Deicide - Overtures of Blasphemy (2018)

I've long been a picky listener of Deicide, appreciating the 'shock value' and importance they've brought to the death metal genre, but only rarely desiring to listen to much of their discography. Apart from the first two, which I listen to largely for nostalgia reasons (and not for the production, which I'm not terribly fond of), the record I turn to most often is The Stench of Redemption from back in 2006. This was an album that took the stock Deicide formula and gave it new dimensions through more melodic dynamics and the quality leads of the late Ralph Santolla, something appreciated in a catalog that largely featured dull, blunt riffing and the dual snarl and growl of Glen Benton, with little interesting songwriting to be had...

Ironically, Overtures of Blasphemy isn't some unique, transitional milestone for the Floridian Christian crushers, but it's a record that incorporates a little of that Stench of Redemption vibe, while at the same time reducing the riffing down to its bare basics, tremolo picked patterns and a whole lot of brute force chugging. Despite this, I've quite enjoyed it, because the riffs are tight and energetic enough, the songs so compact in their 2-3 minute formats, that each feels like an infernal burst of genre purity straight to the dome. Benton only uses his growl for most of the duration, competently executed, with only a couple lines where he'll break out a goofy snarl. Rhythmically, the band is a flawless machine. Asheim's kick drums sound like anti-aircraft machine gunnery, felling squadrons of angels at a time, while he can blast off effortlessly where the band wants to transform the mood away from the moderately paced churning and grooving. Glen's bass sounds about as fantastic as you're going to get when you're following the rhythm guitar so closely, with a meaty tone that feels like it can clog any of the diminutive air-holes between the chugs and chords.

Fine-tuned, hellish brickwork being laid out at unholy speeds, so when the lead guitars erupt they are always striking an excellent balance against the fury below them. These aren't always quite so catchy or explosive as on Stench of Redemption, and there aren't a whole ton of them, but they work very well where they exist and really round off the whole album. In terms of riff strength, there might be a lot here you'll feel like you've heard from this or another band in the past, but the production is just so spot on, the tracks so skintight that they feel like they're exactly what the songs required to remain kinetic and entertaining. One of Jason Suecof's best recordings to date, just honest and punishing and yet clear enough to let the smaller details through. The lyrics are about exactly what you think they are, and yet they are rather well done this time out, providing some memorable imagery along with the typical blasphemy. I'd also like to point out that Zbigniew M. Bielak's cover artwork on this one is astonishingly good, for me easily the best Deicide have ever had, and that really wraps this package up into something worthwhile. After a few spins, I was quick to promote this to one of my favorite albums the band has ever released, even if it's nothing novel or unique by any stretch.

Verdict: Win [8.25/10] (there's nothing worth saving)

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Deicide - In the Minds of Evil (2013)

As readily accessible as this record is (for the death metal genre, at any rate), it was not one that I initially found a lot of value in. I was drawn immediately to the lead work, which is by far the greatest thing here, but otherwise it took some warming up to what I otherwise found a fairly standard/stock selection of old school Deicide riffing. Loads of tremolo picked passages over the faster beats throughout, and then a selection of chugging progressions that weren't exactly compelling. Now, granted I am not now nor have I ever been the biggest fan of this group...I like a handful of their records, the first two and Stench of the Redemption being the ones I break out the most, but certainly they have their place in the genre's history, and I wasn't too disappointed with their previous disc To Hell With God, which was essentially a slightly modern brutalization of their traditional style. Upon hearing that recent (and excellent) podcast interview with Glen Benton at MetalSucks, I was pretty pumped up to hear the new material due to his claim that it was some of the best they'd ever written...

But don't most musicians say that about each new release? In the Minds of Evil is not exactly their best material, but neither does it trail very far behind. Certainly it eclipses many of their mediocre records with ease, but I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of the fan base are sort of bored at this point, since Deicide does not seem capable of much nuance or progression from release to release, the greatest coming when they put out The Stench of Redemption with its blazing leads and heightened melodic sensibility (though even there, it was largely business as usual). That formula still exists here, particularly with the lead guitars, which I feel comfortable in claiming as the best they've implemented, or at least the most atmospheric, but it's the rest of the riffing that falls a little short, if mainly because I've heard it all before so many times, and there are just too many 'safe bets' in intervals and note choices that fail to generate the level excitement I wanted as the tunes surged into those immaculate solos. I had read somewhere that the lyrics to this were particularly weak, but having read through them I have to disagree...true, they're recapitulating a lot of the same points they've been hammering in since the eponymous debut in 1990, but composition-wise there's plenty enough effort. I mean, if you're looking for Milton-level authorship, you're in the wrong place to begin with.

One area where In the Minds of Evil never really drags behind is in its production, which is modern, beefy and extremely clean. Some diehards of the early 90s might be turned off that it's not that same sort of muffled and flawed Morrisound style they remember with such fondness, but I'm not complaining. Glen's vocals, which continue to focus on the decidedly guttural style rather than the dual imp/grunts on the 'classics', seem like they were very carefully produced, while the riffs have plenty of meat on them rivaled here only by Steve Asheim's effortless mastery of the rolling double bass beats and fits of blasting. Jason Suecof definitely reaffirms his love for getting that great kit sound, and keeping everything clear and in place. A few of the muted tremolo picked harmonies have a nice clinical edge to them that persists into the more effects-heavy solo sequences, but I would say there's a bit of sameness to a lot of the songwriting that doesn't create the most distinct or varied experience (something they've honestly never done). The bass even sounds audible, though he's not usually performing the most intriguing lines that could ever steal focus from the rhythm guitars (par for the course, since he's pulling double duty with the vox). Ultimately, as long as you're not averse to these older bands keeping with 'the times' in the studio, this sounds pretty massive in the speakers, and that's going to be the #1 appeal for a lot of younger fans checking this out. Deicide was never exactly a band chasing a grainy or lo-fi production, so this shouldn't surprise anyone.

