Deicide is an American death metal band formed in 1987 by bassist and vocalist Glen Benton and drummer Steve Asheim. 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 eleven 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-religion and blasphemy. Their lyrics have resulted in bans, lawsuits and criticism from religious groups and the public.
History
Early days as Amon/Carnage (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 of Slayer, Exodus, Celtic Frost and Dark Angel.
Deicide is the killing (or the killer) of a god. The concept may be used for any act of killing a god, including a life-death-rebirth deity who is killed and then resurrected.
Also used in Freeman Dyson 's Disturbing the Universe in the essay "The Island of Dr. Moreau" when he is talking of JSB Haldane's Daedalus; or, Science and the Future.
Etymology
The term deicide was coined in the 17th century from medieval Latin*deicidium, from de-us "god" and -cidium "cutting, killing."
New Testament accounts
According to the New Testament accounts, the Judean (or Jewish) authorities in Jerusalem, the Pharisees, charged Jesus with blasphemy, a capital crime under biblical law, and sought his execution. According to John 18:31, the Judean (Jewish) authorities lacked the authority to have Jesus put to death, though the historicity of this claim is doubtful; the Jesus Seminar historicity project notes for John 18:31: "it's illegal for us: The accuracy of this claim is doubtful." in their Scholars Version. Additionally, John 7:53-8:11 records them asking Jesus about stoning the adulteress and Acts 6:12 records them ordering the stoning of Saint Stephen.
Deicide is the eponymous debut album by American death metal band Deicide. It was released on June 25, 1990, by Roadrunner Records. The album contains all of their demo tracks, plus the songs "Deicide" and "Mephistopheles".
Background
While containing mostly Satanic or blasphemous lyrical themes, "Lunatic of God's Creation" and "Carnage in the Temple of the Damned" concern Charles Manson and Jim Jones respectively, and "Dead by Dawn" deals with the plot of the 1981 horror film, The Evil Dead.
Deicide is sometimes considered to be the bestselling death metal album of all time.Nielsen SoundScan lists it second after Morbid Angel's Covenant up until 2003; however, Deicide was released before SoundScan went into effect, so the SoundScan figure lacks pre-Soundscan sales.
Glen Benton has stated that no effects were used on his vocals while recording the album, though several songs do contain a pitch-shifted vocal effect.
+/-, or Plus/Minus, is an Americanindietronic band formed in 2001. The band makes use of both electronic and traditional instruments, and has sought to use electronics to recreate traditional indie rock song forms and instrumental structures. The group has released two albums on each of the American indie labels Teenbeat Records and Absolutely Kosher, and their track "All I do" was prominently featured in the soundtrack for the major film Wicker Park. The group has developed a devoted following in Japan and Taiwan, and has toured there frequently. Although many artists append bonus tracks onto the end of Japanese album releases to discourage purchasers from buying cheaper US import versions, the overseas versions of +/- albums are usually quite different from the US versions - tracklists can be rearranged, artwork with noticeable changes is used, and tracks from the US version can be replaced as well as augmented by bonus tracks.
So, while I would categorize it amongst like-minded souls such as Conjureth, that being bands that could cut a successor to Deicide’s Legion, Garoted’s unrestrained energy is theirs alone.
In the early 1990s, Tampa Bay upstarts like Obituary, Deicide and Death all struck a commercial peak ... The band imploded merely a year after they debuted ... In the process, the band became forerunners of the “technical death metal” subgenre.
However – with veteran bands like Machine Head and Sepultura also pulled into the genre – people got fucking bored ... Such bands had no time for any hip-hop swaggering; instead, they attacked with punkish brevity and vintage metal guitar chops.
The fact that the horror embedded in songs by bands like Morbid Angel, Deicide and Cannibal Corpse doesn’t come close to what’s at the core of Kira’s truth tells us it’s likely more than we — or anyone — should be asked to bear.
