Morbid Angel's "Altars Of Madness" vs Pestilence's "Consuming Impulse"

So I've decided to try a new conversation starter after enjoying Utopia Records' weekly DIS vs DAT thing on Facebook recently. Let's start off with two classic death metal releases from 1989. Which one do you think has the edge & why?

I don't know what made you choose Consuming Impulse to go up against the mighty Altars of Madness, but it's hardly a fair fight. On the one hand you have the album that took what the likes of Death and Possessed had formed and pushed it to a previously unfathomable extreme without sacrificing quality musicianship or songwriting, while on the other hand you have a very solid if not-particularly groundbreaking slab from an at the time second tier band. Consuming Impulse is good, but Altars of Madness is truly great!

Look, I definitely understand what you're saying because I agree with you but "Consuming Impulse" would be in the top few most celebrated death metal albums of the 80's & was released in the same year as "Altars Of Madness" so it was as close as I could get. I do think it's unfair not to mention that Pestilence took the sound of Death's "Leprosy", added additional complexity & sophistication & presented it all with a thicker & heavier production though. It wasn't sending death metal careering to new heights in the same way that Morbid Angel were but it was still giving it a fair nudge forward. It's a great death metal record in its own right. Just not a genuinely classic one in my opinion. "Altars Of Madess" on the other hand is the best death metal album ever recorded. Every fucking track is a classic (with the possible exception of "Lord Of All Fevers & Plague" which was omitted on the vinyl version anyway).

Altars Of Madness 2 - Consuming Impulse 0