Deicide was arguably one of the most hellish bands to perform at Copenhell, and being an old school death metal favourite of many it should not be surprising that the area in front of the Hades stage was packed.
The fact that the band actually finally arrived for a show within our borders, after numerous promises and cancellations, did not lessen the crowds desire to see their anti-religious heroes I’m sure.

Sadly for those who were looking forward to this, the circumstances were far from favourable. When the band began playing, we were met with a thick, impenetrable wall of blast-beaten noise, made up of bass-drums and vocals. And that was it. Even when they began to get the other instruments on level with the aforementioned two, it was still so badly mixed it all came out as one big pile of mush…
Still it would seem like the band was happy enough (if such a thing is allowed to be said about a band of this calibre) to see us, and Glenn Benton reassured us several times that they were glad to be back, and especially happy about being back with a new and working agent (a nice little kick in the groin to their old partners). Hell, he even had time for a short yet polite; ”Thanks for having us” towards the end.
My big surprise came in seeing Ralph Santolla playing the guitar here (yes I admit, I’m no knower of Deicide and probably never will be), and even though everyone in the band was good at hammering away on their instruments like a hammer of, well not God I suppose, Santolla was the only one I saw really performing, as in moving about, posing a little, and in general showing signs of presence other than just headbanging and fast fingerwork on the fretboard. I’m glad he was there, without him this show would have been seriously dull to look at. As it was, this feeling was saved for the music instead.

Not that there was much signs of life in the audience either, but I think we can write this certain observation down to the fact that there was no room to move about! The place was more packed than for any other show I had seen so far. Ok, so it was the smaller of the two stages they were playing, but still!
Even with this, I can’t say I was especially impressed with what I saw or heard. Only a select few death metal bands have ever done anything for me, and Deicide have never been one of them; this night did nothing to change that.
As a last comment, I would like to add, learn your fucking lyrics! Throughout the show, Benton had to consult a ring binder which was mounted on his microphone stand to know what he should say. Not good enough…

Setlist (incomplete):

Once Upon The Cross
When Satan Rules His World
Serpents Of Light
Hang In Agony Until You’re Dead
They Are The Children Of The Underworld
Witness To Death
Into The Darkness You Go
How Can You Call Yourself A God
Lunatic Of God’s Creation
Sacrificial Suicide