Deicide - Serpents of the Light (2025 Reissue)

Calling a Deicide album “more accessible” is kind of like calling a velociraptor less lethal than a T-Rex…you’re gonna die either way. But on 1997’s Serpents of the Light, the fourth album from the Tampa death metal quartet, Glen Benton’s rage-filled imprecations are a little more intelligible and songs like “Slave to the Cross” and “Blame It on God” do sport choruses that verge upon being hooky (if you have a meathook in mind).

The anti-religion invective remains unabated, however…this remains music in extremis despite the stripped-down production.

For its first-ever standalone U.S. LP release, Real Gone have remastered Serpents of the Light for vinyl and given it a deathly blue pressing complete with an inner sleeve featuring lyrics and a 12” x 24” poster of the cover image. Not for even the faintly faint of heart.