# Deicide (band)

Deicide is an American death metal band from Tampa, Florida. Formed in 1987 by drummer/composer Steve Asheim and guitarist brothers Eric and Brian Hoffman as "Carnage", then hiring bassist/vocalist/lyricist Glen Benton and becoming "Amon". They changed the band name to Deicide in 1989. The band rose to mainstream success in 1992 with their second album Legion, and is credited as the second-best-selling death metal band of the Soundscan Era, after Cannibal Corpse.
Since their debut album in 1990, Deicide has released thirteen studio albums, one live album, two compilation albums and two live DVDs. In November 2003, their first two albums, Deicide and Legion, were ranked second and third place respectively in best-selling death metal albums of the SoundScan era. Deicide is known for their lyrics, which cover topics such as Satanism, anti-Christianity and blasphemy. Their lyrics as well as the band members personal lives have resulted in bans, lawsuits, and criticism from religious groups and the general public. Additionally, many of the band members have been arrested for various reasons.

## History
### Formation and early years (1987–1989)

Deicide was formed in Tampa, Florida on July 21, 1987, after guitarist Brian Hoffman called Glen Benton, replying to an advertisement the latter had placed in a local music magazine. Hoffman and his brother, along with drummer Steve Asheim, had previously played together as the band "Carnage", which was in need of a bassist and vocalist. Carnage played cover songs by Slayer, Exodus, Celtic Frost and Dark Angel.
The new band, called Amon, consisted of Benton (bass and vocals), Hoffman, Hoffman's brother Eric (guitars) and Steve Asheim (drums). Within a month, they had recorded the Feasting the Beast 8-track demo in Benton's garage and had started playing the occasional gig in the Tampa area. In 1989, Amon recorded their second demo, Sacrificial, at Morrisound with producer Scott Burns.
Malevolent Creation guitarist Phil Fasciana recalls an early Carnage show: "It was like Slayer intensified a thousand times. [...] I guess Carnage had hollowed out a mannequin and filled it with fuckin' blood and guts from a butcher shop... and then they threw the fuckin' thing on the floor. Morbid Angel had these pit bulls with them back then and they were just tearing the meat up. It was a really weird scene, man. There was blood and meat everywhere." The Hoffman brothers said that they would let the animal visera sit in the sun all day prior to its use in their stage theatrics.

### As Deicide (1989–2004)

While still under the name Carnage, Benton reportedly stormed into Roadrunner Records' A&R man Monte Conner's office and slammed the demo down on his desk, belting out "sign us, you fucking asshole!" The next day contracts were issued to the band. This version of events was partially later denied by Benton, who claimed he indeed visited the office but never used profanities. In 1989 the band's name was changed to Deicide at the request of Roadrunner Records due to multiple other bands already using "Carnage" as a band name.
Deicide then released their self-titled debut album, also produced by Scott Burns at Morrisound, in 1990. Their debut featured re-recorded versions of all six of the Sacrificial tunes that had secured them their record deal. The band did not tour on the album because Glen Benton felt the band was worth more than the monetary offers they were receiving from promoters.
Deicide's second full-length album Legion was released on June 9, 1992.
In 1992, Deicide was on tour in Europe with Atrocity from Germany and Gorefest, a Dutch death metal band. In Stockholm, during the Gorefest set, a bomb was discovered on-stage. It exploded in the club in which they were playing. The bomb was located to the rear of the stage, behind a heavy, fireproof door. The explosion was big enough to deform the door and blow it off its hinges. Deicide managed to play three songs before the police decided to stop the concert and evacuate the club. At first, Benton blamed that attack on the Norwegian black metal scene, where Deicide's brand of death metal was despised by some. Many people blamed animal rights activists who were angered at Deicide's lyrical themes of animal sacrifice.
On November 25, 2004, the Hoffmans departed from the band due to animosity relating to royalties and publishing. According to Benton in 2006, "When they got their first publishing checks and didn't get paid for all the songs me and Steve wrote, they fucking quit. And now we gotta deal with Eric threatening Steve, driving to his house and screaming outside his window at 10:30 at night, making threatening phone calls, talking shit on Blabbermouth about Steve's dad dying, and all this other bullshit. Eric knows better than to come over here, though — he knows I shoot first and ask questions later." Benton also said, "It's a better band now because they're gone. They're just a couple of losers, and they rode on me and Steve's coattails for all these years." The Hoffman brothers later went on to reform Amon. They later attempted to sue Glen Benton for the rights to the Deicide name. Eric Hoffman recalled, "We were actually going to use the Deicide name [for the new band], but [Glen and Steve] got on the bandwagon faster than us. [...] They basically took the name, and Glen writes all the lyrics, so the kids are familiar with that." Benton told Decibel, "They can't do a goddamned thing to me, dude. I own the fucking name. They went behind my back and filed on my trademark, so I'm in the process of suing them to get their names off it. And I will win. They abandoned their jobs, and now they wanna come back. Well, there's no coming back, man. Sorry." According to Eric Hoffman, "Benton says if he sees me, he's gonna shoot me and ask questions later. He hates me more than Jesus." Benton remarked, "It's just like a bad… When you're in a bad marriage, it just ain't working out. So people have to go on their way."

