Glen Benton interview 1995
This interview with Deicide's death-metal master vocalist/bassist Glen Benton actually took place back in 1995, but I can assure you that all spice and flavor is still in there! Deicide, one of the most controversial bands on planet Earth, are not the easiest guys to get a decent interview with. This was not an easy interview to write either. I've held onto it for months due to it's controversial nature, but finally decided to release it for reasons I will discuss.
Death Metal, probably the most extreme form of heavy metal and music itself, originates back in early 80s when UK's Venom ruled the underground world and conquered big venues. Venom was immediately affiliated with Satanism. Their lyrics were dealing with Satanism but not in the form of preaching or promoting it but rather in the form of entertainment. The members of Venom repeatedly denied that they practised any form of Satanism. Death(the band) also started at that time in Florida under the name Mantas but as its founder Chuck Schuldiner says, music and musicians were too ... bad to be taken seriously. Nevertheless, Death, along with Venom, are credited as two of the fundamentals of death-metal music.
Venom did well until early 1985 when they were signed to a major label and their music soon started to loose its initial momentum and cutting edge. At that time the underground metal music was flourishing with bands as Metallica, Slayer, Exodus(all of them played support to Venom!), Merciful Fate and Megadeth.They all played fast, heavy and hard music (with Slayer being the biggest influence to the genre) but if you must give credit to somebody for being the most influential death metal band then this would go to three Swiss people also known as Hellhammer (later called Celtic Frost, 1984). Hellhammer's 'Apocalyptic Raids' mini-LP shocked the underground worldwide and opened horizons for what to follow. Hellhammer (and subsequently Celtic Frost)was not a Satanic band. Their lyrics were indeed dark, moody and morbid but it had to be this way to fit their heavy and gloomy sound. Can you imagine them talking about love and flowers?! Tomas Gabriel, their vocalist, was heavily influenced by philosophers,from the Greek Aristotle to the modern Brecht and Nietzsche and quite frequently his readings found a way through his music. Celtic Frost soon moved to another level when they used a whole classical orchestra to play on the background of their epic 'Into the Pandemonium' album which deals with the philosophical perspective of the glory and decadence of Babylon and human nature itself.
When hardcore death metal fans start accusing Celtic Frost for selling out their music (something that still gives me a bitter taste because the Frosties ruled!) Death metal started to transform into a more extreme, redefined and concrete form of music. Society had become a harsher place to live in anyways, the easy-come, easy-go music of bands as Poison, Motley Crue and Slaughter was replaced by the moody and protesting lyrics of Pearl Jam and Alice in Chains. It was early 1987 when death metal divided and redefined itself into the more technical and production-oriented music of the Florida scene (Deicide, Massacre, Mallevolent Creation, Death, Morbid Angel, etc) and the raw, non-technical, low-budget sound of the Scadinavian (Finland, Sweden and Norway) scene (Mayhem, Therion, Emperor, Impaled Nazarene etc.). Satanism was again one of the main topics of concern.
Things have followed their own route since then and the two scenes moved apart from year to year. People in Scandinavia used death metal to influence the youngsters and promote their ideas related to Satanism, Paganism, Fascism, Viking beliefs and anti-Christianism. An underground organisation was formed, the Inner Circle. People of the Inner Circle were found responsible for the burning of many churches in Norway and Sweden. Soon after, the founder of Inner Circle was found dead, he had been stabbed repeatedly. It was not a big surprise when one of his hardcore friends was accused and finally confessed that he had committed the crime(including a series of other crimes). The Inner Circle had nothing to do with the music, it rather used music as a backbone to promote certain ideas. I can see no difference between this and some corrupted politicians that use the media to express their sick ideas. Scandinavia's Viking religion (which has led many people to fascism) has been always in conflict with Christianity. Death metal was a single side of a multi-faceted problem.
In Florida things were quite different. Satanism was still a major point of concern for this fast, aggressive and extreme music, but extremely few bands admitted practising Satanism. One of them that does, and by popular belief the most controversial alone, is Deicide.
Deicide was formed in late 1987 and the line up remains unchanged. Deicide are indeed different. All four members of the band (Glen himself, brothers Eric and Brian Hoffman on guitars and Steve Asheim on drums) are very close to one another and it is their belief that keeps them together. They practice Satanism on a daily basis and have paid the price for it: Their tours have been sabotaged and they often receive threats. A couple of years ago a bomb exploded during a UK show. Various religious organisations have excommunicated them but legally they have never been accused of causing harm to anyone.
Glen, the main figure of the band, is indeed a weird person. When you meet him, and talk to him, you will indeed be scared! A rather closed person, he's usually brief when he gives answers and always on the cutting edge. If you combine this with the two inches high and half inch deep upside cross that lies on his forehead in between his eyes (he did it by pressing a hot cross on his head for a couple of months), it makes it hard enough for you to keep up a conversation with him without turning it into a living nightmare! On the other hand, if you respect him he will respect you. Glen is indeed smart and quite straightforward. I was surprised during the course of this interview with his spontaneity, while he seemed that he was in a rare-for-him talking mood. That was one of the reasons I've finally decided to release this controversial interview.
