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Living Sacrifice - In Memoriam

 

	RELEASED: March 29th, 2005 PRODUCER: Bruce Fitzhugh/Living Sacrifice LABEL:Solid State Records BAND: Darren Johnson, Jason Truby, Chris Truby, Rocky Gray, Lance Garvin, Arthur Green, Cory Putman, Matthew Putman, Bruce Fitzhugh
+ Consistently excellent musicianship, ferocity, diversity, new songs - Lots of style changes, inconsistent sound	TRACKS: 1.In Christ 2.Power of God 3.Killers 4.Symbiotic 5.Send Your Regrets 6.Bloodwork 7.Local Vengeance Killing 8.Reborn Empowered 9.Reject 10.Enthroned ‘98 11.Breathing Murder 12.In the Shadow 13.Distorted 14.Haven of Blasphemy 15.Obstruction 16.Anorexia Spiritual

OVERVIEW

Now THIS is how a greatest hits record is done, folks.  “In Memoriam” is none of that “Let’s milk this band for one more record” crap – not only is each of Living Sacrifice’s six studio albums equally represented (which some will see as positive, and others just won’t), but the band includes 3 (count ‘em, 3) brand new, unreleased tracks AND the 1998 version of “Enthroned”, a song that was previously only available on a horribly obscure Solid State Records compilation.  And there was much rejoicing.

            What has always impressed me about Living Sacrifice has been that they completely shatter the stereotype of Christian metal as cheesy, derivate, second-rate copycat garbage.  Despite basically having an average of at least one lineup change per album, LS was guaranteed to put out technically excellent, genre-pushing records that combined ferocity and conviction you just don’t see in Christian or secular music.  As this reverse-chronological compilation shows, the band cut it’s teeth on breakneck thrash straight out of the Slayer playbook, then jumped into the early 90’s death metal scene with “Nonexistent” and “Inhabit”, combined death and thrash with some serious hardcore groove and attitude for “Reborn”, blended all that with a math-metal twist for “The Hammering Process”, and finally ended somewhere in between all of these for their swan song “Conceived in Fire”.  All of their albums sound quite different from each other, but at the end of the day, they still sound like Living Sacrifice, which is why they’ve kept so many die-hard fans even after their final show in 2003.

 

SONGS

Like I said, Living Sacrifice start with the more recent material and work backwards, and the first three tracks on here are all previously unreleased stuff LS recorded sometime around “Conceived in Fire”.  “In Christ” opens the record with the pummeling double bass, crushing riffs, and ferocious vocals Living Sacrifice built their sound on, and “The Power of God” could’ve easily fit on “Conceived in Fire”.  “Killers” is probably one of the most melodic songs in the LS catalog, but it’s still pretty good and is an interesting hint at where LS might have wound up had they continued.  Next up, we have two cuts from “Conceived in Fire” and while “Symbiotic” is a no-brainer for a greatest hits record, “Send Your Regrets” has always been merely good to me, not great.  “Bloodwork” and “Local Vengeance Killing” are a good representation of “The Hammering Process”, although I was kind of bummed that that album’s insanely tech-death inspired closer “Conditional” didn’t make it on here.  Anyways, most LS fans will tell you that “Reborn” represents the band at their peak, and I’d be hard-pressed to disagree – “Reborn Empowered” finds LS at arguably their most fast and furious ever, and “Reject” is one of the catchiest songs the band has ever written, period, with Bruce Fitzhugh putting on a virtuosic, ferocious screaming performance.  “Enthroned ‘98” is the re-done song I had mentioned, and this version absolutely smokes the album version on “Nonexistent”.  “Breathing Murder” and “In the Shadow” are a pair of songs from LS’s death metal days, as are “Distorted” and “Haven of Blasphemy”, and while these represent their respective albums well, the vocals on these just aren’t that great.  Fortunately for old-schoolers, this leads us to the early days where LS took cues from Bay Area thrash bands like Exodus and especially Slayer, and both “Anorexia Spiritual” and “Obstruction” are solid, but I would’ve loved to see that album’s pulverizing opener “Violence” close this record, as it absolutely kills and is basically jaw-dropping when you consider that most band members were 19 or 20 when they cut their first record.

CONCLUSION

It’s basically impossible to please everyone on a greatest hits CD, but as a die-hard LS fan, I’d say this record is about as good as it could get for the band.  This is clearly a record for the fans – 4 of the 16 songs on here are either brand-new or previously unreleased, and each phase in LS’s musical evolution is well covered.  This record is not only a great intro to the band, but also a fitting homage to one of Christian metal’s most revered and essential bands.  Living Sacrifice, we salute you.

Review by Matt Rewinski

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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