Deicide (band)

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Deicide

Background information
Origin Florida, USA
Genre(s) Death metal
Years active 1987 – Present
Label(s) Roadrunner Records, Earache Records
Members
Glen Benton
Ralph Santolla
Jack Owen
Steve Asheim

Deicide (pronounced Dee-uh-side) is an American death metal band. The word deicide means "the killing of deities" or, in the Christian era "the killing of God or Jesus".

Contents

[edit] History

The band 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 overlapping riffs, which give Deicide the definitive heavy sound and complex song structures which are ultimately recognized as theirs. This lineup remained intact until November 25, 2004 when Glen Benton announced that the Hoffman brothers had been ejected from the band. For the remainder of that tour, the guitar roles were 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 Catholic and this has received a small amount of shock and ridicule from some metal fans.

Recently at a gig in Laredo, Texas, Deicide were forced to stop playing by the police and guitarist Ralph Santolla was arrested for allegedly throwing a Red Bull can at an officer. [1]

Deicide released their latest album, entitled, "The Stench of Redemption," on August 22, 2006. Despite the drastic new lineup change, the new album has been hailed as a striking return to form by many critics; However, due to the new guitarists, a change in the stlye of playing and many fans have said that they are "too melodic."

[edit] Discography

[edit] 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 with a bullethole in his forehead [2]) 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 [3].

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 90s, Deicide was on tour in Europe with another 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 metallers.

[edit] References and further reading

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