### Post-Hoffman brothers period (2004–present)

   Those two are a couple of idiots, man. I hate Eric and Brian Hoffman more than anything in this world, and I will not rest until I put shit straight with the fans. Up 'til now, everybody thinks I kicked them out of the band, but nobody kicked anybody out. They quit on their own, and I wanna set the record straight in regard to those two fuckin' pricks. [...] It's real simple: Eric Hoffman has a fucking steroid problem, and he's bi-polar. Brian married some young broad who's running his life for him. What initially happened is that when our publishing deal ended with Roadrunner, and our new deal started with Earache, we put them on notice that our publishing was no longer gonan be split four ways — it's gonna be based on who writes what. That's the industry standard. Brian writes one song for the album, Eric writes two songs and they wanna get paid for all the songs Steve wrote. That's not fuckin' fair. And I wrote all the lyrics, so I'm entitled to 50% of the publishing. Why should I give those two money? They've been losing thousands of dollars for me and Steve for ten years now. If it was one of those things where they showed up and did their jobs, we wouldn't have a fucking problem. That's why the deal we signed [with Roadrunner] in '90 was set up like that. Back then, everybody wrote and contributed and it was a fuckin' group effort. But now me and Steve are the Lennon and McCartney of the band, doing all the writing, and those two wanna get paid for our hard work. Fuck that.
Shortly after, the guitar roles were then filled by former Cannibal Corpse guitarist Jack Owen, and Vital Remains guitarist Dave Suzuki. Following the tour, Suzuki was replaced by guitarist Ralph Santolla. Santolla stated he was a Catholic, which had received a small amount of shock and ridicule from some metal fans. In spite of this, Deicide's eighth studio album The Stench of Redemption, which was released on August 22, 2006, received positive reviews from critics, who praised the album's guitar work and emphasis on melody.
In January 2007, Benton left the European tour and returned home to the United States as a result of legal issues at home. Asheim announced that Seth van Loo, from opening act Severe Torture, and Garbaty "Yaha", from the Polish death metal band Dissenter, would be replacing Benton starting on January 9 in the Netherlands, until Benton could rejoin the tour. Benton rejoined the band in Paris on January 13. On May 24, 2007, it was announced Ralph Santolla had left Deicide. Subsequently, he joined Florida's Obituary and appeared on their album Xecutioner's Return as well as the tour. On July 20, 2007, guitarist Jack Owen announced that Deicide would be "on hiatus" and he had temporarily joined Ohio-based deathrash band Estuary for touring purposes. The band embarked on a Balkan tour, dubbed "Balkans AssassiNation Tour", in October 2007 alongside Krisiun, Incantation and Inactive Messiah. Owen called the tour a "death metal vacation."
By November 2007, Deicide began work on their ninth studio album at Florida's Morrisound Studios. Entitled Till Death Do Us Part, the follow-up to The Stench of Redemption, promised to be the band's "most savage and aggressive [offering] to date", according to a press release. Drummer Steve Asheim recorded drum tracks and Benton started recording vocals in December 2007. In April 2008, two songs off the album were posted online. It was finally released on April 28, 2008. As the record was coming out, Benton considered retiring from music, in the midst of personal matters including a custody battle.
On January 6, 2009, Deicide posted a blog on their official Myspace page saying they had signed a worldwide record deal with Century Media, with Ralph Santolla returning to the band for a European tour. They were said to be working on material for a summer 2010 release. In early 2009, they toured with Vital Remains and Order of Ennead. Guitarist Kevin Quirion of Order of Ennead joined the band in the summer of 2009. In June 2010, Glen Benton revealed that the next Deicide album was to be titled To Hell with God. It was produced by Mark Lewis at Audiohammer Studios in Sanford, Florida, and was released on February 15, 2011. The eleventh studio album In the Minds of Evil was released on November 26, 2013. On October 9, 2014, The Village Voice reported that Deicide had started working on new material for their twelfth studio album.
By November 2016, it became apparent that guitarist Jack Owen was no longer in the band, and had been replaced by Monstrosity guitarist Mark English without an official announcement. Owen said, "it was a problem with new stuff I was writing. I walked into practice and Steve had re-recorded it and changed notes here and there for three or four songs that I had. It was stupid at the time. But he's, like, 'Hey, I changed the notes so I get writing credit.' And I'm, like, 'That's not how the songs go, though.' And Glen's like, 'It is now.' [Laughs] So I literally walked out and ghosted them. [Laughs] Later on, it was like, 'Hey, dude, you're out.'" Benton said Ashiem took two of Owen’s tracks and turned them into "one good song." Ashiem recounted, "We were just kind of writing the record, and we were going over the songs. Me and Glen, we were, like, 'We wanna redo the songs.' It's like we had completed them — about nine or twelve, whatever how many songs. They were all right, but we weren't really psyched about them. So we decided to rewrite them. And Jack didn't really like it. And he kind of left one day and just never came back. So that was that. [...] I haven't talked to the guy in almost a year." Benton later expressed regret for “being a smartass” during the incident. Owen went on to join Six Feet Under in February 2017. Benton has stated that the band has “no hard feelings” towards Owen and that they were happy for him in joining Six Feet Under.
On March 10, 2017, Deicide announced a short U.S. tour which would begin in May and also issued an update on the album: "the new record is almost completed, right now its down to scheduling, this run of shows were setting up is to introduce and work in our new guitarist Mark English, that and I need a break from this thing called Florida…". Deicide's twelfth studio album, Overtures of Blasphemy, was released on September 14, 2018.
On June 6, 2018, former guitarist Ralph Santolla died due to complications following a heart attack and was taken off life support since being in a coma for a week.
In February 2019, Deicide parted ways with Mark English and replaced him with Autumn's End vocalist/guitarist Chris Cannella.
On April 17, 2021, the band performed in front of an audience of full capacity at The Verona in New Port Richey amid the COVID-19 pandemic, as all restrictions for businesses were lifted and mask mandate enforcements for local cities in Florida were removed as the state was moved into Stage 3 in late September 2020. A U.S. tour followed soon after, with Kataklysm, Internal Bleeding and Begat the Nephilim.
On January 19, 2022, Chris Cannella left the band and was replaced by new guitarist Taylor Nordberg. The thirteenth album Banished by Sin was released through Reigning Phoenix Music on April 26, 2024. It was the "album of the month" on metallian.com. The band toured Europe in 2024.

