Once upon the Cross is the third studio album by Florida death metal band Deicide. It was released on April 17, 1995, by Roadrunner Records.

Once upon the Cross
Studio album by
ReleasedApril 17, 1995 (1995-04-17)
Recorded1994
GenreDeath metal
Length28:10
LabelRoadrunner
ProducerDeicide, Scott Burns
Deicide chronology
Amon: Feasting the Beast
(1993)
Once upon the Cross
(1995)
Serpents of the Light
(1997)

The samples at the beginning of the opening track "Once upon the Cross" and "Trick or Betrayed" are taken from the film The Last Temptation of Christ.

Musical style

edit

Steve Asheim said of Once upon the Cross, "Listening back, '...Cross' seems very slow. Live we play those songs much faster. Actually we've always played them faster than they are on the record. When we went in the studio in '94 and I recorded the drum tracks at the speed I had been playing them at practice, we only had 22 minutes with the same amount of songs, they were just faster. 22 minutes does not make an album so I re-recorded the songs at a more controlled pace and still only ended up with 30 minutes. So there it was."[1]

Critical reception

edit
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic     [2]
Classic Rock     [3]
Kerrang!     [4]
NME3/10[5]

David Jehnzen of Allmusic said, "A typically brutal set from Deicide that is particularly notable for the guitar pyrotechnics of Eric and Brian Hoffman." He also noted, "the band continues to grow."[2]

[6]

Track listing

edit

All lyrics are written by Glen Benton; all music is composed by Deicide (Steve Asheim)

No.TitleLength
1."Once upon the Cross"3:34
2."Christ Denied"3:38
3."When Satan Rules His World"2:53
4."Kill the Christian"2:57
5."Trick or Betrayed"2:25
6."They Are the Children of the Underworld"3:09
7."Behind the Light Thou Shall Rise"2:59
8."To Be Dead"2:39
9."Confessional Rape"3:56
Total length:28:10

Personnel

edit

References

edit
  1. ^ Deicide interview (06/2006) - Metal Storm
  2. ^ a b Jehnzen, David. "Once Upon the Cross - Deicide". Allmusic. Macrovision Corporation. Retrieved August 16, 2009.
  3. ^ Sadler, Darren (July 2000). "Déjà Vu". Classic Rock. No. 16. Future plc. p. 79.
  4. ^ Dome, Malcolm (May 6, 1995). "Albumz". Kerrang!. No. 544. EMAP. p. 43.
  5. ^ Lewis, Angela. "Review: Deicide - Once Upon The Cross (Roadrunner/All formats)". NME (May 20, 1995). IPC Media: 45.
  6. ^ Arnopp, Jason (July 15, 2000). "Reissues". Kerrang! (810). EMAP: 45.