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.
Benton's resentment of organized religion, for which he would eventually become notorious, began at an early age. His father was a practicing Roman Catholic and his mother was Lutheran, and he was dealt what he described as "the worst of both worlds." Additionally, Benton's mother was a Sunday school teacher, and he recalled being forced to participate in his church's Christmas pageant at age 8 against his will. He said: "I was singing at the front of the church thinking, 'How did I get myself into this shit?'" 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. Benton's musical interests took a drastic turn when he was exposed to Black Sabbath for the first time. He reflected, "I remember being at the breakfast table 7:30 in the morning with my boombox blasting ‘Paranoid’ at my mother." Benton later worked in a local record store, which exposed him to extreme metal. He decided he wanted to become a metal vocalist during a night spent tripping on psychedelics and listening to the album Seven Churches by Possessed.
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.Mudrian, Albert (2004). In Choosing Death: The Improbable History of Death Metal and Grindcore, Feral House, , pp. 90–91. 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.Mudrian (2004), as above. 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."
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." He claims he is motivated by dissenters, saying "the more you tell me not to do this, I'm gonna do it." Benton has cited Black Sabbath, Dio, Judas Priest, Ozzy Osbourne, and Ronnie James Dio as influences on his showmanship. Early in Deicide's career, Benton wore an armored suit with spikes while performing, which he said was to deter stage divers. He recalled: "They would come smashing into me! That’s why I was wearing that shit — to keep them idiots from jumping on top of me. I used to wear all the armor, but nowadays things have changed, man. Once you’ve been sued a few times you learn to roll it back."
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." He further explained that his lyricisms are not intended to exclusively attack Christianity, saying: "When I say God or Christianity or Jesus, whatever you want to refer to it, I mean all your Jesuses, all your gods, all your so-called prophets, all religions. All of it. I'm not picking on one. I'm picking on all of it, okay? People can interpret it the way they want to interpret it, towards their god or whatever."
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.
Although Benton played bass guitar with his fingers early in Deicide's career, he eventually switched to using a pick. He found a pick easier to play with the speed and precision required for the band's music, and also said his approach to bass guitar "should be more like a guitar. It's just like playing rhythm guitar". He self-describes as "more of a rhythm player," and composes many of his musical contributions to Deicide on the guitar.
Equipment In May 2015, Benton was endorsed by ESP guitars, and has been using a custom-made EX bass with a reverse headstock and EMG pick-ups since then. He has also used Phoenix and Stream bass models.
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 is notorious for an inverted cross he has repeatedly branded into his forehead over the years, beginning when he was 22. According to Deicide drummer Steve Asheim, this act was likely in response to previous press attention the band received when Brian Hoffman burned an inverted cross into his arm with a cigarette.YouTube - Steve Asheim Interview Deicide 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." Later that same year, he told Hells Headbangers Records co-founder Justin Horval that he had always wanted to do it, and "thought it would be cool". 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.DEICIDE Frontman: Whenever ERIC HOFFMAN Posts Something On BLABBERMOUTH, We Know It's Him Additionally, Benton has called himself a "showman," and has stated that there is no ideological agenda in Deicide, and that the music is foremost.GOING POSTAL | RevolverMag.com - The World's Loudest Rock Magazine!
Religious beliefs
Benton has expressed vehement antireligious sentiment throughout his career, and claims to have held these personal values since his childhood. He is quoted saying: "I think people know how to treat each other, and don’t need a book full of bullshit to tell them how to do it." He also stated: "I do believe in good and I believe in doing good. Now, do I believe that if my neighbor's a fucking asshole, I should like him and turn the other cheek? Fuck that. If you want me to treat you good, you have to earn it." 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."