Glen Benton

Glen Michael Benton (born June 18, 1967) is an American musician, best known as the lead vocalist, bassist and lyricist for the Florida death metal band Deicide. He and drummer Steve Asheim are the only original members left in the band. He was also a member of the band Vital Remains, occasionally recording and performing with the band.

Benton is considered to be among the most prominent and influential "Satanic" death metal musicians in the subgenre's history. He is known for his extremely low and powerful growls, high shrieks, and overtly anti-Christian lyrics. He also widely recognized for an inverted cross that he had burned into his forehead several times during his youth. His music and personal life have been subject to controversy at various points throughout his career.

Early life and education Glen Michael Benton was born in Niagara Falls, New York but was raised in Clearwater, Florida. His family eventually relocated back to New York only to relocate back to Florida several years later. He also stated that the family "lived at war with each other" due to differences in religion. He stated: "People wonder why I am the way I am, well I say man, I was exposed to things at an early age that were like, creepy, haunting and fucked up at the same time." Benton was expelled from several public schools in Niagara Falls before enrolling in Catholic school, where he jokingly recalled not "even [making] it past the first 20 minutes."

Like his dissension of religion, Benton's interest in music also began at an early age; he claimed he knew he wanted to be a professional musician as early as age "9 or 10". He described himself as "the kid in the mirror rocking out with a tennis racket", naming Chuck Berry, The Beatles, Little Richard, Elvis Presley and The Rolling Stones as his earliest inspirations. He eventually began creating music by experimenting with his father's guitars, claiming to have been heckled by his brother in the process.

Musical career

On July 21, 1987, after guitarist Brian Hoffman replied to Benton's advertisement in a local music magazine, Deicide was formed. Within days the band, consisting of Benton (bass/vocals), Hoffman, Hoffman's brother Eric (guitars) and Steve Asheim (drums), was named "Amon", after the Egyptian deity. Within a month, Amon had recorded the crude Feasting the Beast 8-track demo in Benton's garage and had started playing the occasional gig in the Tampa area. In 1989, Amon recorded their second demo, Sacrificial, at Morrisound with producer Scott Burns.

Benton had his tonsils removed when he was 24 years old, following the release of Deicide's second album Legion. The procedure was financed by Roadrunner Records. He toured Europe with Deicide two weeks later while still recovering from the surgery.

Since 1990, Benton has recorded and released thirteen full-length studio albums with Deicide, the most recent being Banished by Sin in 2024.

Artistry

Stage persona Benton was notorious for his unyieldingly provocative public persona early in Deicide's career, and was known for making bizarre and shocking statements to the music press during this time. In a 1991 interview, Benton stated that his intention was "to create the most evil-est music and to gain entrance into the seven gates of hell," describing Deicide's live performances as a "focal point to express [his] Satanism." He described his understanding of demonic possession as "when you come to a certain point [where] there's no turning back [...] and your body is possessed, and there's no way you can turn back." He claimed in an interview he shares a "spiritual link" with Lucifer, who tells him "what to say and what to write about."

Benton recalls being referred to as "the evil little bastard" by family members while he was growing up. He said: "I just fell into it, and it’s the persona I’ve had ever since I was a little kid, through school and through everything else. I don’t even really know why, but do I get off on raising eyebrows and ruffling feathers? Fuck yeah, I do! [...] Most kids rebel, and I wanted to fight the powers."

Lyrical themes Benton writes all of Deicide's lyrics, and the band's themes rarely deviate from blasphemous topics such and anti-Christian sentiment and Satanism. Benton stated that: "It’s beaten into me, so I can’t sing about anything else. If I try to sing about other things, I draw a complete blank. I let the universe speak through me, and if I have to force it, it just won’t come." Comparing lyrical composition to defecating, he stated that "you want it to [...] flow out of you naturally."

Benton attempts to incorporate double messages into his lyrics, and claims to have been deeply disturbed by some of the messages he has heard while playing Deicide songs backwards.

Bass playing and vocal style Benton's vocals alternative between high shrieks, death growls, and screaming (which he self-describes as his "angry man voice"). Benton claims that getting his tonsils removed at age 24 has contributed to the tone of his singing voice. He self-describes as "more of a rhythm player," and composes many of his musical contributions to Deicide on the guitar.

