Metal Reviews

Call me mad, but the fact that so many people have copied MA's style successfully means that it can't be that hard. I'd say Leon Macey of Mithras has surpassed him in many ways. And come on, how many Atheist clones are there?

True, but look at it this way. Morbid Angel are one of the most successful death metal bands ever, in terms of album sales. Atheist, while an amazing band, have never enjoyed near the amount of recognition. It stands to reason that legions of bands would want to copy Morbid Angel's style in the hopes that they can cash in a big payday.

Also, just because their style has been copied many times over shouldn't diminish its technical excellence. I'm sure there's a massive amount of guitarists who can play riffs in that style, but Trey invented the style. That's why I think he deserves the top spot.

Good points. I think it's dangerous to start getting into who invented what, though. Trey may have invented the style, but he was surely influenced by others, so does that make them better guitarists (leaving aside the DM for the moment, I know that makes all the difference)? Surely not...

Well, I'm sure he was influenced by many thrash guitarists, and I'm not even saying he's the most technically gifted player on that list. However, when I take into account his skill, songwriting ability, and influence on the genre, he belongs at or very near the top of the DM heap.

I can't believe nobody from Cynic is on this list.

Interestingly enough, I think even Chuck Schuldiner took on a bit of a Morbid Angel influence on Individual Thought Patterns. You'll noticed the guitar work and even drumming on that album are very similar to what Morbid Angel was doing at that time and in the past.

Who are these bands you speak of? A lot of bands have ripped off the riffing style more or less succesfully, but i still haven't heard a band that sounds like Morbid Angel. Then again, i don't listen to death metal released after '92 much, heh.

In terms of innovation and style Luc Lemay beats anyone in that list.
Too bad not many people enjoy his style much.

I just don't get all this thing about Trey Azagtoth. I'm listening to Covenant and Sound of Perseverance, being a guitarist myself and all comparing their technique, I just think Chuck could play the stuff TA plays with his pinky finger.

Yes I am exaggerating but you guys put success and "who came first" in front of pure skill. I just don't get it.

If we're talking influence, then Tony Iommi is the best death metal guitarist ever. [/exaggerate to the max]

I think that speaks more about the quality of his playing than the ease of it. There is nothing easy about playing much of anything from Altars of Madness in particular. People work hard to copy MA because his work with them is incredible.

It's not about technique.

I'd say +2. And Zad, I know you really like Mithras (I do too!) so I think you might be shortchanging Trey a bit here since Mithras borrows a whole lot from him. Macey may have surprassed him now, but he owes an awful lot to him.

Pretty solid list, I must admit. Chuck S. wrote awesome riffs but his solos were pretty samey and boring. Azagthoth has the hands down most memorable solos in my mind, that is why I'd place him at one. Sanders would be my #2, but I'd be willing to admit that is a bit of a biased pick on my part. As for Schaefer and Lemay well yeah I love those guys too. DM has produced a bunch of great guitarists over the years.

Pure skill is a little hard to define... do you go by best riffs? Fastest or most memorable or most creative or most effective use of soloing? There's a lot of things that you could call being skillfull at guitar and a lot of them are subjective... so at some point influence and popularity has to come into play

I gauge them by equal parts technical prowess, song/riff writing ability, and influence over the genre. By that measure, the only two who could occupy the top spot are Trey and Chuck.

I suppose everyone's using different yardsticks. I don't mean to put Trey Cool (see what I did there?) down at all - lists are stupid, after all.