In the Minds of Evil could rightly be compared to Legion or Once Upon a Cross, with a few hints of Blessed Are the Sick or The Bleeding, apart from that meatier contemporary studio appeal. It's neither an exemplary or innovative offering, but at least a satisfactory one within its own restraints. Benton and crew seem complacent to the fact that they're an old school death metal band, and they simply seek to hone that craft to perfection time and time again. Similar to the Vader formula, but where records like Welcome to the Morbid Reich, also endowed with killer leads, are ecstatic, passionate and unforgettable, In the Minds of Evil ventures across the finish line into acceptable territory and then collapses, unwilling to stay up all night to celebrate its success. Functional, workmanlike death metal with a lot of chops you've heard before, altered marginally and dressed up with screaming, eloquent excursions higher up the fretboard. Honestly I got more out of this than To Hell With God, but I'm still privately hoping that Deicide will one day release the utter masterpiece it should have required to deserve the status it has achieved. These guys were pretty tight in the beginning, and over the past 3-4 albums they've clearly returned to that level of proficiency and teamwork with the newer members...but there's still not an album in their catalog to effect me as profoundly as a Left Hand Path, Realm of Chaos or Consuming Impulse. That said, the effort placed in records like this one show me that COULD happen, so I can't cross hope off the list just yet.

Verdict: Win [7.25/10] (fear imposed by design)

Deicide - Till Death Do Us Part (2008)

Deicide's Till Death Do Us Part may just be the band's most divisive album, for it travels in two directions at once. The first, towards a previously unreached level of musicality in the instrumental book ends and lead sequences. The latter, straight down memory lane, because some of its more brutal elements are downright generic and predictable as nearly anything the band were writing during their lamentable 1997-2004 stretch. Thankfully, the massive production values from the previous album remain, so even its drab moments deliver at least a cursory thumping, but in all I can't say that it reached the level of The Stench of Redemption, though it doesn't quite deserve the heaps of negativity some listeners have thrust upon it.

I absolutely loved the intro and outro pieces, titled in opposition: "The Beginning of the End", and "The End of Beginning". But they were like listening to a whole other band performing melodic, progressive sludge or doom rock, or a less jangly, more accessible take on Gorguts' Obscura, Ralph Santolla's exotic leads slicing out over the fields of slowly driving discord and discontent. But one should not be fooled into think that the entire album will reek of such experimentation, because most of the tracks are simply back to the butcher business, from the hammering speed of "Severed Ties", "In the Eyes of God" and "Angel of Agony" to the slower, diabolic old school gait of "Not as Long as We Both Shall Live". That last one deserves a special mention, because despite the fairly pedestrian riffing that it opens with, the atmospheres developed in the bridge and through the leads are simply marvelous, returning to that risk and breadth of the intro and outro pieces. Then there are a few half-on, half-off tunes like "Horror in the Halls of Stone" and the title tracks that have a handful of inspiration riffs wedged in between their filler arcs.

The production is strong, especially the almost mechanical, maniacal precision of Asheim's bass pedals and the clarity of the guitar mutes. As for Benton himself, I found his vocals rhythmically less satisfying than The Stench of Redemption. He follows the beat and guitar line a bit too closely and uses less of the layering snarls that were his trademark, going more for the tone that he used for the Vital Remains records he fronted. Acceptably brutal, just not that inspiring. Jack Owen and Ralph Santolla continue to deliver as expected, and I enjoy the latter's leads more so than just about any executed during the Hoffmanns' stint in the band. In fact, I think the means by which the solos are incorporated into the writing here is nothing but a positive. The real detriment to Till Death Do Us Part is simply that the central death riffs do not live up to the promise of their more eloquent surroundings.

Verdict: Indifference [6.75/10] (unsure of what you need)

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Deicide - The Stench of Redemption (2006)

It wouldn't take much observation to conclude that I am not among the biggest Deicide fans out there. I found their first three albums functional and somewhat appealing, but not to the extent that I'd listen to them over other acts in their field. As you can imagine, this did not make me the most popular person at local cross burnings or weightlifting competitions. But then something happened. In what must be one of the most bittersweet moments in all USDM history, Glen Benton and Steve Asheim had parted ways with the Hoffman brothers, and taken on the exact right replacements: Ralph Santolla and Jack Owen, alumni of other popular Florida acts Obituary and Cannibal Corpse who had left those gigs to pursue something new.

The Stench of Redemption is something new. An album of remarkable character that brought novel refreshment to the bland formula Deicide had been pandering to suckers for the last four full-lengths. A career highlight in both production values and songwriting quality, its unexpected assertions of melody and the depth of its construction are skillfully married to Asheim's core hammering and Benton's gruff and forceful delivery. As a massive fan of Jack Owen's work in Cannibal Corpse (at least from The Bleeding through Gore Obsessed), I was quite excited to hear what he would bring to this altar, and while this isn't necessarily the riffing juggernaut that I'd consider Bloodthirst or Gallery of Suicide, it's nonetheless impressive. Especially as the postscript to about 10 years of dumbed down, rehashed drivel that had so rapidly converted the once potent and promising punishers into one of the most vapid circus acts of blasphemy in all the damn genre...