The other major reason is the freedom of speech. Everyone has the right to say what they believe as far as they don't violate anyone's freedom, and (at least in this interview) Glen doesn't. Before proceeding to the actual interview I'd like to warn readers not to mistake entertainment with preaching. Death metal, and heavy metal in general, has always been a way for depressed and/or suppressed people (usually teenagers and in their twenties) to release their aggression and frustrations. If every person who listens to death metal was practising some form of Satanism, then the world would be full of Satanists! The aggression and intensity of the music provides a mean of purification for a person who feels exiled, insecure and too proud to live in a technocratic society that replaces individuality with numbers. Heavy metal gives listeners a form of Dionysian life, free of conformity and formality but full of joy, respect and pride. The conflict of this Dionysian perception of life with the conservative Appolonian form of life has been a topic of philosophical discussion from ancient Greeks to the contemporary Nietzsche. It would be wrong to judge death metal solely under the prism of Satanism. This would be the same as doing a report on prisoner's music preferences and deducing that pop-music (which most probably will come first in their preference) promotes crime! (Hellbound Heart's note: Yes indeed. I am 22, and if there was not such thing as dark and ''angry'' music, I would as sure as hell be a serial killer and at this time I would be rotting in a prison cell serving a life sentence… Heavy metal does not ''influence'' murder, to the contrary, it prevents a person since he/she finds exhilaration through music and not through actual vilence…)
On the other hand, Glen Benton is indeed a controversial figure. I tried to approach him as much as I could, to my surprise he seemed very willing to let me do so. Taking into the account all the above, I now feel confident to release this interview and everybody can be their own judge!
"Once Upon the Cross", your new studio album, is one of the most eccentric and extreme albums I was ever exposed to!
Have you heard it yet?
Totally! Many times! It's a short one too (28 minutes, ed)so it makes it easy to play it twice per hour and get twice the intensity!
(laughs)
It will sound like a clichι but your third album is one of the most brutal death-metal albums released since your ... first one.
It's back to the basics. It beats your fucking brains out for 30 minutes (laughs). You can also understand what I say in this record, the pronunciation is much better in this record. The vocal lines were much more muddier in the first album, if you listen to the two albums back to back you'll hear what I'm saying.
What is the reason for this?
The vocal patterns are close but I'm a lot lower than I used to be. I don't have to use effects, I can just use my regular vocals without any harmonizers.
You mean that "e "Once Upon the Cross" has absolutely no vocal effects?
No, what you're getting is two vocal lines, you got a low vocal line and then you got a mid vocal line that gives you that kind of weirdness. This is like a natural harmonizer, you don't have to use an electronic one because it makes the voice sound processed. When you get a harmonizer it thins everything out,I don't like harmonizers, if you like to be taken seriously you shouldn't use a harmonizer.
You're a very lucky man because your voice is indeed naturally low.
When I wake up in the morning you can barely understand what I'm saying. When I practice, I drop like two octaves down so it's hard to hear what I say. I've always had a low voice in m
You're a very lucky man because your voice is indeed naturally low.
When I wake up in the morning you can barely understand what I'm saying. When I practice, I drop like two octaves down so it's hard to hear what I say. I've always had a low voice in my life, real strong vocal chords and I've been fortunate enough not to have throat problems like a lot of other people do. A lot are singing with their throat, I sing with my diaphragm, I put my balls into it man, I scream my brains out.
Have you heard of what happened in Norway like a year ago? Do you plan to tour Norway? Have you received any threats from the Inner Circle there?
Why? I haven't heard any threats coming my way, have they told you anything about threatening me?
No, but you never know what to expect. This whole thing has been really controversial.
I'll tell you now, you never know what to expect when you deal with people like me (pause). I think they have a real problem right there, if they start doing anything on me because I'm not the person who's gonna hide in the back room when one of those punks walks in. I'm the type of person that's going to walk out and beat the fucking piss out of him. I'm a Satanist, they can say their Satanists and they believe in the Satanic philosophy and lifestyle, that's fine. But if you're doing things like burning churches down so to sell records...to me silence is the golden rule man.
You sound extreme and determined. This is also what your new album exhibits, that's why it's a music nightmare.
Do you know what this boils down to? What we do we take very seriously. And what we do, we live everyday. It's part of us. That's why it's very convincing.
Do you believe that death metal has already started to diminish?
We'd like to keep Deicide on its category. We don't sound like somebody else and you can completely understand where we're coming from. That's also why we've never had any line-up changes, Deicide has stayed Deicide from the start. We're not a bunch of rock-stars, we never claimed to be a bunch of rock-stars. I hate the rock-star attitude.
You don't hang out too much in the local scene, do you?
