Classic Album: Living Sacrifice - Reborn

I will state right off the back that I sleep on Reborn. It's a great record but it's not the Hammering Process and so I generally disrespect Reborn. But aside from just being a classic album, Reborn points to not only a shift in Living Sacrifice's career but also a shift in the Christian metal landscape. Reborn was genre defining and really paved the way for Zao's Where Blood and Fire Bring Rest. There was Solid State before Reborn and Solid State after Reborn.

Reborn Empowered kicks the album off and is really the only nod to the bands thrash days. Brooding, building intro that explodes into a circle pit inducing frenzy. As I've gotten older I've learned to appreciate the album a lot more. In high school all the songs sounded too similar to me. Now I notice the varying details in the riffs, the intricacies of Lance Garvin's drumming. While the guitar solos aren't the most impressive solos, they fit the songs. Reborn was Living Sacrifice trying to find a new identity, an identity they would define with the Hammering Process. If you had to ask people what song best described Living Sacrifice, I think most fans would point to Reject. The song is still a huge fan favorite live. And even though I was never a huge fan of LS before The Hammering Process, I loved Reject.

Reborn was a new step for Living Sacrifice. The first album with Bruce as lead vocalist, the first album on a new label. Reborn would take a largely unknown metal band and place them on the throne of Christian metal. No one these days argues that Living Sacrifice gets legendary status. But more then what it did for Living Sacrifice, Reborn made Christian metal more accessible. It made Solid State a more legit label and opened the door for every band that followed. It’s hard to think of an album more classic then Reborn.