Fear not, because Deicide has not exactly gone 'melodeath'. Much of this added depth is built through the leads, which have a decidedly more exotic and atmospheric flavor than what the Hoffman's would so often tear forth. The riffing in general is more creative, especially the balance of brickwork and solo flourishes that dominate "Desecration" or "Walk With the Devil in Dreams You Behold", which cast a broader net than the predictable pummeling of Scars of the Crucifix or In Torment in Hell. There are still a few barren ragers here, full speed ahead in "Not of This Earth" or "Never to Be Seen Again", but even these are constructed with great care, intricacy and even a handful of subtlety that widely broach the subdued conventions of the band's recent past. The music is not the only improvement, as the lyrics have once again captured that half intelligent sacrilege of Deicide and Legion, rather than the laziness exhibited through most of the 90s. I wouldn't call them amazing, but they'll do in a pinch.

Sure, the titles "Death to Jesus" or "Walk With the Devil" might still seem generic, but Glen has provided some evocative imagery and less of the brute stupidity that served to drag down the previous records. The Stench of Redemption also sounds magnificent, incredibly rich considering its from the same Morrisound studio that never quite brought the band to their full potential in the past. Amazingly balanced guitars finally muster the muscle to compare with the strong arm that is Asheim, and there's a taut contrast between the six strings and four that creates a nice, atmospheric depth to the bass. No mistake about it, this is the most accessible of Deicide's CDs, but what might have been a cringe worthy disappointment turns out to be the best of the litter, thanks to the perseverance of its progenitors and the proficiency of its new players. Perfect this is not (a few of the riffs possess a stagnant air of 'filler'), but it might just be the closest this band ever gets.

Verdict: Win [8.25/10] (with a murderous thirst)

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Deicide - Scars of the Crucifix (2004)

Right from the opening credits, Deicide's 7th album already seems like a jilted bore. Of course, I'm talking about the rather bland cover image, an area which has never been the band's forte (but at least the first two albums had cool symbols present). Unfortunately, the growing pains here run far deeper than just the bland image of Jesus above which an empty logo and title are imposed. You see, Scars of the Crucifix suffers from the same fate as its predecessor, the oft maligned In Torment In Hell: the songwriting sucks. Granted, this was a period of turmoil for the band. In fact, this is the final album to involve the Hoffman brothers, but from the sound of things I have to suspect that there was some unrest somewhere which turned into the acceptance of sub-par material being ushered forth.

The production is perhaps a notch up from In Torment in Hell, but this is yet another empty canteen of blasphemous sustenance in a desert of dried ideas. Deicide had in effect become a paragon of the very generic, faceless death metal they helped influence across a thousand other, aspiring bands. Pedestrian chugging rhythms intertwined with streams of half baked streams of blasting mutes that fail to generate even a handful of fingers worth of quality riffs. "Scars of the Crucifix", "When Heaven Burns", "The Pentecostal", and "From Darkness Come" are littered with truly lamentable snoozing palm mute mosh rhythms unfit to shine Pontius Pilate's knob. Deicide had never exactly scrawled out malevolent notation worthy of the standard of shock and brutality beneath which they marched, but these songs don't even feel remotely aggressive and muscular, traits that made Legion such a success.

Even the titles continued to feel lazy. "Fuck Your God", "Mad About God", "When Heaven Burns", its all the same shtick the band have been churning out for years, and while some might find this devout dreariness as 'refreshment', or a band unchanging in the face of an ever expanding genre, it simply isn't going to cut it. Scars of the Crucifix maintained the same slicing leads as the albums prior to it, but they also seemed indifferent and dialed in at the last moment, with zero appeal beyond their own writhing, sporadic and sudden existence. It was honestly no surprise when Benton announced that the Hoffman brothers were out of the band. Whatever personal issues existed, whoever was in the right or wrong, this lot were simply not making any music of note together, and had not been for years. Fresh blood was necessary, and fresh blood would Glen Benton find in some worthy scene veterans who were kicking about loosely.

Scars of the Crucifix is another of the cult heroes' darkest hours. It persists as an example of why one should break the bread before letting it grow stale.

Verdict: Fail [4/10] (live in wounds of recollection)

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Deicide - The Best of Deicide (2003)

About 2003, Roadrunner Records got the bright idea to release a series of wholly irrelevant compilation albums dubbed the 'Roots of' series, exhuming the corpses of their early 90s death metal vanguard to release them, re-arranged and poorly packaged upon the biggest suckers available. Rather than, you know, signing some NEW acts in the genre, and helping maintain its freshness and visibility (not to mention the now nu-metal label's integrity), they decided to flex the muscles of their CD printing press and distributors and foist yet another of these bargain bin-choking pieces of shit. It's the 'best of' Deicide, as selected by US, your robot overlords! Please consume this at your earliest discretion when attaining the latest albums from Slipknot and Machine Head. Have a nice day.

Essentially, The Best of Deicide is your chance to own 64 minutes of repressed material spanning much of the band's career (excepting their most recent album, In Torment In Hell). There are 20 tracks, so if this were say a free sampler being given out at gigs or through a magazine, it might count as a 'substantial' glimpse of the band's progression and regression throughout the years, to any nub into or just getting into brutal or old school death metal. Frankly, though, we could just listen to the Deicide (1990), Legion (1992) and Once Upon the Cross (1995) material and be done with this, since it trumps just about everything else found here, but even then I couldn't recommend a release such as this. There's something about listening to an album in its original form that gives the ardent listener a sense of completeness and perspective that is vastly superior to experiencing a highlight reel. You get the artwork, the packaging, the sequential creativity as the band had originally intended (well, most of the time), a crop of tunes written within the same general time frame, whether killer or filler.

