Deicide – Banished by Sin (Review)

This is the 13th album from the US death metallers Deicide.

After 2018’s Overtures of Blasphemy the mighty Deicide now return with 39 minutes of new material on Banished by Sin. It may have been some time since Overtures of Blasphemy, but I haven’t been disappointed by this new one.

Banished by Sin delivers twelve tracks of patented Deicide brutality. It’s heavy, sleek and melodic, and no song reaches the four minute mark. Hell, only one actually goes past three and a half. These new songs are lean killing machines, focusing on deathly hooks, menacing riffs, and melodic bite.

The Deicide style is a well-established one, but within this there’s a decent amount of variety on display here. The trademark Deicide sound is present and correct, just as you would want it to be, but thankfully the songs here have their individual personalities that identify them. These then feed into the whole, making for a satisfying album that demonstrates why Deicide have lasted so long in the death metal killing arenas.

The songs are well-written and executed with professional skill. It’s the death metal equivalent of easy listening for me, and Banished by Sin is a effortlessly enjoyable listen throughout. I’ll also note that I’ve always been a big fan of singer Glen Benton’s voice, and here it has lost none of its monstrous power.

As someone who first started listening to Deicide a loooooong time ago, I can’t help but think of Banished by Sin as a damn good album. It takes influence from the band’s early days and combines this with their more recent melodic approach, while benefiting from a potent contemporary delivery. If you’re a fan of song-based death metal that’s got plenty of hooks, it’s hard to see how you could really dislike this.

Highly recommended.