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Living Sacrifice

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For the Swedish punk band, see Livin' Sacrifice.
Living Sacrifice

Living Sacrifice is a Christian metal band which formed in September 1989 in Little Rock, Arkansas, U.S. The band has released 7 studio albums, out of which the first 3 were recorded under R.E.X. Records with their original vocalist Darren Johnson as a more thrash metal and death metal oriented band. The band evolved into a metalcore style beginning with Reborn (1997) under Solid State Records with the original guitarist Bruce Fitzhugh on vocals. In sound they became similar to, but still distinct from Sepultura, while others have made comparisons to early Meshuggah. In 2003 the group split up, and later their label, Solidstate, released their best-of album, In Memoriam (2005). In 2008 Living Sacrifice reformed and released a 2 song digital only single called "Death Machine". They then began working on The Infinite Order which was released on January 26, 2010.

Biography

Early

Living Sacrifice was one of the first Christian death metal bands. They formed in 1989 by Darren "D.J." Johnson (bass/vocals), Bruce Fitzhugh (guitar) and Lance Garvin (drums). Later on, Jason Truby (who would later join P.O.D. for The Warriors EP, Volume 2 and studio albums Payable On Death and Testify), joined in on guitar.

In 1989 the four original members recorded a demo entitled Not Yielding to Ungodly that got into the hands of Kurt Bachman and Joey Daub from Believer, who signed the band to R.E.X. records.

1990s

In 1991, Living Sacrifice's self-titled debut was released on R.E.X. Records. The album received much comparison to thrash metal groups of the time, especially Slayer. In 1992, Living Sacrifice released their second album, Nonexistent. In this album, Living Sacrifice switched from Thrash metal to down-tuned death metal, and D.J. started experimenting with a death growl in his vocal approach. The members have said that they were disappointed with the experience of making this album and that the producer was to blame.

In 1994, the band released a third album, Inhabit, which is considered by some to be the heaviest of all Living Sacrifice albums.[citation needed] On Inhabit, D.J. returned to a more Thrash-oriented vocal approach, deeper and lower in tone than his vocals on the band's debut. After this recording R.E.X. went bankrupt, and Living Sacrifice signed onto Solid State Records seeking to widen their audience.[4]

After this, D.J. left the band and Bruce took over vocals.[4] Jason's brother, Chris, also joined on bass. With this new lineup, Living Sacrifice recorded Reborn, their Solid State debut, in 1997. The band started to play a mix of groove metal and metalcore.[5] Reborn is considered the most influential of all Living Sacrifice records and earned them a larger non-Christian fanbase. After this record, Chris and Jason left the band and Jay Stacy filled in on bass, but was later replaced by Arthur Green, formerly of Eso-Charis. Cory Brandan played guitar for a tour through Norway and Sweden but was then replaced by Rocky Gray (who would go on to play drums in Evanescence and We Are the Fallen and guitar in Soul Embraced.)

At the end of 1999, Matt Putman joined Living Sacrifice as a percussionist.

2000s

In 2000, Living Sacrifice recorded their fifth full length album, The Hammering Process, with a more rhythmical sound—more oriented towards groove metal. Bruce also sang in one Evanescence song, "Lies".

In 2001, A Tribute to Living Sacrifice was released. The album contains covers of many Living Sacrifice songs by other metal bands and former members, and a Living Sacrifice song from a split album called Metamorphosis, released in 1993.

In 2002, Living Sacrifice entered the studio again, resulting in the album Conceived In Fire. In 2003, Living Sacrifice cancelled the rest of one of their tours and announced that Living Sacrifice was disbanding. Each of the band members had other duties that had to be committed to and felt it was time to move on.

In March 2005, In Memoriam was released by Solid State Records. It is a "best of" album, containing three "newly written and recorded songs by Lance Garvin, Rocky Gray and Bruce Fitzhugh", two songs from each Living Sacrifice album, plus "Enthroned," a 1998 cover of a song originally released on 1992's Nonexistent. The three new songs are "In Christ", "Killers", and "The Power of God".

In 2007, Bruce Fitzhugh was featured on the song "Sixteen", on Demon Hunter's fourth album Storm The Gates Of Hell.

On February 4, 2008, a newly created official MySpace page was updated to announce the reformation of the band. They also announced their support of Demon Hunter in the "Stronger Than Hell" tour from May 26 through July 5, 2008. On June 10, 2008, Living Sacrifice released a two-song online only sampler called "Death Machine" which can be purchased at their Myspace page, amazonmp3, and iTunes. On the same day at the Dallas, Texas date of the "Stronger Than Hell" tour, Bruce Fitzhugh announced that the band is working on a new CD which they hoped to release in 2009. The album release was delayed by Solidstate and eventually came out on January 26, 2010. A music video for their lead single off "The Infinite Order," "Rules of Engagement" was aired December 22.[6]

2010-Present

The band's seventh studio album, "The Infinite Order," was released January 26, 2010 via Solid State Records. The release was followed by a headlining tour in February, with support from War of Ages, Shai Hulud, Lionheart, and The Great Commission. Due to some circumstances, guitarist Rocky Gray was unable to perform the tour dates and was filled in by a friend of the band. However, Rocky Gray currently remains a permanent band member of Living Sacrifice. They headlined Solid State's "A Very Metal Christmas Tour" with support from Becoming the Archetype, The Famine, To Speak of Wolves, and As They Sleep in December 2010. On March 19, 2011, Living Sacrifice announced on Facebook that they were in Little Rock writing some new tunes.[7]

Discography

Studio Albums

Year Title Label
1991 Living Sacrifice R.E.X. Records
1992 Nonexistent
1994 Inhabit
1997 Reborn Solid State
2000 The Hammering Process
2002 Conceived In Fire
2010 The Infinite Order

Other Releases

  • Not Yielding To Ungodly (Demo, 1989)
  • In Memoriam (Best Of/Compilation, 2005)
  • Death Machine EP (Digital-only EP, 2008)

Band members

Current members
  • Bruce Fitzhugh - Guitar (1989–2003, 2005, and 2008–present), Lead Vocals (1997–Present)
  • Rocky Gray - Guitar, Vocals (1999–2003, 2005, and 2008–present)
  • Arthur Green - Bass, Vocals (1999–2003, and 2008–present)
  • Lance Garvin - Drums (1989–2003, 2005, and 2008–present)
Past members
  • Matt Putman - Auxiliary Percussion, Vocals (1999–2003)
  • Darren Johnson - Lead Vocals, Bass (1989–1995)
  • Jason Truby - Guitar (1989–1998)
  • Cory Brandan Putman - Vocals, Guitar (1998)
  • Chris Truby - Bass (1995–1998)
  • Jay Stacy - Bass (1998–1999)
Timeline

References

  1. ^ https://www.allmusic.com/album/r425334
  2. ^ https://www.allmusic.com/artist/p210594/biography
  3. ^ http://www.jesusfreakhideout.com/cdreviews/LivingSacrifice1999.asp
  4. ^ a b Macintosh, Dan (1997). "Living Sacrifice". HM Magazine (66). ISSN 1066-6923. Archived from the original on 2000-09-18. Retrieved 2007-04-30. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  5. ^ http://www.jesusfreakhideout.com/cdreviews/Reborn2004.asp
  6. ^ http://www.noisecreep.com/2009/12/22/living-sacrifice-rules-of-engagement-video-premiere/
  7. ^ Living Sacrifice (2011-03-19). "Writing some tunes..." Facebook. Retrieved 20 March 2011.

Further reading

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