DEICIDE Frontman Laments State Of Metal Scene: 'All We Have Is A Bunch Of Wannabe-WEEZER-Looking Dudes Trying To Play Metal'

In a new interview with Francisco Zamudio of KNAC.COM, DEICIDE frontman Glen Benton spoke about some of his earliest musical influences that got him on the path of playing extreme metal. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Ever since I was a little kid, man, I remember, I even have it in my files upstairs in my boxes. I was asked as a small child, man, like when I was 11, 12 years old, whatever, they asked me what I wanted to be. And I put down exactly what the hell I am right now. So I had a long-term goal, man. Even when I was a little kid, it's what I wanted to do. I grew up, man, watching bands and listening to all kinds of music. I was exposed to music at a really young age. My uncle was a drummer. He had guitars hiding in the closet all the time, and I was around that a lot. And not that dad did it for me, but when I was a little kid and I heard [BLACK] SABBATH the first time, it was all over — it really was all over, man. I remember being at the breakfast table 7:30 in the morning with my boombox blasting 'Paranoid' at my mother… I was a huge SABBATH, huge [Ronnie James] Dio fan, man, and that era of metal, when they had [JUDAS] PRIEST and all that stuff from that era, man."

Lamenting the state of the metal scene in 2024, Benton said: "Metal was metal back then. Metal right now — you have so many subcategories of metal now, it's ridiculous. I understand individualism and that, and we can really use a lot more frontmen like that, like Ozzy [Osbourne] and Ronnie and all them people, Lemmy and that. We don't have that anymore. All we have is a bunch of wannabe-WEEZER-looking dudes trying to play metal. Everybody's sporting black-frame glasses and wearing trucker caps. Nobody gives a shit about imagery anymore, looking the part of metal and that. I walk around 24 hours a day looking [like I do]. I can't shake it, man. I'm never gonna fall into that. I've always been that way, too, about the guys on stage, man. You're not gonna come out there wearing a fucking plaid shirt and white tennis shoes. It's not happening."

DEICIDE's new album, "Banished By Sin", was made available on April 26 via Reigning Phoenix Music.

This past February, DEICIDE released the second single from "Banished By Sin", a song called "Sever The Tongue". The track was recorded at Smoke & Mirrors with engineer Jeramie Kling, while the mixing and mastering was handed by Josh Wilbur.

DEICIDE collaborated with David Brodsky from My Good Eye: Music Visuals for a visually arresting video for "Sever The Tongue" that complements the track's blasphemous undertones.

To close out 2023, DEICIDE celebrated Christmas with another blasphemous song called "Bury The Cross...With Your Christ".

DEICIDE played its first show with new guitarist Taylor Nordberg (THE ABSENCE, INHUMAN CONDITION) on May 21, 2022 at the Rickshaw Theatre in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

Previous DEICIDE guitarist Chris Cannella amicably left the band in January 2022 after a three-year run.

Chris joined DEICIDE in 2019 following the departure of guitarist Mark English.

English became a member of DEICIDE in 2016 after the exit of longtime guitarist Jack Owen.