Many years ago, I recall seeing an interview with Deicide frontman Glen Benton wherein he seemed very intense while discussing his anti-Christian beliefs.
This, of course, comes as no real surprise. After all, Benton did brand his forehead with an inverted cross back in the day to show his opposition to organized religion, so the fact that I halfway presumed him to be a literal devil worshipper back then, or at the very least a bit unhinged, wasn’t a giant leap. Flash forward a few decades and Benton is now a middle aged dad who I assume might wear a hat when going out so as to avoid talking about the upside-down cross on his face. So yeah, one would imagine that he might have mellowed a bit with age and was just playing up the whole sacrilegious angle for effect back then.
Which is not to say that he wasn’t serious about it (I mean, the guy did brand his own forehead) and if he has mellowed in any way, he clearly hasn’t changed his overall position. That much was made clear in an interview he did recently with Metal Hammer wherein he stated that even though he really isn’t sure what he was thinking back then, “Now that my two sons are both grown and off in the world, I find myself back to being that guy again, the guy that branded the cross on his forehead.”
And if there was still any doubt in anyone’s mind, those would have been erased when he came to the stage and announced, “The lord is not your shepherd!” by way of an introduction. And if there was still any doubt? Well, just check the merch table, where Deicide was selling a damn ouija board.
Of course there was never really any question that the man who sang “Sacrificial Suicide”, “When Satan Rules His World” and “Satan Spawn, the Caco-Daemon” would ever pivot into singing hymns and old-timey spirituals and true to form, Benton and his bandmates came out charging on Sunday night with a set full of blasphemous tunes from throughout their career.
Taking the stage right before Deicide was Brazilian trio Krisiun, who seemed to be enjoying themselves immensely during their set, playing off the crowd’s energy and giving back just as much as they were getting.
During their set, vocalist/bassist Alex Camargo gave shout outs to a few friends in the crowd, including show promoter Noel Peters, and he repeatedly gave the crowd props for being so great, noting, “We’ve been doing this for a long time. We survive because of you guys.”
From the outset, Camargo mentioned that Krisiun was “gonna fuck this shit up” and you know what? They pretty much did just that, but in the nicest way possible. An impressive set, and one that I daresay might have upstaged the headliners just a little bit.