Such things are taken out of context with The Best of Deicide. Even at the best of times, death metal is a niche market. There are no 'greatest hits' in the genre. This is not Billy Joel or Bryan Adams we're listening to. Sure, we all have our favorite individual tracks, even from a band of brutes like Glen Benton and company, but there is no impetus to experience them like this. By 2003, just about everyone not in a third world country was capable of burning his/her own mix CDs out of the Deicide albums he/she already possessed. Why not do that instead? Share them with a friend. Share them with your local preacher. Do not hand over money to Roadrunner for such a needless exercise in capitalism, when you could hand over the money for a good studio album (from this band, or any other in the field). The Best of Deicide is like going through a fast foot restaurant drive thru and handing over money for a meal you already ate and paid for. Don't be taken, because it only encourages them to keep dangling their dicks into your wallet.

Verdict: Epic Fail [0/10]

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Deicide - In Torment In Hell (2001)

The rational minded among us might suppose that, a single year after one of your flagship death metal acts released their most mediocre effort to date, you'd want them to take to their time when next they enter the studio. If the members of Deicide are to be believed, this was not the case for In Torment In Hell, a purported rush job at the bequest of Roadrunner. Why am I not surprised? This is the same label, after all, which rose (or fell) from genuine greatness in the 80s to one of the trendiest cash whores in all the extreme music industry. The label that, two years hence, would release the worthless 'Best of' Deicide compilation to squeeze a few more bucks beyond this heap of negligible returns...

As it turns out, though, the production and the album art (which isn't frankly all that bad, merely a re-integration of past cover symbols) are not the only impediments to this wretched low. The songwriting is equally to blame, a collection of mundane and uninteresting riffs that offer nothing the band hadn't already delivered in exponentially greater quality on their formative releases Deicide (1990) and Legion (1992). In fact, the music here is so mediocre that it makes the vapid, ridiculous leads sound positively angelic by comparison, as wild and meaningless as they tend to be. In Torment In Hell is perhaps closer to the band's roots than as Insiniteratehymn, but where that album still had the capacity to bust out a half-decent guitar pattern, these are treacherously forgotten within seconds of their passing. Your typical mix of grooving chugs over double bass and explosive old school speed picking that in no way comes off effectively malevolent or even muscular (arguably the band's one strength on their better works).

The vocals might occasionally resonate along with Benton's finer performances, but their meter comes off wholly generic and derivative of the band's back catalog. I'm seriously hard pressed to think of even one riff I appreciated on the album. Even the tighter tracks like the mosh intensive "Let It Be Done" and "Imminent Doom", or the thrashing closer "Lurking Among Us" fall flat on their inverted crosses. Don't even get me started on the title track, which is perhaps the worst on the album, a poor choice for an opener. As the band would agree, the mix sounds like shit. Pick any random demo from a brutal death metal band around the turn of the century and you're likely to find better. I like the zip of the leads, but only because their frivolous tone makes them stand pitchfork and horns above the rest of this lazy, lamentable lattice. Deicide have released other disappointments through their career, but this might have given Jesus the last laugh if they hadn't decided to survive through it.

Verdict: Fail [3.75/10] (no more empowered)

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Deicide - Insineratehymn (2000)

The first five or so minutes of Insinteratehymn promise a few husky thrashing maneuvers smothered in Glen Benton's percussive barking and grunting, but ultimately it winds down into what might be their most mediocre studio offering. It's a punctual, stripped down affair upon which the most bare of concepts are repeatedly hammered in predictable processions of mundane brutality. Once again, I am left with an underwhelmed impression of this so-called legendary death metal band, and once again, I neglect to believe they are worth the hovering hype that has accompanied them since they broke out in the early 90s. Deicide can play their instruments along with the more practiced of their fellow craftsmen, but compelling they aren't.

The initial potential unleashed is through the streaming venom of "Bible Basher", rapid guitar work of a more melodic, modernized feel, until the verse arrives, vocals following directly along the arc of the punching riffs. Yet another of Deicide's myriad blasphemies focused on ye olde deer in the headlights, the Christian minister and follower. By this point, as a new century was dawning upon us, and I'm pretty sure we had all 'got it' already. I take no issue with this band's stance on organized religions, in fact I may damn well share it, but there must be an intriguing way to pursue the stance beyond what seem like the rantings of a bitter teen kicked out of Sunday School. Benton is not the foulest lyricist in the genre by a long shot, but just think how cool a deeper, more ambitious, intellectual excavation might come off in his hands?

Alas, the rambling sacrilege is not even the weak point of this album, but a series of diminishing returns in how the songs are written, like descending a ladder of quality. "Forever Hate You", "Standing in the Flames", and "Remnant of a Hopeless Path" are all ridden with increasingly dull death/thrash grooves; good intentions gone awry when the transitions and tempo shifts fail to produce anything of note. The leads toil and tear through the raucous mass of muted chugging like knifes through gelatin, but they're rarely memorable in of themselves. A number of the tracks are even more mediocre and meandering than these, like the ceaseless groove and chug of "The Gift That Keeps On Giving".

Even when the band experiment with the clinical swerving of "Suffer Again" or "Worst Enemy", the steam is too quickly lost, and the best that could be said of "Apocalyptic Fear" and "Refusal of Penance" is that they conjure up half-decent thrash riffs in their dry environments. Compared to the bluster and brutality of a Legion or even Once Upon the Cross, Insineratehymn seems to lack even the most banal malevolence the band were able to stir up though their lyrics. In a sense, this album almost seems like Deicide-lite, caffeine free carnage. The production feels all too processed and boring, and the simplification of the composition just doesn't work in its favor. Hardly an offensive work to be sacrificed upon the suck-pile, but neither is it worth a repeated glance when so many better alternatives exist, even from the band's own stock.

