Behemoth: The Godless IV

Behemoth takes its name from the biblical beast, suggesting immediately the type of style its founders were going for. The band formed in 1991 with Nergal being the only original member to still be in the current line-up of the band. With Nergal on the guitar and lead vocals, the other two original members consisted of Adam ‘Baal Ravenlock’ Muraszko on drums and Adam ‘Desecrator’ Malinowski on the guitar and bass. The band started by recording demos in the early 90s, which gained little attention anywhere outside the Polish underground metal scene. They began to tour during this period, but failed to gain a large fan base due to bad promotion.

The band’s fifth album saw their real rise to fame as a headlining tour soon followed. The album, titled ‘Thelema.6’ marked the band’s real move towards blackened death metal. The album showed off the band’s precise and impressive guitar parts and drumming and was heavily supported by the press and media. With the major success of this album, the band was able to play at a number of prestigious live events like Wacken Open Air, With Full Force, Inferno Metal Festival, Mystic Festival, and Mind Over Matter Autumn, all of which helped them to increase their fan base.

With ten albums to their name as of 2014, hit singles such as ‘Blow Your Trumpets Gabriel’ and ‘Decade of Therion’ and a number of nominations, and one win, from the Polish Fryderyk Awards, the band has built quite a following for itself.

When vocalist and bassist Glen Benton put an advert in a local music magazine to start a band, guitarist Brian Hoffman responded alongside his brother Eric (guitar) and old bandmate Steve Asheim (drums). Together they formed Amon, inspired by the likes of Slayer, Dark Angel, and Exodus, playing locally in the Tampa area.

At the request of their then label Roadrunner Records, in 1989 the band agreed to change their name to Deicide. In 1990 they set the ball in motion as they released their debut self-titled album inspired by themes of the classic horror film Evil Dead rife with brutal blast beats, breakdowns and their controversial satanic lyrical content which was carried through in subsequent releases "Legion" (1992), "Once Upon the Cross" (1995) and "Serpents of the Light" (1997).

In 2004 growing tension in the band between the Hoffman brothers and Benton surrounding royalty and publishing divides caused the brothers to announce their departure from the band. Later that year they would reform their former band Amon. Deicide replaced the brothers with ex Cannibal Corpse guitarist Jack Owen and Vital Remains guitarist Dave Suzuki.

In 2006, the band released their eighth album “The Stench of Redemption” continuing themes of destruction and anti-Christianity, the album reached number 11 in Billboard’s HeatSeekers chart proving to be one of their greatest chart successes. The following year the band announced that they would be briefly go on hiatus.

In 2009 the band announced through social networking site MySpace that they had signed with Century Media Records, home to the likes of Napalm Death, Orphaned Land and Suicide Silence. Playing festivals such as Hellfest, Bloodstock and Total Metal festival, Deicide continue to shock, surprise and entertain the only way they know how.