Year: 2024
Total Time: 38:59
Label: Reigning Phoenix Music
Six years have already passed since the blasphemous Death Metal legends DEICIDE proved their “love” for Christianity with the furious album “Overtures of Blasphemy”. During last year, the band finally announced that it was preparing a new record. Those news sounded just like a trumpet of redemption in the ears of all Death Metal fans!
The band is now in a new record label (Reigning Phoenix Music) and has an important addition in its rankings, with Taylor Nordberg of INHUMAN CONDITION being the new guitarist in the group. Since DEICIDE has shown from the beginning of their career this “love feelings” for everything and especially for Christianity, the release of this “romantic” video for “Sever The Tongue” single on Valentine’s Day, cannot be taken as a coincidence. We should note that another music video for the first new single “Bury the Cross…With Your Christ” has been released, on Christmas Day. In this, the band has presented their own gastronomic suggestions for the Christmas dinner…
The thirteenth full-length by the American Death Metallers is entitled “Banished by Sin” and includes 12 new compositions with a total duration less than 39 minutes. The first two singles “Sever the Tongue” and ” Bury the Cross… with Your Christ” are already known to everyone and they are perfectly reflecting the musical content of the rest of the album, which could be characterized as a review of DEICIDE’s career so far. In it we can find elements from the band’s self-titled debut album to “The Stench of Redemption” as also from “In the Minds of Evil”. The songs have an average duration of three minutes with fast tempos, like the amazing “Faithless”, “Woke From God” and “Failures Of Your Dying Lord”. This furious Death Metal content includes also songs such as “The Light Defeat” and “Banished by Sin” with a more mid-tempo rhythm standing out for their rousing groove.
The vocal performance by the mighty Glen Benton is noteworthy, sounding like he is in a great shape. Also, the first thing that makes an impression as you listen to this album is the excellent work that has been done on the guitars and solos. This belongs to a significant extent to Taylor Nordberg, who has even contributed in the lyrics as well as in the music creation of the album. We should note also that INHUMAN CONDITION’s contribution doesn’t stop here as Jeramie Kling (the drummer/vocalist of the band), left his touch in the production while the mixing and mastering were handled by the guru Josh Wilbur (LAMB OF GOD ,GOJIRA). In fact, the production and the overall sound of “Banished by Sin” could be characterized as one of the best-perhaps the best one, that we have heard in a DEICIDE’s album!
Sometimes you don’t need complicated things in order to offer a good album. DEICIDE prove it on “Banished by Sin”, which continues their streak of good releases since 2013’s “In the Minds of Evil”. The band sounds renewed, fierce, with a lot of energy. It also seems that,with the addition of Taylor Nordberg, the group appears much tighter. Glen Benton sounds like he’s going through a second adolescence while Steve Asheim fires non-stop behind the drums, being at his usual high performance levels. The album was worth the six year wait and DEICIDE offer us an enjoyable Death Metal album with remarkable songs. The only negative thing I could find is the cover artwork, which is created with an artificial intelligence (AI) program. Strange decision, as the first two singles had covers edited by a human hand. However most important is the quality of the music and “Banished by Sin”, in corporatisation to its artwork, is the winner. So, our beloved DEICIDE returned strong and blasphemous! With songs like “Faithless”, “From Unknown Heights You Shall Fall” and “The Light Defeat” they prove that, even after 34 years of career, they are still thriving and furious.
Rating: 8/10
Editor: Nikos Manousis
Related Link: DEICIDE – Official Page