Verdict: Indifference [5.75/10] (wither from the inside out)

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Deicide - When Satan Lives (1998)

By 1998, most of the major Florida death metal acts had released some sort of 'official product' in live recognition, beginning with the involvement of Death on the Ultimate Revenge 2 VHS/CD, and more recently manifesting through Morbid Angel's British import Entangled in Chaos and Obituary's Dead. Even the New York impostors Cannibal Corpse had released their Monolith of Death VHS, so it was about time for Glen Benton and Deicide, notorious after all for their performances, to step into the circle. And thus they did with style: When Satan Lives, recorded at the House of Blues in Chicago, 1998, is quick to silence the naysayers through the precision and technical qualities of the band's constituents.

Probably the only negatives I can attribute to this would be the fairly bland cover setup and the fact that you're not going to be hearing much of Glen's snarling subtext, since he centers in on his blunt vocal hammering, and probably for the best. Like Obituary and Dead, the occult brutes offer the audience a substantial set: 17 songs and 55 minutes, culled from the wealth of their back catalog, and like Obituary, they used Steven Remote to record it on location, sending it off to their good friend Jim Morris at Morrisound for a mixing. The rhythm guitars don't possess a particularly rich tone, a trait that had held back several of their prior studio efforts, but the leads and their effects slice straight through the pummeling, thrashing ministrations to the point that I found myself paying much more attention than I had on the albums. Benton's bludgeoning comes off even more brutal in this environment, and on the whole Deicide make a good accounting of themselves here.

Set choices are pretty evenly distributed through three of the first four albums, though Legion is painfully underrepresented, being that it's their best album. Only "Dead but Dreaming" can be found in the list. On the other hand, they've been cautious in where they place their 'classics' for maximum impact. For example, they close out the disc with a mighty one two punch of "Dead By Dawn" and "Sacrificial" from the s/t 1990 debut, and have also included "Lunatic of God's Creation", "Oblivious to Evil", "Mephistopheles" and their "Deicide" namesake. Selections from Once Upon the Cross are the title track, "Trick or Betrayed", "Behind the Light Thou Shall Rise", "They Are the Children of the Underworld" and "When Satan Rules his World"; and Serpents of the Light rounds out the material with "Bastard of Christ", "Blame It On God", "Slave to the Cross", "Believe the Lie" and "Father Baker's".

As I've never held the band in the highest regard, I can't claim that I felt much anticipation, nor many highs and lows as experienced through this set list. What's most noteworthy is simply the fine level of execution. Both Hoffmans are consistently engaging with a level twin axe attack, and Asheim manages himself with the professionalism of a one take session drummer in the studio. The transition of most of the average quality tunes here to the stage setting does not elevate them in my estimation, and I find that much of this is nearly as indistinct as it was on, say, Serpents of the Light. I'm not suddenly more entertained by writing that wasn't all that special to begin with. But there's no question that this is one tight cadre of Hellish officers that deliver what they promise in the studio as a direct kick to the faces of the audience. It's not among the more impressive live metal offerings I've experienced in the past few decades, but stricter devotees will find When Satan Lives anything but a letdown.

Verdict: Win [6.75/10]

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Deicide - Serpents of the Light (1997)

I held out a lot of hope that Serpents of the Light would be the first Deicide album to truly knock me over, the first to reflect the band's considerable cushion of hype. In reality, it's just more of what the band were peddling on the previous album, Once Upon the Cross. A fraction more melodic and accessible, perhaps even a bit faster, but nothing new under the sun. This was also about the time that I grew tired of the band's ceaseless Christian rending quips. Its not because I oppose the message. It's not that I have ever felt offended, or that I subscribe to any religious group think whatsoever, but how many times can you just say the same shit over and over again before it becomes tired and dull, nothing more than petulant paraphrasing? There must have been a more curious and compelling way of stating it all, without abandoning the position. Yeah, God is such a grand deception, his believers all fools, but hey, he keeps us our merch table busy!

The cover might be abstract and interesting, but Serpents of the Light continues the band's long streak as the most 'evil' band alive in name, but not in actual musical content. Stock, brutal death metal with a competent level of dynamic variation, but nothing evocative or morbid, no parasitic patterns of notation that squeeze into your ears and lay their clutches of brain and soul sucking spawn. These guys are no slouches, they can compose and adhere manageable riffs to Steve Asheim's storming fury and footwork, but so few of them have the hooks to warrant repeated exposure. The most diabolic moment of the album comes in the intro to "Serpents of the Light" itself, in which Benton growls off against himself with some resonant, but after this it all becomes so...plain. Tracks like "Bastard of Christ" and "This is Hell We're In" are seasoned with explosive velocity, yet beyond the percussive dynamic of the vocals and the old school purity, there's never anything waiting in the depths. No grinning Leviathan to grasp and drown you in damnation.

They do a decent enough job in alternating speed with their monstrous chugging breakdowns, but there's nothing here to challenge or rival the clinical sadism of Deicide or Legion. Nothing ever evolves beyond that point, not that it's some mandate, but it might increase the album's staying power. Perhaps its most potent and entertaining vector are the Hoffman leads, which slice through the battering undercurrent like hot sharp knives through clerical vestments. They have a similar ability to bands like early Slayer and Pestilence to tear off into a disharmonious dive bombing wail that truly corners and bewilders the ear. I also liked that Benton continued to favor his death grunts over the malicious, Salacious Crumb scratching that he usually layers in. Not that the latter is absent here, but the bludgeoning deeper end is surely prevalent. The mix of the record is average Morrisound: crushing and clear enough, but flat and devoid of real depth. At the end of the day, it's neither a Deicide standout or a sucker. The Bible Belters must have been shaking in their boots when they heard this one! But really, no.