## Musical style and legacy

Deicide have been called "Florida’s most notorious and despised death metal export." The band's first three studio albums -- Deicide, Legion and Once Upon the Cross -- are considered classics in the death metal genre. Dom Lawson of Metal Hammer wrote, “in terms of defining the sound of Floridian death metal in the early 90s, few bands are either as iconic or as notorious.” Despite this, frontman Glen Benton prefers not to use the "death metal" terminology. Greg Prato of AllMusic loosely referred to Deicide as blackened death metal. Additionally, Deicide's albums following their debut album have been called brutal death metal. According to Benton, Deicide was initially influenced by extreme metal acts such as Venom, Possessed and Death.
Music journalist T Coles assessed, "though few would accuse Deicide of having pop sensibilities, there was something fun and catchy about them. This is in part thanks to Glen Benton's vocals; individual words are barked out, retaining the evil vibe, and the staccato delivery builds tension before breaking it back down with chaotic guitar solos." Benton's high shrieks have drawn comparisons to black metal. Both the Hoffman brothers tended to play technical solos at fast speeds and with overlapping riffs, which allowed Deicide to achieve the definitive heavy sound and complex song structures the band would become known for. Their guitar tone preferences heard on early Deicide releases have been noted for their extreme high frequency. According to Zeke Ferrington of Gear Gods, "It sounds like they plugged their pedals into a BBE Sonic Maximizer, then straight into the [mixing desk] with a HPF at 800hz and an upper mid boost."
Deicide's lyrics express vehement anti-Christian themes, with song titles including "Death to Jesus", "Fuck Your God", "Kill the Christian", "Behead the Prophet" and "Scars of the Crucifix", "Christ Don't Care" and among others. Drummer Asheim said, "The whole point of Satanic music is to blaspheme against the Church", "I don't believe in or worship a devil. Life is short enough without having to waste it doing this whole organized praying, hoping, wishing-type thing on some superior being".