Public image and legacy

Benton is considered to be one of the most recognizable and influential extreme metal frontmen of all time. Described as "an artist whose public persona and music will forever be intertwined," Benton has been referred to as "the face of Satanic death metal". Metal Injection said Benton "will absolutely go down as one of death metal's most well-known characters." MetalSucks called him "hilarious and insane". In light of this, Benton has personally expressed the sentiment that modern heavy metal acts lack the theatric personalities in their frontpeople that inspired him during his youth, such as Ozzy Osbourne and Elvis Presley. Benton said in 2024: "To this day, I don’t know what the fuck I was thinking, but I knew that I had been christened Catholic as a child, and I felt that the best way to take care of that would be my symbolic way of taking that Catholic mark off of my skin." He estimated that he had burned the cross into his skin twelve times, adding that the most recent time he was able to see veins and bone from his skull. He eventually ceased this practice after his mother begged him to do so.

The nature of Benton's Satanism is obscure and a subject of controversy, particularly due to allegations by former Deicide guitarist Eric Hoffman, who dismissed it as insincere and spurious. However, Benton's claims are generally considered to have always been tongue-in-cheek, as his purported Satanism has since largely been defined as vehement anti-Christian atheism complemented with theatrics suitable for the band. Additionally, Benton has called himself a "showman," and has stated that there is no ideological agenda in Deicide, and that the music is foremost. Despite the lyrical content of Deicide, Benton does not dismiss all who believe in God; he has explained that broadly despising all Christians or theists would entail "hav[ing] nothing to do with" many people in his life, including his parents. He further explained: "That's just ignorance to condemn somebody for what they believe. That would be totally a hypocrisy to what I do. I believe what I believe and I have the freedom to do that. [...] I ain't gonna condemn you for believing in God, I just think you're an idiot."

However, in an interview with music magazine Seconds, Benton stated that he did infact hold spiritual beliefs and engaged in prayer: "I know that when I talk to my god - and it ain't Jehovah - who I talk to in my head, and who I pray to - if you want to call it that - that I have someone looking over me."

In 2018, Benton outright rejected the Satanist label, contending that had been tagged as such by the religious right in the United States, and stating he prefers to perceive himself as simply a "free thinker". He said: "They labeled me and generalized me, so I generalize it all back. It's all a business. Just like they make money off of God, I make money off of them."

Personal politics Despite having admitted to have voted in previous US elections, by 2022 Benton had publicly implied that he was apolitical. When pressed regarding his personal opinions on Joe Biden, Donald Trump and Black Lives Matter in a YouTube interview, Benton replied: "Man, you know what? I have a saying, and I live by it: 'Politics are for assholes.' I'll leave it at that."

Controversies In 1992, newspapers reported that Benton had expressed an interest in, and participated in, the slaughter of live rodents such as rats and squirrels. During an interview with NME, Benton shot a squirrel in the head with a pellet gun; Benton explained that it was done to prevent any further damage to his electrical system and other contents in the attic of his home where the interview was being held. The publicity led to an attempted bomb attack on Benton during Deicide's Legion tour at the International 2 in Manchester, England, by an animal rights organization. Benton was also beaten up in Bradford. A similar attack was attempted at a previous show in Stockholm, where a supposed small fire bomb was set to detonate during Deicide's set. No one was injured, but the bomb damaged the venue. The bomb was reported to be an M-80. The tour was curtailed.

Deicide also caused controversy early in its career when Benton tossed rotting animal meat into the crowd. Benton recalled: “I didn’t think playing shows with rotting meat as part of our set-up was gonna cause that much of a shitstorm. Within three shows of that stuff I had the authorities bearing down on me, so it was a very short-lived moment in Deicide history.”

Feuds

Bob Larson In the early to mid-1990s, Benton was a frequent opponent guest to Christian radio shows, such as Bob Larson's Talk Back show. Serious discussions rarely took place between the two on the program, and the exchanges mainly consisted of taunts from Benton and tongue-in-cheek teasing. Larson continually invited Benton to his talk show, but Benton often declined. Benton claimed he was "roped into" the appearances on Larson's show, which he said were arranged by Roadrunner Records. When asked about Larson in 2012, Benton said: "We all know about Bob. Bob knows we know. And then Bob gets asked questions he can’t answer anymore." Benton contested this claim, telling Blabbermouth in 2006 that the Hoffmans were told that the new publishing deal was based on "who wrote what" rather than the previous four-way split, due to waning contribution on their part. The brothers promptly quit the band upon receiving publishing checks for Scars and realizing that they had only received payment for a handful of the album's tracks. Benton also claimed that Eric Hoffman had harassed and threatened Steve Asheim, as well as "talking shit on Blabbermouth about Steve's dad dying", with Benton vowing to defend himself should he catch the guitarist trespassing on his property.

