Massive death metal tour comes to Great American Music Hall

The six-band Devastation of the Nation Tour topped by Morbid Angel alumni project I Am Morbid comes to the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco Wednesday night.

Alongside fellow Florida pioneers Death, Morbid Angel helped shape a new, more extreme style of metal after first coming together in 1983 around founding guitarist and sole constant Trey Azagthoth. After going through a number of line-up changes and an abortive attempt at recording their debut album in 1986 that the band was unsatisfied with (the recording entitled Abominations of Desolation would eventually be released in 1991), Azagthoth and bassist/singer David Vincent, second guitarist Richard Brunelle and ex-Terrorizer drummer Pete Sandoval released their landmark debut, Altars of Madness, in 1989 on Combat/Earache.

Though preceded by Bay Area extreme thrashers Possessed's album Seven Churches and Death's Scream Bloody Gore, Morbid Angel's first effort arguably did more to codify the sound of death metal with Vincent's guttural "Cookie Monster" vocals, Sandoval's ferocious blast beat drums and the complex time changes and hectic intensity anchored by Azagthoth's guitar. The album established Morbid Angel as a leading light of death metal and exerted an enormous influence on the emerging black metal scene of Norway.

The band would only rise in popularity in the next decade with it's follow-up recordings Blessed are the Sick in 1991 and Covenant two years later, the group's first for Warner Bros. subsidiary Giant. After having videos for "Rapture" and "God of Emptiness" receive heavy MTV rotation on both Headbanger's Ball and Bevis and Butt-head, the album's sales exploded, earning the band unheard of numbers for an extreme metal outfit and a spot touring with Black Sabbath and Motorhead.

While Morbid Angel would never achieve the same commercial success, the band has remained one of the most important death metal groups on the planet. Even after the departure of Vincent following the release of the iconic effort Domination in 1995, Azagthoth would continue to push the band into aggressive new territory with replacement bassist/singer Steve Tucker for the next few albums. Vincent would return in 2004 for a stint that lasted a decade, but Tucker again rejoined the fold in 2015. 

Azagthoth's current line-up of Morbid Angel was originally slated to headline this year's Devastation of the Nation Tour with fellow death metal acts Suffocation, Uada, Mortiferum, Fulci, and Knoll. However, earlier this month it was announced that the band was unable to participate due to "unforeseen circumstances." Instead, tour organizers brought in the next best thing as headliners with Vincent's group I Am Morbid filling the void.

Formed by Vincent in 2016 with fellow ex-Morbid Angel member Tim Yeung on drums with the aim of focusing on the classic early albums from Altars of Madness through Domination, the group has been touring and playing European festivals since first coming together. Yeung has since departed and was replaced by main Morbid Angel drummer Pete Sandoval, with guitarists Bill Hudson (NorthTale, Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Udo Dirkschneider and Doro Pesch) and Richie Brown (Trivium, Mindscar, Terrorizer) currently filling out the group. The tour makes its Bay Area stop at the Great American Music Hall the night before Thanksgiving.

Devastation of the Nation Tour with I Am Morbid
Wednesday, Nov. 27, 5 p.m. $37-$43
Great American Music Hall