CHRISTKILLER HOSANNAS AND SACRILEGION SYMPHONIES

Introduction: Glen Benton is a cum-guzzling faggot. The Hoffman brothers blow infernal cocks in hell. Steve Asheim really sucks too. Yes, the internet is indeed a wonderful location where slander can be a full-time vocation, and the computer screen constitutes a safe haven for loud-mouthed terabyte hooligans. Of late the name ‘Deicide’ has been associated more with bitch-like backbiting and shit-tossing shenanigans than über-classic Misereion favourites like “Crucifixation”, “In Hell I Burn”, “Kill the Christian” and “Blame It on God”. What to do, what to do… The interview below was conducted with axe-shredder Eric Hoffman in earliest 2004, a month or so before the international release of the latest Deicide album Scars of the Crucifix, and is (at its somewhat belated hour of revelation) meant to serve as a suave reminder to those ‘once-were fans’ calumnists who find it worth their time and mental faculties to wallow in an inexhaustible internet-forum debate instead of a much-overdue return to 30-minute demoniac sermons like Legion or Once Upon the Cross. To cut it short: assholes come in thousands and some of them write kick-ass music. Read’n’rock on!

# What has kept Deicide together for all those years?

“It’s pretty much like a brotherhood, you know. We’ve been together since we were fifteen years old.”

# Glen Benton has commented on the previous two albums, Insineratehymn and In Torment in Hell, by describing them as ‘repetitious and redundant’. Admittedly, I still listen to both albums from time to time and do not find it impossible to nominate a few minor classics here and there. Are they really that bad?

“Well, they were really just released to get off the record label. Roadrunner had not done any promotion for us since 1995 – no pictures, no video for Deicide ever. They ripped us off really bad in terms of the financial aspects of the record releases. We really had to get off that contract no matter what. They didn’t care for whatever was on those records; they would have taken anything. They were too involved with Slipknot, Nickelback and those bands, so there was no other motivation for us than to get off that label.”

# Is there a central story-like concept to the lyrics on Scars of the Crucifix, or is it rather a mishmash of assorted bible bashers?

“Yeah, it is built up around a story about how Jesus came back into this world, and everything is just fucked up around him. He sees pollution and heroin addicts. Everything is just not going his way, and people walk him up and look upon him as a fucking wacko.”

# What is the concept for the album closer called “The Pentecostal”?

“That song deals with the case of priests that go around and molest kids.”

# Like a nod back to “Father Baker’s” on the Serpents of the Light album?

“Yeah, exactly. Just like the old stuff, man.”

# At the beginning of the track “When Heaven Burns”, there is a curious reverse-voice sample. What is that all about?

“That was a just a thing that some guy was messing around with in the studio, you know. He was just making fun and having a laugh. That thing is not going to be on there when you hear the final mix.”

# No evil message for the fans?

“No, no, no... [laughs].”

# Let’s talk a little bit about the artwork for the new album. Christ has been reintroduced on the cover in one of his most classy and celebrated postures with a big, fat crown on his head. Could you comment a bit on the visual side of Scars of the Crucifix?

“Yeah, as I touched upon before people quickly realise that Jesus is a complete wacko as he comes back into the world today. So they capture him and put him in a straitjacket, and he is sitting there, all depressed and crying, and they get their hands on him again and beat him up. No one gives a fuck about religion.”

# And a nice thorny hat as well.

“Yeah, they put that right back on him! [laughs].”

# Did the collaboration with Neil Kernon bring in new flavours to the Deicide sound and the overall working strategy in the studio?

“Actually, he really achieved the proper sound for the amplifiers whereas the other people we have worked with only cared about the cash and didn’t give a fuck about anything else. With Neil Kernon his name is on the line and so he puts a real effort into it. He is amazing to work with. He would try out each and every speaker in the Marshall cabinet as all speakers sound different, where other producers don’t even focus on things like that. Minor little details that Neil knew about which these other people didn’t, and that is what makes him amazing and sets him apart from other producers. He captured our real amplification and our real sound which is raw and really ‘just there’. That is real Deicide.”

# Compared to the songwriting for the previous two albums, did the entire creative process for Scars of the Crucifix turn out straightforward and trouble-free?

“No, there was a lot of practice, man. We worked on the songs from six in the afternoon till two in the morning. We were ready to puke!”

# The limited edition of the new album will contain a DVD entitled Behind the Scars with some 30-minute backstage footage of the band. There is an excerpt of it on the promo edition of the album and it looks like a fair bit of entertainment. Could you elaborate a bit on the contents of the bonus material?

“Yeah, it’s got a lot of backstage footage on some of the stuff that we do around Florida. Check that out. And it has some backstage footage of us jamming. We have Glen playing with his pets: his Harleys. We have Steve shooting with all his guns and shit. It’s cool. Blowing up Bin Laden... You’ve probably seen that. There is a lot of stuff like that on top of the live footage. You know, backstage footage is always cool for the fans.”

# I recently spoke to Pat O’Brien from Cannibal Corpse and they recorded a bonus-DVD for their latest record The Wretched Spawn as well. He told me that the motivation was partly to give the fans some bonus material and partly to frustrate the download pirates. Is that also the case with Behind the Scars?

“Yeah, exactly. Those guys from Cannibal Corpse are really cool. This is something for the fans that they should have had a long time ago. They should have had a video a long time ago and a DVD as well, which Roadrunner deprived the fans of getting. It’s sad but that’s what happened.”

# I read on Blabbermouth that a collection of Deicide tracks were to be used in a movie called Bloody, Bloody Bible Camp. How did that work out, and does the band have any future plans for another soundtrack contribution?

