One thing that makes me really happy is the continued existence of Deicide. They are one band that doesn’t give a fuck about society, what it thinks of them and the reaction that some of their songs create in the wider society in general.
Deicide formed in 1987 under the name of “Carnage” (later changing the name to AMON, and then DEICIDE in 1989) with Steve Ashiem on drums, Brian Hoffman on guitars and brother Eric Hoffman on Guitars with the last peice of the puzzle, the iconic Glen Benton joining on vocals and bass. Glen Benton has never come up short when it comes to attracting attention. Bad attention. From the release of the first album, the wrath of the Christian church has fallen upon him, and the band many times, with church groups trying to band the bands performances and records. As it often turns out bad press can be good for business as the resulting controversy has seen the band rise to the top of the death metal pile and become a favourate with rebellious teenagers and death metal freaks world wide.
The first album came out in 1990 and since then the band has consistently put out quality death metal recordings until the present day. Which leads us to the present day, the current lineup of Glen Benton, Steve Ashiem and newer guitar players Kevin Quiron and Tyler Nordberg and their 13th Album the recently released “Banished by Sin“
Banished by Sin is a high quality slab of death metal. With the passing of almost 35 years since the first album the band has not only maintained, but even increased the level of brutality with which they play. Believe me, I play in a metal band and its not easy to maintain that level of extremity for so many years. What suprises me even more is the Hatred singer Glen Benton has maintained against GOD and the Church for many years. I’m not sure what drives this guy but while he seems to have chilled out a lot on a personal level the level of anger on his recordings never seems to dissipate.
Like him or hate him, I think it’s important for people like Glen Benton to exist. I make no secret that I’m not a fan of religion as it is in the present day. “Believe what you want but don’t tell me how to live my life” is a big part of my personal philosophy and people like Glen probably played a part in the formation of the personality I call my own nowdays. It’s important for society that there’s voices against the moral majority to keep that other point of view alive and Glen has certainly been consistent in doing so for the last 35 years.
After only the first listen to this I was sold and will be heading out as soon as I get a day off to get myself a copy of this. The quality of playing is superb, the clarity of the recording is amazing. This is high class but evil death metal not the way it should be, but a level far beyond what many other bands in the genre are capable of. The band has also managed to release a couple of magnificently vulgar and blasphemous video clips, which I revel in, but be warned they are offensive!
If you like death metal and not religiously sensitive this is a killer release and I can only wholeheartedly recommend you at least give this a listen. I’ve included the YouTube streaming below for your pleasure.
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