles of Slayer and Emperor, but it's also full of solos that I don't find that impressive.

I listen to death metal mainly for the badass riffs and those are definitely present in my favorite songs here: "Immortal Rites" (an immortal classic ), "Visions from the Dark Side" (excellent riffs throughout! ), "Maze of Torment", and "Evil Spells".

I prefer the first three Death albums, I prefer the first three Obituary albums and I prefer Blessed Are The Sick but this is still a classic.

And though not at the same level as the UK grindcore drummers, Pete Sandoval was known for being one of the fastest drummers of his era. There was a famous story doing the rounds that he passed out in the studio, in a pool of sweat during the recording of either Altars or Blessed (I forget which).

One of my top 3 metal albums; I do not care at all about how infleuncial it was or not or how its brutal or agressive by death-metal standards. It sounds unlike any other death-metal album I listened too; it has brilliant song-writting, superb guitar work that does not feel tiring and mechanical like most death-metal and prioritizes atmosphere above mindless brutality. I dont think that other death-metal bands did this better, simply because what this album does is not like other death-metal albums. This has the catchiness of 80s thrash-metal yet with a sense of atmosphere comparable only to black-metal bands.

I can't even imagine what it must've been like listening to this stuff back in the 1989, that cacophony of nasty riffs and Pete Sandoval's over the top pummeling must have melted some faces. And it all sounds so confident and honed to the max they could've been playing this type of music for 20 years without anybody noticing until then. I remember listening to this for the first time in the 2000's and it still felt massive and out of this world.

This still stands the test of time as one of the greatest and most influential old-school death metal albums ever released, and one which all modern death metal acts still look up to. Whole album is fantastic but "Immortal Rites", "Maze Of Torment", and "Chapel Of Ghouls" are stand-outs especially.

Written by AndyMetalFreak on 09.07.2024 at 08:48

This still stands the test of time as one of the greatest and most influential old-school death metal albums ever released, and one which all modern death metal acts still look up to. Whole album is fantastic but "Immortal Rites", "Maze Of Torment", and "Chapel Of Ghouls" are stand-outs especially.

What are the chances that I've spun this death metal classic just yesterday night before falling asleep? Obviously not to it though

Written by Redel on 09.07.2024 at 09:30

What are the chances that I've spun this death metal classic just yesterday night before falling asleep? Obviously not to it though

I'm currently going on a classic death metal streak, this has always been one of my top 3 favorites from the US scene, along with Death - Leprosy, and Obituary - Cause Of Death.

You'll be surprised how often I spin an album then see a comment from someone here regarding the album I just listened to.

It's good, but there we're better albums coming out around this time IMO.