Deicide (band)

Deicide (pronounced Day-uh-side) is a seminal American death metal band. The word "deicide" means "the killing of deities" or, in the Christian era "the killing of God or Jesus Christ". The word can also mean "one who kills God", a moniker perhaps rather fitting.

History

Deicide was formed in Tampa, Florida in 1987, first playing under the name Carnage. After Glen Benton joined the name was changed to Amon. During this time they released two demos: Feasting the Beast (1987) and Sacrificial (1989). In 1989 the band's name was changed to Deicide by force of Roadrunner Records, as Amon was the name of the house in the King Diamond album "Them". Deicide then released their self-titled debut album in 1990.

The band's original lineup consisted of Glen Benton on bass and vocals, brothers Eric and Brian Hoffman on guitars, and Steve Asheim on drums. Both Eric and Brian tended to play complex solos at fast speeds and with overlapping riffs, which gave Deicide the definitive heavy sound and complex song structures. This lineup remained intact until November 25, 2004 when Earache records sent all royalties of Scars of the Crucifix to Glen Benton. He then took it upon himself not to give the Hoffmans there share of the royalties. And then announced that the Hoffman brothers had been ejected from the band. The guitar roles were then filled by ex-Cannibal Corpse guitarist Jack Owen, and Vital Remains guitarist Dave Suzuki. Following the tour, Suzuki was replaced by Ralph Santolla, formerly of Death, Iced Earth and Sebastian Bach. Santolla once stated he is a Chistian and this has received a small amount of shock and ridicule from some metal fans.

Members

Glen Benton - Vocals and bass
Steve Asheim - Drums
Jack Owen - Guitar (since 2004)
Ralph Santolla - Guitar (since 2005)

Former members

Brian Hoffman - Guitar (1987-2004)
Eric Hoffman - Guitar (1987-2004)
Dave Suzuki - Guitar (2004-2005)

Touring members

Seth van Loo - Vocals (January 5-January 8 2007)
Garbaty "Yaha" - Vocals, bass (January 9-January 13 2007)
Jason Peppiatt - Vocals (January 12-January 13 2007)
Martin Pedersen - Vocals (January 12-January 13 2007)
Solomon J. Lucifer Christ - Vocals (January 12-January 13 2007)

Discography

Deicide (1990)
Legion (1992)
Amon: Feasting the Beast (1993)
Once Upon The Cross (1995)
Serpents Of The Light (1997)
Deicide: Remastered (1998)
When Satan Lives (1998, live album recorded at the House of Blues in Chicago, Illinois)
Insineratehymn (2000)
In Torment In Hell (2001)
The Best of Deicide (2003)
Scars of the Crucifix (2004)
The Stench of Redemption (2006)

Controversy

As might be expected for such a blatantly anti-Christian band Deicide has been plagued by controversy relating to their heavily antagonistic lyrics. This was only reinforced by such "stunts" as frontman Glen Benton branding an inverted cross into his forehead.

Deicide have been banned from playing in many venues (such as Valparaiso, Chile over a promotional poster featuring Jesus Christ with a bullet hole in his forehead [1]) and with various festivals such as the ironically named Hellfest, after several graves had been spray-painted with "When Satan Rules His World", which is a song from Deicide's 1995 album, "Once Upon the Cross". - Most recently, their music video for Homage for Satan, which features blood-splattered zombies on a rampaging mission to capture a priest, was banned from UK music TV channel Scuzz TV [2].

Nor is all the controversy with Christians. During the early 1990s in Scandinavia, black metal was wreaking havoc all over Norway, and it was well documented that the black metallers disliked American death metal intensely (despite a few members of the inner circle enjoying acts such as Morbid Angel). Sometime in the early 1990s, Deicide was on tour in Europe with Gorefest, a dutch death metal band, when they hit Oslo, and after the first band was on-stage, a bomb was detonated in the club they were playing in. Many people blamed Animal Rights activists who were angered at Deicide's lyrical themes of animal sacrifice, but Glen Benton blamed the incident on the fanatical black metal fans.^{[citation needed]}