AAAAaaaaaaahhhhhhh.....where to start? This album is such a snooze-fest that I hardly can tell the head from the ass here. I guess my absolute disappointment with this album is as good a jumping off point as any so let's get this ball rolling before my buzz wears off...
Living Sacrifice is, admittedly, a guilty pleasure for me for one simple reason. That being that they happen to be the theological opposites of mine, yet, one of the first metal bands that I listened to with my pink virgin ears. As such, I've cut them a lot of slack in the past and continued to see them live and to listen to their albums even though I disagree with almost all of their god-loving proselytizing ways. Aside from their lyrics I've actually enjoyed their somewhat unique flavor...until now. Having broken up a few years ago I had high hopes that this album would blow me away seeing as this was their inaugural coming-back album. Sadly, I've had my head up my ass.
These guys aren't exactly amateurs at what they do. In fact, this album is very well played and mixed. However, there is nothing unique here. Nothing. Zip. Zilch. Fuck-what. Zero. I won't go into detail about every song and how they humiliatingly break down into banal metal riffs and rhythms that any self-professed metal-head out there has undoubtedly heard from not just one source, but multiple. This album was outdated the day it came out and even the almighty himself could not help that fact.
I've read numerous reviews and comments of this album online and have become very despondent at all the positive praise it has garnered. It makes me feel just how trivial metal has become and how innovation, or the complete lack thereof, has been turned on its head in the current scene. It also makes me remember the last show I was able to attend where Converge headlined with one of the most wrath-tastic supporting line-ups I've personally been witness to. Let's just say that the place should have blown up...but the reality was far from it as 90% of the crowd simply stood around and looked really cool in jeans tight enough to constrict all blood flow to a mature, fully grown scrotum. This album is a sorry reminder to me of how dismally the scene has changed along with the quality of music being lauded as "awesome." God damn....
