It's odd to experience head Deicide-er Glen Benton beaking off about rejuvenation, revitalisation and resurrection. Isn’t that sort of thing verboten in their blasphemy-spewing universe? But hey, rather him than you-know-who, right?
And in the case of the man with the forever-branded forehead, the layoff has been much longer than a piddly three days. Six whole years, to be exact. Given titles like Bury The Cross… With Your Christ, it’d be a sucker’s bet to imagine the unholy Deicide taking their collective boot off the throat of organised religion. But with the ups, downs and wavering degrees of interest involved in a 35-year death metal career, the question then becomes: will Banished By Sin put a temporary ceasefire on the perpetual spinning of classics like Legion, Once Upon The Cross and their much celebrated self-titled debut?
The answer… a solid “maybe”. But probably not. However, that doesn’t automatically discount album 13 or condemn it to be filed alongside widely panned stinkers Insineratehymn and In Torment In Hell. Solid bangers exist in From Unknown Heights You Shall Fall and Doomed To Die, both of which are resplendent in being songs Slayer had been struggling to write since the mid-90s.
Glen has resurrected the layered death growl/Japanese hardcore scream and many songs make fiery reference to the band’s glory days, despite falling just short in consistently challenging their own high watermarks. And even in weaker moments, Taylor Nordberg’s song-within-a-song guitar leads steal the spotlight by attaching melody, harmony and songcraft to the inherent brutality. Christianity isn’t going away anytime soon, which means Deicide will be crusading for a long while, even if the weapon isn’t as lethal as previous incarnations.
Banished By Sin is out April 26 via Reigning Phoenix Music.