## Controversy and censorship

Deicide has received considerable controversy throughout their career. Most of the controversy surrounded frontman Benton for a rash of shocking interviews and wild statements. Benton has repeatedly branded an inverted cross into his forehead on at least 12 different occasions. During an interview with NME magazine, he shot and killed a squirrel with a pellet gun to prevent any further damage to his electrical system in the attic at the location the interview was held. This act garnered negative attention from critics and some animal rights activists. Benton had professed beliefs in theistic Satanism during Deicide's early years, claimed to slaughter rodents for fun, and that he held beliefs in demonic possession and that he was possessed. Such statements had eventually been concluded as tongue-in-cheek and little more than sensationalism by band members questioned alternatively. Additionally, Benton claimed in the early 1990s that he would commit suicide at the age of 33 to "mirror" a lifespan opposite that of Jesus Christ. However, he passed that age in 2000 and did not commit suicide, rebutting in 2006 that these statements had been "asinine remarks" and that "only cowards and losers" choose to kill themselves.
Deicide has been banned from playing in several venues (such as Valparaiso, Chile over a promotional poster featuring Jesus Christ with a bullet hole in his forehead) and with various festivals such as Hellfest, after several graves had been spray-painted with "When Satan Rules His World", a reference to a song from Deicide's 1995 album Once upon the Cross. In addition, 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.
Deicide also caused controversy when Benton tossed rotting animal meat into the crowd. Benton recalled, “I didn’t think playing shows with rotting meat as part of our set-up was gonna cause that much of a shitstorm. Within three shows of that stuff I had the authorities bearing down on me, so it was a very short-lived moment in Deicide history.”

## Band members
### Recording timeline

| Role | Album | Album | Album | Album | Album | Album | Album | Album | Album | Album | Album | Album | Album |
| Role | Deicide (1990) | Legion (1992) | Once upon the Cross (1995) | Serpents of the Light (1997) | Insineratehymn (2000) | In Torment in Hell (2001) | Scars of the Crucifix (2004) | The Stench of Redemption (2006) | Till Death Do Us Part (2008) | To Hell with God (2011) | In the Minds of Evil (2013) | Overtures of Blasphemy (2018) | Banished by Sin (2024) |
| Bass/vocals | Glen Benton | Glen Benton | Glen Benton | Glen Benton | Glen Benton | Glen Benton | Glen Benton | Glen Benton | Glen Benton | Glen Benton | Glen Benton | Glen Benton | Glen Benton |
| Guitars | Eric Hoffman | Eric Hoffman | Eric Hoffman | Eric Hoffman | Eric Hoffman | Eric Hoffman | Eric Hoffman | Ralph Santolla | Ralph Santolla | Ralph Santolla | Kevin Quirion | Kevin Quirion | Kevin Quirion |
| Guitars | Brian Hoffman | Brian Hoffman | Brian Hoffman | Brian Hoffman | Brian Hoffman | Brian Hoffman | Brian Hoffman | Jack Owen | Jack Owen | Jack Owen | Jack Owen | Mark English | Taylor Nordberg |
| Drums | Steve Asheim | Steve Asheim | Steve Asheim | Steve Asheim | Steve Asheim | Steve Asheim | Steve Asheim | Steve Asheim | Steve Asheim | Steve Asheim | Steve Asheim | Steve Asheim | Steve Asheim |

### Timeline
## Discography

* Deicide (1990)
* Legion (1992)
* Once upon the Cross (1995)
* Serpents of the Light (1997)
* Insineratehymn (2000)
* In Torment in Hell (2001)
* Scars of the Crucifix (2004)
* The Stench of Redemption (2006)
* Till Death Do Us Part (2008)
* To Hell with God (2011)
* In the Minds of Evil (2013)
* Overtures of Blasphemy (2018)
* Banished by Sin (2024)