Deicide
Amon/Feasting the beast

Little scene.

"I sing and play bass in a badass antichristian death metal band", said Glen Benton to his best friend(?).
"Mmmh... yes, I know... wow..."
"You know, I never take the plane not to stay too close to god, I always recommend it to my son Daemon too"
"Excuse me?!"
"Damn, Daemon, yeah, fuck the pope!"
"Damn... I can imagine the teasing, poor guy..."
"Even though my hair is shorter now, I always have an angry face in photos, fuck you all, kill the christians!!""... " "What do you know, some time ago I branded a cross on my forehead (like cattle)"
"Are you kidding me, Glen"
"Hear the vooooices of devastaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaatiooooon" (exits the scene raving).

Writing a review of a Deicide album means dealing with at least two types of fans: the first, die-hard supporters of the band "regardless", the second, critical of the satanic themes and/or detractors of Glen Benton's questionable "bass" skills. Clearly, everyone holds their own beliefs: the important thing, in my opinion, is to overcome any prejudice, perhaps by appreciating solely the attitude, the sonic aggression, the originality of the riffing, the sound impact. And not everyone manages to do so. Obviously, you can't completely ignore the lyrics, nor Benton's questionable statements/acts: but each of us has a brain, and should be able to listen to "satanic music" without being influenced, just as one can read "The 120 Days of Sodom" without wanting to screw the first person they meet.

This fantastic album is nothing more than the collection of the first two demos by Deicide, when they were still called Amon, and recorded in a garage(!). These are "Sacrificial" from 1989 (first 6 tracks) and "Feasting the Beast" (7-10) from 1987. In these, Benton (author of all the lyrics) is characterized more as a singer than a bassist, displaying a lower-than-hell growling in the first phase (truly impressive) and a more "standard" one subsequently. You'll have the "pleasure" of listening to demo versions of historical tracks such as "Sacrificial Suicide", "Crucifixation", "Day Of Darkness", "Blaspherereion", beyond their almost always predictable titles, truly unmissable, and certainly not for "first listening". Just under 30 minutes of ruthless death metal, which would become a masterpiece of the genre if the themes were "slightly" less one-dimensional. In fact, the band's insistent focus on "anti-christianity" in such an overwhelming way has only made them ridiculous, sometimes absurd.
If only they had motivated their "ideas" in a more decent way, they would be among my favorite bands. Instead, with their attitude, they have done nothing but conform to the "Christian hypocrisy" they claim to despise so deeply. "Are they or are they not"? - comes to mind, but in the meantime, we can't help but appreciate the sonic slaughter of "Sacrificial Suicide", characterized by a venomous and obsessive riff, certainly very inspired. It's probably one of the best death metal tracks of all time, at least based on my knowledge. A rather curious thing is that this track has the same metric as the leitmotif of the musical "Jesus Christ Superstar"(!): try singing "Satanized, crucified..." to the famous verse in question, and you'll realize it. We can't forget that our sonic butchers manage to fuse various sub-genres without ever degenerating into "chaos", and this (strangely) happens more in the last three tracks, simply perfect. The substantial variety of tracks united by a hatred - see initial considerations - towards Christianity, make this CD a real gem, which I appreciate much more here (in their "original charge") than in the "official" versions, which pale in comparison. Each track is up to par, hard to find one underwhelming: how can one not love the sonic machine-gun fire of "Dead by dawn", characterized by an obsessive and disturbing riff and a double-kick chorus worthy of the best primordial black metal? Impossible not to be captured by the "classic" eardrum-splitting "Day of darkness", or by "Carnage in the temple of damned".

In my opinion, two truly excellent demos, certainly superior to the recent (dismal) official production. If you're willing to be captivated by 2 low-quality demos, loaded with hate, violence, and terror, feel free to do so. If instead you're reluctant towards collections, prefer the official discography, or simply find Deicide too disturbing, needless to say: do not fuel pointless controversies, and don't even approach...!