“Well, that was just a case of some cheesy movie people that didn’t have any money. It was basically just a joke. As I said, they didn’t have any cash, but Deicide are always ready to do any kind of movie soundtrack and stuff like that. They should be used in movies like Evil Dead or maybe even a new Exorcist movie; it would be perfect to have a Deicide soundtrack for that.”

# Glen contributed with his vocal talents on the latest Vital Remains record as well...

“Yeah, they wrote lyrics for him and everything. He just went in there, stepped in and did the vocals. He’s a great singer and he should play on every death metal album! [laughs].”

# What were you up to in the meantime; do you have any music projects in the works?

“No, we were working on Scars of the Crucifix. That was basically what we did while Glen was helping Vital Remains out.”

# What is different in terms of ‘anger management’ today compared to those glorious days of fluffy-animal guts, spiky death-masks and heavy-duty armour?

“Well, it’s actually the same. When we make some more money, we will be able to afford to have the heavy armour again [laughs]. If you look at a band like Dimmu Borgir; they have a lot of armour. It’s always cool to have some stage antics for the kids to check out. I would like to have corpses on the stage, hanging there from a line of meat hooks, and then maybe a couple of huge inverted crosses and everything. That would be pretty interesting! It’s always cool to have some visual stuff for the fans to enjoy.”

# What about the ‘cheese factor’ of it all?

“Well, everything is always cheesy in some way or another, but the visual stuff just works so very well. And just going up on stage in your jeans and a t-shirt is old, man.”

# At the end of September 2003, Roadrunner issued a fat handful of compilations, including one entitled The Best of Deicide featuring liner notes written by one Joey Jordison from Slipknot. If nothing else, it can be seen as an indication of how far and wide Deicide has made an impact on the metal scene. What are your comments on that?

“It’s pretty wild to have Roadrunner release a compilation like that without my permission and put out albums as they please. They don’t even tell you about it. But apart from that I think it’s pretty cool that a band like Slipknot listen to our music. That is pretty cool and I enjoy looking at a compilation like that. I just don’t like being ripped off.”

# The compilation contains two tracks from Insineratehymn and none at all from In Torment in Hell, which seems to indicate that Roadrunner’s own estimation of those two Deicide records is not exactly sky-high. Is that the case?

“Yeah, obviously. It was clear from the way they treated us when we called them up, telling us to split a cheese burger and not even recognising you, that they didn’t care shit about us. They just shrugged you off. It was ridiculous.”

# Funny, then, that Roadrunner were adamant about the contractual obligations when their attitude and exertions towards pushing the band to commercial success were frankly non-existent – or?

“Yeah, they didn’t have any relationship with us, no communication at all. Roadrunner did absolutely nothing for the band. They didn’t call us; they didn’t come down to follow the recordings. They didn’t even offer any tour support. We drove around in our own van for years, and they sold our merchandise wherever they could find an opportunity – and kept all the cash, of course. I don’t even own any Deicide shirts!”

# Nielsen Soundscan recently publicised the total sales figures of the best-selling death metal bands of all time, and Deicide ranked in second position right after Cannibal Corpse. Furthermore, Legion from 1992 is believed to be the biggest ‘chartbuster’ in death metal history ever. What are your comments on the remarkable success of that album?

“Yeah, that did surprise me because all our stuff was at the pawn shop at that time [laughs]. But seriously, that is a great thing. Of course, they could have made it bigger if they had done a video for it. It’s amazing that it even sold that much without even having all the publicity around it.”

# There was a lot of criticism towards that album from the press at the time of its release.

“Yeah, that is the same with Glen. He told me personally that he hated that album and that it sucked that we we’re getting such positive response, and that is what he told the rest of the band as well.”

# Deicide is repeatedly referred to as one of the most important death metal bands of all time. What does the label ‘death metal’ mean to you?

“Death metal is basically just the Satanic lyrics, the evil aspects and the dark ways of music.”

# Several reviewers and music journalists have classified Deicide as a black metal outfit from day one. Care to comment on that?

“Well, black metal is just another style of music and that is all pretty cool. They have their own business which is pretty interesting.”

# Deicide has been a pet target for various religious fractions over the years...

“All that puts a damper on your career. It’s difficult to get on the radio and get airplay because of the lyrical content; and just the word Deicide in itself. If we went to an airport, people would ask us what the name of the band was. We would explain the meaning of the name, at which point the pilot or the stewards would call Houston and be freaking out because they were flying with us as passengers [laughs].”

# But considering the fact that a lot of bands have an anti-religious agenda, what is the reason that Deicide has sort of become the favourite scapegoat?

“Again, I believe it’s due the name of the band and the meaning of it alongside the anti-Christian subject matter that Glen is singing about. We don’t care about Jesus and everybody is really offended by that.”

# One of my friends, when he found out that I was to interview one of the band members from Deicide, said to me: ‘Duuude, aren’t you scared stiff?!’

“No, man. Be more afraid of your mother! [laughs]. As far as the lyrical content and the vocals are concerned, that just scares everybody. But if you listen to the music, it’s really just heavy metal. We’re just trying to be the heaviest music that we can possibly be, and we didn’t even have death metal vocals when we first started. It was more of a Slayer-type before Glen even joined the band. Songs like Sacrificial Suicide and Deicide were all written before Glen came in, and at that point we used a different vocal style. We decided to be the death metal thing after we heard bands like Bathory and Sodom and like that, and we felt that we could actually be heavier.”

# To finish off this interview: what is the most important album of all time in Deicide’s entire career?

“This new one. I like all aspects of it – it is by far the best one [laughs].”

# That’s it! Thanks for taking the time to do this interview.

“No problem, man. Thanks to you and all our fans for support. We wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for you guys.”

# Cheers for the cool new record! I hope to bump into you guys on tour.

“Hell yeah, we’ll have some free beers together. Cheers, man!”

Conducted and written by Misereion.