Once every blue moon you'll see me at a gig but very rarely. The last show I went to was Slayer. It confirmed what I always told myself. It's what's going on in the music industry as far as bands trying to capitalize on something just to be able to make money. I'm not slagging Slayer now, but they look that they're getting kind of tired with what they're doing.
It gave me some sort of this impression myself too. The lightshow was a big part of the show, it was so unique.
You can't let your whole show rely on a light show. If you don't have that energy on stage, the lights cannot do it for you. The new album doesn't have that old energy either. A lot has to do with the fact that Dave Lombardo is not in the band anymore. It's what I told you before, if you have a solid band and you make a personal change you screw yourself. Dave Lombardo was Slayer, the new drummer is not Slayer. They lost a lot of energy. I have nothing against Slayer or anything like that. I just feel that they lost a lot of energy when they lost their drummer.
I have always wonder how Deicide would look live if you used a stronger light show.
Well, our tours are self financed so it's really hard to have such a light show with the limited budget we have. We have lots of power anyways, the music is loud and that's what it's all about.
Scott Burns, your long time producer and death-metal sound wizard, did an excellent job on the way music and vocals come across in this album too.
He also has a killer engineer. Scott is a friend of ours and everybody in the band respects Scott's opinion. He has many nice ideas and he also works as a motivator, when you get in the studio with Scott he gives you a lot of motivation. The band does most of the stuff but we value Scott's opinion. We don't treat him as an employee, Scott's part of the band when we record.
I see from the new album that everybody gets equal credit. It's not just a Glen Benton thing because magazines always liked to headline your picture, attitude and beliefs...
Exactly, there's no leader. Everybody in the band gets credit for what he does. That's how it has always been. Everybody has a say in the band.
It's very extraordinary for a drummer to write most of the music for his band as Steve Asheim does for Deicide...
On this his record he wrote most of the tunes, he wrote like 7 or 8 songs. That's because he doesn't have a wife, all he does is sit at home! Steve had a very productive period early this year, he was turning in new ideas nearly every day. It's good if you can have a drummer that writes music because his drumming gets much more solid. The latter gives music a lot more strength and a lot more power.
How would you judge 'Legion', your previous album? It has always been 'very fast' for me (and I'm the one who likes fast albums!, ed).
It is too fast. It's the type of record that it goes up so quickly that you cannot comprehend what's going on. You have to listen to it two or three times in a row to understand what's going on.
That's true, everything was shaded by the fast rhythm, everything was hidden behind it.
Exactly. The new record is completely the opposite. All the heavy parts are the main parts of the songs.
Let's change the topic. I want to ask you about Satanism, your belief is quite a controversial subject. What would be your response to the fact that young people claiming to be Satanists have raped, killed or have been aggressive in the name of their religion?
What you described is called ignorance and immaturity, a five minutes worth of fame, that's what it is. What happens is that these kids are getting disillusioned and they believe that to get closer to Satanism is to do things like that. This is wrong. Satan appreciates deeds but only when they're done (pause) ...in taste. They actually have to be done for him, not for yourself,or for any kind of gratification of your own behalf.
What's your perception of Satanism anyways? With so much different stuff heard and said I still feel confused.
There's God and there's Satan. Satan got kicked out of Heaven and was put on earth. That's what the Christian Bible likes to say. Satan rules this world, Satanism is a philosophy. There're good people and there're evil people. I was born an evil one.
You don't seem an evil person to me now that we're talking. What you have said during the course of this interview makes perfect sense.
It comes down how I have lived my life and how I base a decision. I mean, if I walk outside right now, to go to a store and somebody comes out and bumps on me, I'm gonna bump him back. It's a philosophy about yourself, it's only me, myself and I and I read an eye for an eye.
Let me ask you this, what does God represent for you?
In the Bible, God was all created to give unity upon this world. Without that book and without the unity of the word God there would be nothing than death and mayhem. That book was created to control mayhem and death but all it has done is to create one big hypocrisy.
You can blame people for being hypocrites, the religion can never be a hypocrisy itself, do you agree?
OK, I agree.
It's people doing evil things and the lack of a true belief in the religion.
This is because of what I told you, because Satan rules this world. Regardless how much you would like to think you're a Christian, Satan rules this world and you'll never escape it. God has completely disowned this planet. From this point of view, Satanism is a realistic philosophy on life and the Christian religion is not a realistic philosophy on life.
All the above sound contradictory to what I've had heard.
Christians have a real hard time with truth. That's also why they have a hard time with me. When somebody comes out and speaks the opposite and it's the truth, that's when they get intimidated--and when they get intimidated it's when they kill. Christians only killed when they've been intimidated. The even killed Jesus. They say they turn the cheek, but they really don't.
Have you encountered incidents where journalists change what you say?
Like what? Like people who don't write down what I'm saying,they get it all screwed up? Yes, sometimes when they write it, they apply their opinion to what they've heard.
Myself I'm gonna be raw, the way you told me things the same way I'll put them on paper. Raw, just like your music!
(laughs).
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