Living Sacrifice

The Hammering Process (Solid State)
by Tim Den

Living Sacrifice was the first Christian death metal band I ever heard. God, that was a long time ago. Seems like they’ve survived the ages by adapting their identity in much the same way that the forerunners did: by going “groove-oriented.” You know what I’m talking about: Sepultura did it starting with Chaos A.D. and Machine Head propelled it with Burn My Eyes. Of course, this trend also gave us Roots, The More Things Change…, early metalcore (Snapcase, Earth Crisis, Temperance, basically shitty, boring D-grade metal), and other useless shit like present day rapcore. Now I’m not sure if the terms of survival were really worth it. But lucky us, a few smarter ones (Living Sacrifice included) recognized a smarter approach within the dumbed-down route and set themselves after the “Meshuggah Model” as fast as you can say “syncopation.” So even though the riffs are still way too simple to be endearing, the rhythms at least keep it interesting. The Hammering Process has great production (unbelievable drum sounds!), intricate guitar and ride cymbal interplay, and ex-death metal dudes who now sport short haircuts and hardcore clothing. Hey, at least it beats most post-’94 metal records.
(PO Box 12698 Seattle, WA 98111)