UMUR "Scars of the Crucifix" is the seventh full-length studio album by US, Florida based death metal act Deicide. The album was released through Earache Records in February 2004. It would be the last album by the band to feature the classic lineup which consisted of the Hoffman brothers Eric and Brian on guitars, Glen Benton on bass/Vocals and Steve Asheim on drums. The Hoffman brothers left the band in November 2004 citing a number of different both personal and financial issues as the reasons.

The music on "Scars of the Crucifix" is in the trademark Deicide satanic/anti-Christian fast-paced death metal style. The album contains 9 tracks and features an only 29:32 minutes long playing time. Titles like "Mad at God", "Fuck Your God", "When Heaven Burns", and "Go Now Your Lord Is Dead" leave absolutely no doubt that Glen Benton´s contempt for Christianity hasn´t decreased with the years. If anything it burns even stronger than ever on this release. Unfortunately his lyric writing skills are not very developed and several times I cringe with embarrasment at his immature hateful outbursts. I have no problem with the messages, but they lyrics just sometimes read like they were written by a five-year old child. It´s probably an aquired taste but personally I would have liked to have seen some development of the lyrical themes over the years...but of course it wouldn´t really be Deicide now would it? The music is as usual really fast-paced and very brutal death metal delivered with great technical skills. The musicianship is tight and everything from the busy powerful drumming, the brutal guitar riffs and blistering solo work, to the rumbling bass and hateful brutal growling just work.

The sound production is professional, raw, and powerful, and while it´s not the best sounding production job on a Deicide album (nothing in their discography really compares to the first three albums, neither in terms of songwriting nor in terms of production values) it´s still a good quality production, suiting the material well.

Upon conclusion "Scars of the Crucifix" is a good quality death metal release by Deicide, but there´s nothing new here and they´ve already done these things much better on their early albums, so while this certainly isn´t a redundant release, and it´s arguably a step up in quality from "In Torment in Hell" (2001), the changes which happened within the band over the next couple of years were welcome at this point. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.

arcane-beautiful After trailing through the 90's and early 2000's with a line of classic and unclassic death metal releases, Deicide decided to go back to their original sound and just make a balls to the wall evil death metal album.

This album, being the last to feature the classic line-up, with the Hoffman brothers on guitars. It was sad to see them go, but the future for these guys does become slightly more brighter with the help of other musicians. Musically, the band have definitely progressed. While “Legion” had more technical passages, this album slowly brings back more of the bands technical ability. The guitar work has definitely stepped up than their early stuff, with the Hoffman's soloing becoming more technical and sounding a lot more unique (sweep picking can be heard a good bit too).

One thing I have to say about this album is that The best way to describe this album is comparing it to another angry and aggressive album, and that would be Slayer's “God Hates Us All”. These 2 albums would go very well back to back mainly for the pure anger in both, the blasphemy which emits from it like black bile and the rather aggressive approach to music.

Lyrically the album is probably the most blasphemous, with song titles like “Fuck Your God” and “Go Now Your Lord Is Dead.” I have to admit, when Glen does write lyrics, at times he can be rather aggressive with some of his images, but as a lyricist, he does know what he's talking about and he does speak the truth at times.

The title track which opens the album is definitely a classic Deicide track. That riff is like a hammer hitting your temple and knocking you out. The music video for the song is also worth giving a look at.

One of the album's highlights has to be the track “Fuck Your God.” A brilliant paced song with some absolutely insane riffs and vocals from Glen.

The delivery on the track “From Darkness Come” from Glen is just insane. His throat and mouth must be wrecked anytime they play this song live.

The album's shortest but one of the most “Go Now Your Lord Is Dead.” Just clocking under 2 minutes, the song is short and sweet. A small little head rush before the epic ending.

The album closer “The Pentecostal” is a brilliant ending to the album. Lyrically brilliant, Glen really paints a picture of brainwashed religion, and I couldn't help but think of the Westboro Baptist Church while reading it. The outro is pretty cool and atmospheric with some crazy piano playing.

In conclusion, this is definitely up there with one of Deicide's best. I have to admit, it's not as technically minded as the other Deicide albums, but this has to be one of their most aggressive. If you want an album that is like a drill in your ear...then totally check this album out.

8.3/10