Review by Jeger on May 21, 2025.

The mighty Deicide! The blasphemous kings of Satanic death metal. Okay, it's not really Satanic, unless you consider the LaVeyan idea of merely using Satanic imagery and concepts as a means to blaspheme the church Satanic, which I certainly do not. Occultists who practice ritual summonings, black magick and who are members of actual magickal Orders are true Satanists, but I digress. Deicide's Satanic themes are pretty juvenile and that's the reason why they were hated by Euronymous and the Norwegian Inner Circle, but the music? Shit, man, Mayhem STILL can't play like Deicide, and they most certainly couldn't back in the early '90's. Just compare an album like "De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas" to Legion. Not even fair! Legion made Norwegian black metal artists look like Kindergartners and also many of the bands that called Florida home for that matter. Quite possibly the most furious death metal album ever created.

In 1995 following Legion, Deicide released their third full-length studio LP, Once Upon The Cross. With this one, Glen and crew decided to tone it down a bit and focus more on brutality: big fat riffs and Caveman rhythms along with a temped approach to soloing. The result is a highly accessible death metal record that opened Hell's gates to fans who had not yet given DM a real shot, all the while as it appeased the diehards. This aggressively brutal way of doing things is what separated Deicide from Morbid Angel who were more focused on technicality and classically inspired mumbo-jumbo. Once Upon The Cross is just a fucking banger; plain and simple. Concussive chugs and bludgeoning martial rhythms that give way to incinerating grinds and eviscerating blast beats - a feast of fire for the pyromaniac - raw blasphemy unleashed through the timeless art of true Floridian death metal. Conceptually, this was some deeply controversial shit back in the day. Tracks like "Kill The Christian" had Churchgoers and the entirety of the Bible Belt in a feverish uproar. And Glen's antics during interviews only fueled the mayhem. Ballsy stuff for that particular day and age. Even the original cover art was censored.

Once Upon The Cross features some of Deicide's finest deep cuts like "Trick Or Betrayed" that not only commands you to rip up a Bible, but also features the band in their most disciplined state; just fundamentally sound DM that hits at nut level and then there's the quasi-melodic "To Be Dead" that features a whole different side to the band. Probably the only Deicide track unique enough to be compared to something off of Death's "Human" or "Individual Thought Patterns". People who've ever been dumb enough to discredit Eric Hoffman's talents when compared to those of Chuck Schuldiner need only listen to this cut. Hoffman holds his own for sure.

28 minutes? Hardly seems like enough runtime, but what Once Upon The Cross lacks in duration, it makes up for in substance. Deicide provides a rich listening experience that truly feels lengthier than it actually is, and it's due to the album's savory mid-tempo. Fans wanted "Legion" 2.0, but to expect another record of that intensity would be asking too much. I honestly believe our boys here were on something when they recorded Legion… They had some choice coke down in Florida back in those days.

These days, Deicide has succumbed to the curse of modernity: AI cover art, sanitized product and experimentation not akin to their '90's records. Just not the same; no balls and very little imagination. But has Deicide ever been capable of imaginative lyric writing? The answer is no. As I've mentioned before, it is and always has been remedial at best, but it's the spirit of the band that is their ultimate selling point. To piss on the cross! To brutishly blaspheme and defile, to challenge ignorance and to promote free thinking in the only way Glen knows how and that's good enough for this ole boy. Is Once Upon The Cross an album to be remembered by? Not really, but it WILL get you banging your head and that's a guarantee.

Rating: 8 out of 10