Morbid Angel is an American death metal band based in Tampa, Florida, formed in 1983 by guitarist, primary composer and sole remaining original member Trey Azagthoth, vocalist and bassist Dallas Ward, and drummer Mike Browning. It was one of the first bands to incorporate guttural vocals, up-tempo blast beats, multiple tempo changes and a dark atmosphere. Morbid Angel was also the first death metal band to experience mainstream success in connection with being signed to Giant Records in 1992, heavy rotation of its music videos on MTV, and having the music video for the song "God of Emptiness" shown on an episode of Beavis and Butt-Head. The band's first three albums – Altars of Madness (1989), Blessed Are the Sick (1991), and Covenant (1993) – are considered classics in the death metal genre.

British music magazine Terrorizer ranked Altars of Madness first in its list "Top 40 greatest death metal albums". Decibel magazine also rated guitarist Trey Azagthoth as the number one "death metal guitarist ever". The band's songs are complex in arrangement; this owes much to the considerable technical skills of both Azagthoth and drummer Pete Sandoval, the latter of whom also played in the grindcore band Terrorizer. According to Nielsen SoundScan, Morbid Angel's third album Covenant is the best-selling death metal album of the Soundscan era with over 150,000 units sold, and the band is the third-best-selling death metal act in the United States (after Cannibal Corpse and Deicide up until 2003 with sales of over 445,000).

The band's original lyrical themes, when helmed by Vincent (and Azagthoth and Browning respectively) focused mostly on Satanism, occultism and blasphemous subject matter, but from Formulas Fatal to the Flesh (1998) onward, via Azagthoth's influence, the lyrics moved toward the ancient Sumerian gods. Much of this is a nod to the Simon Necronomicon, which was influenced by Sumerian mythology, the author H. P. Lovecraft, and fascination with the Roman Empire, and during Steve Tucker's tenure they take on more anti-religious and barbaric themes, namely of the strong overcoming the weak.

Morbid Angel was formed in 1983 in Tampa, Florida, by guitarist Trey Azagthoth and drummer/vocalist Mike Browning. In the early stages of its career it developed a reputation for "gruesome stage antics". The band quickly became highly influential in the formation of the Florida death metal scene, inspiring other highly influential acts such as Obituary. Morbid Angel recorded its debut album, Abominations of Desolation, in 1986, but the band was unsatisfied with the final product and it remained unreleased until 1991, printing 10,000 copies. Azagthoth said in the latter year: "It wasn't up to standards, and I learned a lot from that. A debut album is gonna mark you for life.. It was not good enough." In 1986, David Vincent joined the band, replacing Michael Manson and Sterling von Scarborough as vocalist and bassist respectively. Fellow Terrorizer member, drummer Pete Sandoval, soon followed.

The band's first studio album, Altars of Madness, was released in 1989, and is regarded by many as one of the most important death metal albums of all time. Music journalist Jason Birchmeier writes that:

Few albums struck a chord within the ears and minds of the late-'80s underground metal scene like Morbid Angel's Altars of Madness did at the end of the decade, setting a new precedent for metal bands to reach. With the arguable exception of Chuck Schuldiner's Death, never before had a heavy metal band carried their lightning-fast guitar riffs and equally spellbinding guitar solos into such horrific territory. Venom and Slayer redefined the extent to which a metal band could align itself with all things evil during the beginning of the decade, but Morbid Angel made these two groups sound like children's music compared to the Florida-based group's assaulting death metal sounds and their blasphemous lyrics.

Morbid Angel toured for nearly two years in support of Altars of Madness. The tour started in November 1989 when they opened for Napalm Death, Carcass and Bolt Thrower in the UK and Europe on the Grindcrusher Tour. Most of 1990 and 1991 were spent touring North America, playing with bands such as Pantera, Obituary, Atheist, Death Angel, Forbidden, Sanctuary, Ripping Corpse, Deicide, Sacrifice and Wrath. The Altars of Madness tour ended in April 1991 with a Brazilian tour, supported by Sarcófago, Sextrash and Cambio Negro.

In 1991, Morbid Angel released their second album, Blessed Are the Sick, which was met with widespread critical acclaim, and is considered by many to be a landmark release in the death metal genre. Morbid Angel toured worldwide in support of Blessed Are the Sick throughout 1991 and 1992, headlining a European tour with Sadus, Cathedral, Godflesh and Unleashed, a North American tour (also supported by Unleashed) and then a European tour with Entombed and Unleashed. They also were one of the opening acts (along with Kreator, Sepultura, Headhunter and Wolfsbane) for Motörhead on the "Christmas Metal Meetings '91" tour, and toured Australia for the first time.