"Musically, we're back to the 1990s style," Benton says. "There's modern stuff in there, too. It's Deicide the way it was meant to be. My hooky songs are there, Steve's prog-styled songs are there, and we got Kevin's theme-styled songs. Having Taylor in the band has impacted Deicide greatly. He's a fantastic songwriter and player. He can do anything.
The four of us contributed three songs each. I'm back with the high screaming and layering. I'm just absolutely going off on this one. I've been told it's one of my best vocal performances. I'm like Rumpelstiltskin—here to spin your hay into gold. Everybody's going to be pleasantly surprised."
Banished by Sin's lyrics were split between Benton, Asheim, Quirion, and Nordberg. Each had a hand in penning some of the craziest, spiritually antagonistic lyrics to appear on a Deicide album. From "From Unknown Heights You Shall Fall," "A Trinity Of None," and "Bury The Cross…With Your Christ" to "Sever the Tongue," "Failures Of Your Dying Lord," and "I Am I…A Curse Of Death," the foursome mocked, mauled, and left for dead Christendom from every angle. If the gruesome visuals of "Bury the Cross...With Your Christ," fantastically realized by auteurs David Brodsky and Allison Woest of My Good Eye: Music Visuals (Cannibal Corpse, King Diamond), didn't offend, then lines like this from "Sever the Tongue" certainly will, "Wrath of the holy / God is no more / Satan possess me / No savior reborn / F**k your religion / Sever the tongue."
"I'm a big fan of the lyrics," enthuses Benton. "Kevin and I write really good lyrics together. He's got his specific references, and my s**t's all deep. Taylor was pretty spot on, too. I don't expect everybody to buy into what we're writing. They're for entertainment purposes only. I don't expect anyone to sever anyone's tongue here, but I will say there's some pretty dark s**t on the record. The video for 'Bury The Cross…With Your Christ' isn't subtle."
Deicide brought Banished by Sin to Jeramie Kling and Smoke & Mirrors Productions (The Absence, Inhuman Condition) in Spring Hill, Florida. Produced by Deicide and engineered by Kling and Nordberg between November 2022 and May 2023, the album was tracked with the 1990s in mind but imbued with a present-day auditory aesthetic. Deicide wanted a live, balls-to-the-wall sound and got there by recruiting famed mixing and mastering guru Josh Wilbur (Gojira, Lamb of God). Benton's multi-headed vocals, Quirion and Taylor Nordberg's wicked riffs/wild solos, and Asheim's earsplitting drums jump out of the speakers violently. Singles "Bury The Cross...With Your Christ,"
"From Unknown Heights You Shall Fall," and "Sever the Tongue" pave the way to ultimate Biblical destruction.
