Single Slam – Excommunicated by Deicide (Overtures of Blasphemy)

American death metallers, Deicide, are all set to release their first new album in 5 years with Overtures of Blasphemy and have just shared the first single from it, Excommunicated. Overtures of Blasphemy will be released on the 14th of September via Century Media Records.

The last bit of music from the death metal legends was 2015’s In the Minds of Evil. That was an album that was seen as a departure from the band’s more recent albums, dropping a lot of melody in exchange for heavy riffs and an old school brutal sound. Now we get Overtures of Blasphemy, the band’s 12th studio album since their self titled debut dropped in 1990.

Deicide have always been a band that courted controversy. While definitely talented metallers, a lot of their early years saw them become almost a household name as much for the antics of frontman Glen Benton as for the quality of their music. While later years have shown their early comments ot have been more tongue in cheek and sensationalist, back in the day, they were widely regarded as Satanists, devil worshippers and evil. From being banned from playing in many countries due to a tour poster showing Jesus with a bullet in his head to publicly speaking about enjoying killing animals and thus pissing off the world of animal rights activists, they seemed to revel in trouble.

Add to that the branded upside down cross on the front man’s forehead and the fact they he promised to kill himself when he became 33, reverse mirroring the life of Christ and you can see why they quickly became known to fans and detractors alike. Flash forward to 2018 and the band have changed quite a bit, especially in the way they talk to public.

Deicide in 2018 are original members Glen Benton on vocals and bass and Steve Ashelm on drums. Joining those two we have, on guitars Kevin Quirion and Mark English.

Excommunicated, in typical Deicide fashion, is a short track at just under 3 minutes long. It definitely sees the melody come back in though none of the speed or brutality is lost. It starts as expected, with fast shredding guitars. Crashing drums and a thick bass line lay a foundation before turning into a flurry of blast beats. Lead guitars come in over this and blaze out a fast and furious solo. The high toned guitar drops away and the vocals come in spitting fury in dark and gruff tones.

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The drums in the background blaze out a repetitive but insanely quick beat while the guitars shred away at speed but with a surprising amount of groove. Little time changes, with vocals matching guitars in structure add loads to the song as well. Half way through the lead guitar comes back in for a short squealing solo before Excommunicated amazingly manages to pick up the pace and heaviness even further. Dark vocals spat at pace match with the quick picked riff in a seriously visceral sounding section. This pace and aggression plays through to the end threatening to break necks and shatter spines relentlessly.

Deicide are back with a show of force with Excommunicated. A track chock full of speed, brutality and power. It isn’t all just full force though with lead guitar melody and grooving riffs elevating the track from just another death metal track to something a bit special.

Excommunicated is available now on all the usual streaming services like Apple Music and Spotify. You can preorder Overtures of Blasphemy from Century Media, here. Find out more on Deicide at their Twitter or Facebook pages by following the links.