''Once upon the Cross'' is the third studio album by American death metal band

Deicide Deicide is the killing (or the killer) of a god. The concept may be used for any act of killing a god, including a life-death-rebirth deity who is killed and then resurrected. Etymology The term deicide was coined in the 17th century from m ...

. It was released on April 18, 1995, by Roadrunner Records. 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''.

Background

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."

Critical reception

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."

Track listing

Personnel

Glen Benton Glen Benton (born June 18, 1967) is an American death metal musician. He is best known as the lead vocalist and bassist for the death metal band Deicide and was also a part of the band Vital Remains, where he has performed in recording sessions a ...

– bass, vocals *Eric Hoffman – guitars *Brian Hoffman – guitars * Steve Asheim – drums *Deicide – production * Scott Burns – production

References

{{Authority control 1995 albums Deicide (band) albums Roadrunner Records albums Albums produced by Scott Burns (record producer) Albums recorded at Morrisound Recording