Once upon the Cross

Deicide…the one man’s crusade against Christianity. Glen Benton has never been subtle about his hatred for God and all that nonsense people take so seriously. With “Once upon the Cross” it seemed to be the most “Fuck you” album from Deicide. The song names, the lyrics, and that insane album cover were bound to piss a lot of people off.

The music on here is just flat out amazing. “They are the Children of the Underworld” still remains one of the heaviest songs ever written in my opinion. That riff is so beyond heavy, like a lot of the riffs on here. The title track also delivers in the insanely heavy department. The songs have a lot of thrash parts like the awesome one in “Kill the Christian” and plenty of blast beats. I actually think this is Deicide’s best album by far. Maybe because they change it up a lot on this album in terms of the drumming and guitar riffs. The riffs are so incredibly heavy that it is hard not to love this album. “When Satan Rules his World” is another amazing song with yet another (big surprise) amazingly heavy riff. I usually don’t put lyrics in my reviews but “Trick or Betrayed” has some of my favorite lyrics ever:

“Trick or betrayed
Their faith ends in pain
Rip up their bible before it’s too late
Time we undo unity
For it is for fools
In this world we don't need
Trick or betrayed
I think you should know
They know it's true
That their book is a hoax
Join us to see through the light
Christ is a scheme and will ruin your life”

Satan, that is awesome!

Production on here is one word, perfect. The guitars are probably the heaviest Deicide has ever been and the reason I wanted to buy this album. The drums are fantastic. None of the drums get lost behind the guitars and they sound amazing. Glen’s vocals are in top form here. Not a lot of layering his vocals thankfully. He is a good enough vocalist on his own, he doesn’t need to do anything to them. His growls are as low as ever and his screams are as evil as ever too. Even the bass is audible on here, this is a plus because it makes it sound even heavier. Glen isn’t what I would call an “outstanding” bass player but he sure does get the job done.

This is my favorite Deicide album by far. Everything about this album is great and I think you will agree.

Best tracks – “When Satan Rules his World”, “Trick or Betrayed”, and “They are the Children of the Underworld”