8) “I Am No One”
[youtube]https://youtu.be/8TY2EcdQkyc[/youtube]
Easily my favorite track from Serpents of The Light. That opening spiraling guitar riff is one of the album’s catchiest, and it comes from a batch of songs that represent the band truly firing on all cylinders as a unit, specifically the Hoffmans working with each other to create some really creepy harmonies.
9) “To Be Dead”
[youtube]https://youtu.be/jfgQCFIWCzQ[/youtube]
This album is where my love affair with Deicide began. There are so many killer tracks on Once Upon The Cross, and all of them are instantly addictive. On a record with “They Are The Children of The Underworld,” “When Satan Rules His World,” “Behind The Light Thou Shall Rise,” and the title track, it’s easy for some of the less-immediately digestible tracks to slip through the cracks. “To Be Dead” is one of those… or at least it was for me. I love going back as I get older and trying to find stuff I missed on classic albums. Shortly after Deicide’s last release, I found myself revisiting Once Upon The Cross and wondering why “To Be Dead” wasn’t higher up in my Deicide shuffle. It’s one of the album’s grooviest songs… definitely a preview of where they’d be headed with Serpents of The Light. But that off-kilter, unpredictable rhythm gives it the same edge as the rest of the tracks on One Upon The Cross. Easily overlooked, but when you really check it out, it’s a keeper.
10 “Crucifixation”
[youtube]https://youtu.be/wkhgbXJyDfc[/youtube]
Okay, there aren’t any slept-on tracks on Legion, and that’s why no songs from it are on this list. It’s hard to argue there are any slept-on tracks on Deicide either, as these two albums are both so revered among death metal fans that there’s not a lot of mystery left in their nooks and crannies. I’m including “Crucifixation” here strictly because of how it crept up on me. The first half of the band’s debut, self-titled full-length is so strong that, even though I’d listened to the record in its entirety more times than I could ever count, I’d somehow missed some of the gravity of the finale. As the band improved as musicians, they got more technical, more efficient, groovier, and they worked better in tandem with one another. But there’s a trade-off for that kind of progression; what they gained in tightness, they lost in youthful, unbridled intensity. “Crucifixation” has all the sloppiness that made early Deicide so dangerous; Benton’s vocals are totally coming off the rails, the guitars and drums are moving so fast there’s no time for anyone to breathe, and the pacing of the song is so frantic it feels like it almost doesn’t know what to do with itself. But that’s part of the magic of early death metal, man. It wasn’t as much art at that point as it was a pure outlet of aggressive energy. I think “Crucifixation” is the band’s ultimate example of that extremity.
Deicide is a premier death metal act whose pedigree is undeniable. They’re a classic example of what’s become a storied part of the genre: how a band with an honest start can bounce back and maintain a good career and quality output, even in the face of lineup changes, record label woes, and an industry stuck in the pitfalls of declining sales and deserted tours. While the Glen Benton of 2015 is more loveable and less terrifying than the Glen Benton of 1993, he’s still the same dude, cranking out the same cantankerous blasphemy, hilariously irreverent stage banter and all. If you’re short on your Deicide history, I hope you’ll check out some of this stuff. There’s a lot to be found if you’re willing to take “Sacrificial Suicide” off repeat and poke around a little.
