Morbid Angel is an American death metal band based in Tampa, Florida. They, along with Death, Possessed, Obituary, Massacre, Deicide, Cannibal Corpse, and a handful of others were crucial in the development of the death metal genre and its standards, separating it from thrash metal completely. UK music magazine Terrorizer ranked two Morbid Angel albums in its "Top 40 Greatest Death Metal Albums," with their 1989 debut Altars of Madness appearing at number 1. Decibel Magazine also rated guitarist Trey Azagthoth as the number 1 "Death Metal Guitarist Ever". The band's songs are complex in arrangement, owing to the considerable technical skills of both Azagthoth and drummer Pete Sandoval (who also played in the grindcore/death metal band Terrorizer). According to Nielsen SoundScan, Morbid Angel is the third best-selling death metal band in the United States with sales over 445,000 in the United States alone, and releasing the best-selling death metal album in the United States of all time, Covenant, with sales over 127,000.