Verdict: Indifference [6.75/10] (thorns in paradise)

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Deicide - Once Upon the Cross (1995)

With a pair of well regarded albums behind them, a front man who basked in the controversy surrounding his shocking statements and persona, the survival of a half assed bomb threat in Sweden, the persistent forehead branding, and the continued relationship with Roadrunner Records (who were now signing nu-metal bands to rake in elevated profits) the stage was set for Deicide to explode upon the release of their third full-length. Well, that's not exactly what happened, and we wound up with Once Upon the Cross, an album that played it fairly close to the bullet belt, about as 'safe' as these infernal Floridians could possibly produce without abandoning the brutality that sat them securely about the throne of infamy among the heavily saturated US death metal scene.

Not to say that this is any way a disappointment, because it's a solid effort I'd squarely place between Deicide and Legion in overall quality. For the third time, they went with Scott Burns to record and mix the album, and in all I'd say he did a better job than the first two. The guitars have a thicker, more pulverizing tone to them, and the leads feel more flush with the rhythms when they burst upon the scene. Benton's lower pitched vocals sound a lot better here, very often extracted from the snarling accompaniment, and its effective enough when he's using these exclusively (through much of the title track, for instance). It was interesting to see that Steve Asheim considers this one of their slowest albums, and that the band performs all the material at a higher tempo in the live setting, but I didn't ever feel that it was dragging its cloven hooves along: you still get the expected alternation of semi-technical chugging and accelerated bursts of intensity from Legion.

The key is of course in the songwriting, and, well, it's just another Deicide album. Entertaining, competent and punishing enough to mash your brains in against the nearest hard surface, but it never really impresses upon the memory banks. For one thing, a band focused on such an 'evil' persona and obvious blasphemy against a Christian majority falls remarkably short of writing anything atmospheric or remotely haunting. This is not some subtle, seductive serpent that slips its tongue into your lobes, promising the manifestation of your many pleasures; but instead a spiny abyssal behemoth off its meds, flailing about and stomping everything in its half way Hell house. "Once Upon a Cross" has a moment in which Benton belches out some even more lower pitched vocals than usual, and there are some tight thrashing executions in "Behind the Light Thou Shall Rise", "Christ Denied" and "Trick or Betrayed", but a couple William Defoe samples from The Last Temptation of Christ hardly qualifies this as some astute work of villainy.

That aside, Once Upon the Cross is undoubtedly a concrete effort which serves as another gut wrenching template for hundreds upon hundreds of brutal death metal clones without an inkling of creativity, who turns towards Deicide, Venom and Slayer for their lyrical aspirations. I can remember enjoying this quite a lot when it first released, even moreso than Legion, but through the years it's settled in my estimations like a pulpy, flesh sediment in a thick cocktail of blood. As far as reliability, it's worth a spin here or there if you just want some professional punishment, solid performances all around, and unswerving castigation of the clergy, but almost all of its constituent tracks fail to evoke 'the riff', or 'that riff', if you're picking up what I'm putting down.

Verdict: Win [7.25/10] (prophecy in its final contradiction)

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Deicide - Amon: Feasting the Beast (1993)

Similar to how Earache had scooped up Morbid Angel's earlier, unreleased demos through the Abominations of Desolation collection, so too would Roadrunner give their Floridian monstrosity Deicide such a treatment. Formerly known as Amon, Benton and the boys were asked to change their name due to its proximity to a King Diamond song title. This is a miserable excuse, really, even if the two shared labels. A fucking song title? Really? Nevertheless, they ended up benefiting from this alteration, because Deicide is indisputably a more provocative, controversial moniker and probably a factor in their considerable success. Amon: Feasting the Beast merely assembles the two demos the band recorded and released under their previous namesake, and offers them to the broader audience who likely never got to hear them unless they were involved in tape trading.

Well, I must say, both Feasting the Beast (1987) and Sacrificial (1989) were incontrovertibly brutal for the period in which they were released, rivaling their Florida peers like Death and Obituary with considerable ease. Most of the material here was re-recorded and released as the band's 1990 debut Deicide, with the one exception of the intro "Feasting the Beast", which is nothing more than some horrific ambient sampling. Feasting the Beast is naturally the more crude of the two old demos as Amon, and the reworked versions are unanimously superior, but I have to confess that Sacrificial sounds amazing. In fact, I like the versions here on this demo more than those put out the following year. The vocals have less rasping, and a more distinctly ominous feel, and the riffing sounds incredible through old standbys "Lunatic of God's Creation", "Sacrificial Suicide", "Carnage in the Temple of the Damned", "and "Blaspherereion".

Truly, it's no wonder that the band were quickly snatched up based on such a recording, and their place in history assured, their dynamic bludgeoning to scare the panties off numerous school teachers, clergymen and groupies alike in the ensuing years. So for that reason alone, and the chance to hear Deicide in their morning star glories, the fan might do well to at least check this out. That said, the earlier demo is not entirely appealing, and its flaws serve to counteract the strengths of Sacrificial. The pair might have been better suited as a bonus disc on the initial release of their sophomore Legion, rather than an independent product like this, but then that would have netted less profit for the label, so it makes sense in this format. At least it serves as a complete precursor to the Deicide name change, even if the only real value here is in exposure to some cleaner historical alternatives to the Deicide (1990) debut that everyone had no doubt already purchased. I bought it because at the time I had no clue what it was, but that was my own fault as I plunked paper route and dish washing profits down on anything I could find in the genre those days. For a fan package, this is not so offensive.

