Once upon the Cross

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Once upon the Cross
Once upon the cross.jpg
Studio album by
ReleasedApril 18, 1995 (1995-04-18)
Recorded1994
Studio Morrisound Recording, Tampa
Genre Death metal
Length28:10
Label Roadrunner
Producer Deicide, Scott Burns
Deicide chronology
Amon: Feasting the Beast
(1993)
Once upon the Cross
(1995)
Serpents of the Light
(1997)

Once upon the Cross is the third studio album by American death metal band Deicide, released on April 18, 1995 by Roadrunner Records.

Contents

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 and recording

Drummer 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] Asheim later affirmed that the original tracks of the album had been lost to history; he stated that due to budgetary restraints, the band simply slowed down the original tape the album had been tracked on, and re-tracked over it. [2]

Music

In a 1995 interview, Deicide bassist-vocalist Glen Benton said, "I think people are taking [the band] more serious[ly], and they're getting scared in that. You know, [the heaviness is] not going away. You know, it's one of the kind of things where [they'll] think 'well, maybe the next record they're gonna fuckin start softening.' I tell everybody man, the only things that get soft are butter and shit, man. We're not getting soft." [3]

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [4]
Classic Rock Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [5]
Guitar World Star full.svgStar full.svg [6]
Kerrang! Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svg [7]
NME 3/10 [8]

David Jehnzen of Allmusic noted the band's growth, and complimented the Hoffman brothers' "guitar pyrotechnics". [4]

Track listing

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

References

  1. Deicide interview (06/2006) - Metal Storm
  2. DEAD BY DAWG (September 17, 2024). Steve Asheim "I was not butt fukked on the Deicide bus and you better have squeaky clean johns" . Retrieved May 12, 2025 via YouTube.
  3. METAL VIDEOS ARCHIVE (March 6, 2018). Deicide - Interview + Once upon the cross, Australia 1995 . Retrieved April 2, 2025 via YouTube.
  4. 1 2 Jehnzen, David. "Once Upon the Cross - Deicide". Allmusic . Macrovision Corporation . Retrieved August 16, 2009.
  5. Sadler, Darren (July 2000). "Déjà Vu". Classic Rock . No. 16. Future plc. p. 79.
  6. Gilbert, Jeff (July 1995). "Reviews: Metal Detector". Guitar World . Vol. 15, no. 7. New York, New York: Stanley R. Harris. p. 104.
  7. Dome, Malcolm (May 6, 1995). "Albumz". Kerrang! . No. 544. EMAP. p. 43.
  8. Lewis, Angela. "Review: Deicide - Once Upon The Cross (Roadrunner/All formats)". NME (May 20, 1995). IPC Media: 45.