They later attempted to sue Glen Benton for the rights to the Deicide name. According to Eric Hoffman, they wanted to use the Deicide name for their new band, but Benton and Asheim had taken the name beforehand. In response, Benton countersued the Hoffmans in order to remove their names from the band's trademark.

In 2019, Eric Hoffman made a threatening Facebook post directed at Benton, calling him a fraud, and vowing to collect the royalties from Scars of the Crucifix. Benton responded on the Into the Combine podcast, saying that Eric "loses his mind" over the band proceeding without them. He also claimed Deicide's track record is much better than theirs, as since they departed, "they did one shitty album and tried ripping off the fans, charged them for videos and bullshit like that. And then from there, they’ve done two shitty shows here in the state of Florida, and from what I was told, they almost canceled those." Benton described them as a cover band since they didn't have the original singer.

In 2022, Brian Hoffman made a lengthy post on Facebook vowing to hunt Benton down for taking the royalties for Scars and the merchandise profits. That same year, Benton again reflected on the split in an interview with Chris Garza of Suicide Silence. According to Benton, the Hoffmans were unprofessional towards him and Asheim, who he believes were doing all the work. He said was ready to quit the band because of them and the fact that he was doing Vital Remains, but them quitting the band instead was a favor to him, though they wanted to "burn it down" upon leaving.

Benton also suggested that although his relationship with the Hoffmans was damaged beyond repair, the situation could be significantly improved by a simple apology from either of them, though he believed it was unlikely this would ever actually happen.

The following day, Taylor told Loudwire that he had no recollection of Deicide ever submitting for tours with Slipknot. Taylor said of Benton: "He wants to be pissed at me, go ahead -- get in line. Everybody's pissed at me. But don't talk shit on my guys and don't say shit that isn't fucking true."

Personal life leftAlthough Benton has admitted to drug abuse, heavy drinking, and smoking during his younger years, he claims to have adopted a healthier lifestyle in his later years. He was quoted saying: "You know what? Who hasn't experimented with a few things in their life? Big deal. So what if I experimented? [...] Look, I don't even drink anymore. [...] I'll have a Heineken every once in a while, but I was drinking a bottle of Jack Daniel's every night before I went onstage and another bottle while I was playing. That starts catching up with you real quick, and I started going blind in my right eye. So after a nice scare at the doctor's office about four years ago, I stopped." On the topic of methamphetamine, he opined: "It’s just a disgusting, gross drug, and people who do it are normally gross themselves – junkies and shit. But that’s not my game anymore, man! I’m healthy living now." Benton has stated that he now maintains the habits of low-carb dieting and cycling to preserve his physical well-being.

Benton has expressed his desire to be cremated, citing concerns that his gravesite could be defecated or urinated on, and that his ashes be scattered in the ocean, citing concerns that his ashes could be snorted.

Discography

With Deicide As Amon; Feasting the Beast demo (1987) As Amon; Sacrificial demo (1989) Deicide (1990) Legion (1992) Amon: Feasting the Beast compilation (1993) Once Upon the Cross (1995) Serpents of the Light (1997) When Satan Lives live album (1998) Insineratehymn (2000) In Torment in Hell (2001) The Best of Deicide compilation (2003) Scars of the Crucifix (2004) When London Burns DVD (2006) The Stench of Redemption (2006) Doomsday L.A. live EP/DVD (2007) Till Death Do Us Part (2008) To Hell with God (2011) In the Minds of Evil (2013) Overtures of Blasphemy (2018) Banished by Sin (2024)

With Vital Remains Dechristianize (2003) Icons of Evil (2007)

Guest appearances Cannibal Corpse, Eaten Back to Life (1990); backing vocals on "Mangled" and "A Skull Full of Maggots" Napalm Death, Harmony Corruption (1990); backing vocals on "Unfit Earth" Cancer, Death Shall Rise (1991); backing vocals on "Hung, Drawn and Quartered" Cannibal Corpse, Butchered at Birth (1991); backing vocals on "Vomit the Soul" Transmetal, Dante's Inferno (1993); backing vocals on "Dante's Inferno" and "Hymn for Him" Roadrunner United (2005); vocals on "Annihilation by the Hands of God" Roadrunner United Live Concert DVD (2008); vocals on Obituary's "The End Complete" and Deicide's "Dead By Dawn". Belphegor, Conjuring the Dead (2014); additional vocals on "Legions of Destruction"