Verdict: Indifference [6.5/10]

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Deicide - Legion (1992)

It's always felt to me like Deicide and Legion were one single, longer album sliced down the middle and released as two disparate products, but in the end it is the sophomore which wound up with the better 'looks', without sacrificing any of the debut's muscle. The line up is the same, the production is the same (another Scott Burns joint) if slightly dusted off, they've once again aimed for a simplistic cover icon, and the technical execution, while marginally more involved and brutal, is also quite level with that 1990 ritual. This is quite a beloved album at large, and with so much going for it, it's not difficult to ascertain why: Deicide were transitioning into one of the most brutal, infamous runts in the entire Floridian litter, and they offered a reliable level of blasphemous release for an audience that wanted to pound their own fucking skulls in.

Is it truly such a tremendous album as the Hellish trumpets of fanfare would have us believe? Absolutely not. The songs are nowhere near as distinct as those you'll hear on an Altars of Madness, Leprosy, Cause of Death...not even The Bleeding. But for all its brevity (the album is less than 30 minutes in length), there is an entertaining quality here that has remained a permanent fixture from the year of its inception to the present. Legion has grown no better nor worse for its age, and this is attributed to the level of sheer punishment being meted out by Benton, Asheim and the Hoffmans. Acrobatic, driven riffing is accented by Steve's jaw dropping double bass, Benton's layered grunts and malice, and the guitars feel slightly more clinical and more interesting to explore than any from the s/t.

I'd also point out that this album, despite a lack of substantial replay value, joins its predecessor as a template for this end of the genre. Even I, who am not the most devout follower of this record or its creators, think back to this just about every time I hear one of the thousands of younger acts that populate brands like United Guttural, Amputated Vein, Sevared, Unique Leader, and so forth. It's a potent effort, and it's an important one. Outside of the later Stench of Redemption, an unexpected surprise with its two new (if seasoned) guitar players, I would have to say that Legion is the band's best. Catchy this is not, but it's difficult to not get absorbed once the precision pummeling has begun. The beating continues much as it started, but this time they've sharpened their knives and weighted their bludgeons.

Love the creepy intro to "Satan Spawn, the Caco Daemon", and the ensuing calamity is such that it simply will not let the conscience rest: the surgical chugging of the Hoffmans and the Asheim vortex being straddled like a roller coaster by Benton's frenzied if somewhat goofy vocal patterns. A mock rodeo being televised from the Abyss. "Dead but Dreaming" and "Repent to Die" are slightly less bewildering, but their concentrated slamming sequences splay out and prostrate the listeners, subduing all to its formidable feats of bone shattering. Beyond this point, the album doesn't ever come up for breath, songs like "Holy Deception", "In Hell I Burn" and "Revocate the Agitator" effective in their ungodly brutality, if not incredibly distinct or visionary. Often, the vocals are quite hilarious, like the punchy perforation Benton lets fly throughout the climax of "Revocate..."

The issue haunting this sophomore is the same that troubles many such would-be legends in the brutal death arena: lack of subtlety, mesmerizing notation and structural strength that makes me want to replay it again, again, and after that, again. Some fans of this style care nothing other than living in the moment, or rather, having their ass pulverized within that minute. Next week, or maybe next year, or maybe next decade, they'll have moved on to 50 Cent and Jay-Z, with Legion and its peers having served their purpose during the trials & tribulations of adolescence. Ma and pa were shocked, detention has been served, and the forehead has been ground to a pulp of marrow and sawdust. But for someone like myself, death metal was just the next natural stage in the evolution of a musical form that had existed for decades. In no way should its classics be exempt from higher standards of songwriting, despite the short attention spans of the genre tourists and 'purists'.

Deicide's Legion is punishing and good enough for what it represents. I like it. Both the lyrics and music have something to offer. Yet, none to the material leaps into memory the instant I demand to hear a great death metal track, and it does often suffer from a sameness, a redundancy of content that is not compelling enough for me to shake.

Verdict: Win [7.75/10] (hanging from their primal sleep)

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Deicide - Deicide (1990)

Deicide have long been the provocateurs of the death metal genre, riding and reaping the whirlwind of controversy that seems to cling to frontman/bassist Glen Benton like flies to the spoor and entrails of a sacrificial goat. From the very name of the band itself to the crude and blasphemous content of the lyrics, they feel as if they were built from the ground up to piss off the clergy, the censorship committee, and most importantly your Mom. To that extent, I've ever deigned to associate a 'bully' characteristic to their career, because I find a lot more muscle than merit through their sound. Deicide is like that tough and smelly kid from your neighborhood, that none of your friends invited to the picnic at the playground, but showed up anyway. You offer him a sandwich and a cola, because if you don't he'll kick your ass six ways to Satan, but he's not one for innocent games or quality conversation.

That trait aside, Glen Benton, Steve Asheim and the Hoffmans are neither excessively stupid or pedestrian as the analogy might infer. There is a particular aesthetic appeal to their 1990 debut which is difficult to deny. For one, the cover art is fantastic, a gleaming emblem of antiquity with glowing eyes that announce Bedlam to all those who gaze upon them, about as iconic as you can get during the formative years of the emergent genre. For another, the lyrics seem to hit all the right notes to cull the seething masses of rebels that would flock to such extremity. Serial killer Charles Manson is paid a minimalist homage through "Lunatic of God's Creation". Necromantic redemption manifest through "Dead By Dawn". The Crucifixion lampooned through the band's namesake "Deicide". Egyptian death magic given a wink through "Blasphererion". Not all of the concepts are necessarily novel or all that shocking; we had Slayer and Venom well in advance of this, but in the hands of the Floridian thugs they seem to receive a flesh layer of blood paint.

As for the composition, I was never quite convinced that Deicide were bringing to the table nearly as much as a Death or Morbid Angel. The duality of the grunts and snarls was novel if you hadn't been exposed to Carcass, and to be fair, they're often used here as the rule rather than the exception, to conjure the effect that this was a vocalist possessed of his occult convictions. Also, there is a peculiar punctuality to how the vocal lines are affixed to the rhythm undertow, an almost poetic hammer pounding ingratiated to the percussion itself. Deicide is an album of variation, mute-juggernaut mosh hymns enshrouded in blast work and frenetic if empty headed leads. Asheim was one of the better skinbashers of the scene, with strength of joints comparable to Pete Sandoval, if not the same unbridled speed. He's all over this album, and it is this performance, in addition to the chugging crunch of the Hoffman's that mark this debut as more influential than it might have had any right to be.

Here, there are few truly memorable components as far as individual guitar lines or transitions go, but the overall effect is one of unhinged barbarism conducive to a blood swilling lust for evil, and more importantly, a potent and incessant headbanging. "Lunatic of God's Creation" and "Sacrificial Suicide" make for a compelling one-two punch sequence, carnal brutality overflowing the steady drum battery through the sloven hostility of the vocals; and "Oblivious to Evil" has a curious swagger to its mid-paced verses, once again the lyrics following very closely to the pattern of the drums and guitar. Other standouts include the compressed, volatile thrashing force of "Deicide" itself; the ritual acrobatics of "Day of Darkness"; and the early Pestilence like flow of "Carnage in the Temple of the Damned" with its spike of solo chaos superior in my ears to any of the others.

Despite its strengths, Deicide is not, alas, one of my favorite cult death metal albums. Not even close. The individual tracks are consistent enough as a template for about 12,000 unspirited brutal death metal discs to follow, and no effort was spared in their construction, but there are painfully few, if any moments of meticulously calculated evil. Whereas a "Pull the Plug", "Chapel of Ghouls" or even "Memories Remain" would breathe a notorious aura of tangible horror, this is more an act of brute, overt strength. It has no subtlety whatsoever. The 'bully' again, stuffing that sandwich straight down your throat if he's not happy with the condiments. Scott Morris' murky but beef strewn mix here is perhaps my least favorite in the entire initial wave of Sunshine State slaughter; not terrible, but the bass hovers like dulled machine gun fire on the edge of perception, sauced over by the abysmal, too processed ministrations of the guitar tone.

All of these flaws will more or less see correction through the roller coaster track of the band's future discography. But here, fresh on the murder scene, the first of this killing spree, they drag against the musical and lyrical content. Decent. Unremarkable. It's ultimately a brutal but soulless surge, and while there seems to be a division among death metal fans as to which component is more important to the form, songwriting vs. sheer extremity and technical ability, I'd rather not choose sides: I desire both of these things. Deicide is focused far more on the latter than the former, more of muscle than malevolence. And though it's a potent enough establishing shot for the diabolic melodrama of the band's incendiary, infamous career, the black and sanguine ripples of its wake are more poignant than the source.

Verdict: Win [7/10] (feeding the demon seed)

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Deicide - To Hell With God (2011)

Regardless of their importance during death metal's formative years, or Glen Benton's memorable controversies, I have never found Deicide to be among the better traditional death metal acts on the international stage. Albums like Legion and Once Upon the Cross had their moments, to be sure, but despite the band's irreverence and savagery, I've never found them quite menacing enough to impress my tastes. Brutal, blunt, and blasphemous indeed, but the actual music always seemed to lack some charisma, some tangible evil inherent in the compositions of a Leprosy, Consuming Impulse or Cause of Death.

That said, I was surprisingly happy with their 2006 album The Stench of Redemption, a fact I attribute to the 'changing of the guard', the addition of axe men Jack Owen (Cannibal Corpse) and Ralph Santolla (Obituary, Death) to the fold, replacing the Hoffmans. Till Death Do Us Part not so much, but To Hell With God, with all the implicit poignancy of the title's intent, is a fairly solid whooping with some impressive musicianship in both Asheim's nuclear powered delivery and the razing whirlwind of guitars. The classic Benton dual guttural/snarl vocals are lock step with the finer offerings of the past, and the production values here might be the paramount of the entire Deicide career: incredibly clear and distinct, though the bass is admittedly pretty thin in there (but fitting).

The first few numbers arrive in a blaze, led by the titular track's showy guitar work, which we were apparently not meant to survive, so much effort and stake is placed in it. It's one of the better tracks here, followed by the punishing precision pun of "Save Your", which is sadly void of any truly redeeming riffs despite the obvious effort. "Witness of Death" conjures a slower vortex of old school riffing, but not for long, as the pace returns to that of the prior tracks with forceful death/thrashing merit, a tactic used repeatedly here through "Conviction", "Angels of Hell", and "Into the Darkness You Go". There are a few traits later in the track list, like "Servant of the Enemy" with its great leads and the slapstick "How Can You Call Yourself a God", which has some of the better guitars hidden in its tightly woven walls of brutality.

It's very easily to be overwhelmed with how good the album sounds from a technical standpoint, and the clarity of its engineering propels the guitars with some of the most brutal blunt trauma the band has ever mustered. However, aside from the obvious talent Owen and Santolla possess in their leads and the precision of the rhythms, there are very few which linger long in the mind. This has ever been the bane of the Deicide album, that falling just short of memorable, but To Hell With God does well to at least merge the band's old school aesthetics with a modern level of extremity, much in the vein of The Stench of Redemption. The musicians are all in fine shape, including Benton, but whilst I enjoyed mashing my head to a pulp for an hour or so on the hard surface of my desk, there's just not much depth outside of the skill level and pristine production.

Verdict: Win [7/10]

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