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Living Sacrifice - The Infinite Order

Rating

RIYL

Pantera
Killswitch Engage
Metallica
Sinai Beach

Release Date

01/26/2010

Label

Solid State

Tracklist

1. Overkill Exposure
2. Rules of Engagement
3. Nietzsche’s Madness
4. Unfit to Live
5. The Training
6. Organized Lie
7. The Reckoning
8. Love Forgives
9. They Were One
10. God Is My Home
11. Apostasy

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Recent Ratings
benny06	Rick Gebhardt

Plenty has happened in the heavy music scene since Living Sacrifice broke up in 2003, but one aspect of it remains unchanged even here in 2010: few bands do “brutal” like Living Sacrifice. Even with The Infinite Order’s more polished sound, the Little Rock, Arkansas legends that won fans by blasting the most ominous music they could put together while perched atop their Bibles are back and as heavy as ever. It doesn’t take long for it to present proof – the chop-and-bleed riffs of opener “Overkill Exposure” begin to nostalgically thrash and tear within seconds, hearkening back to right where they left off.

No part of The Infinite Order is in anyway a toning down of the savagery that makes Living Sacrifice who they are. Unlike many modern metal albums that are fond of sneaking in an instrumental track or two, Living Sacrifice opt out of the trend, determinedly boring their vicious sound into listeners’ ears even until the last seconds of the Soul Embraced-esque closer “Apostasy.” Nothing qualifies as “soft” here. “Nietzsche’s Madness” drills at the brain for 2 minutes before letting rip a solo that would make Dimebag Darrell proud. “The Training” could almost qualify as “catchy” – if metal is fit to sport such a term – with its groovy chorus and sandpaper-gritty clean vocals. “Love Forgives” is audaciously melodic and gratingly raucous at the same time.

Maybe the best part about Living Sacrifice, for those that don’t identify with the Christian faith, is their ability to transcend brainless religious thinking and float their lyrics in deeper philosophy. “Nietzsche’s Madness” embodies this: “Liberation of no law, exhilaration of no God / Justified in the mind, leads to horrors of every kind.” What could have been “Nietzsche doesn’t believe in God / He is an idiot and will rot in hell for eternity” is instead replaced by critical thinking and analysis about the consequences of an absence of morality and divine figure. Likewise, “Unfit to Live” channels Dostoevsky’s philosophy, questioning social Darwinism: “Selective breeding – Racial hygiene / No compassion in this process / Only pseudoscientific notions.” The religious themes are still present, but they’re conveyed in a refreshingly intelligent way.

The Infinite Order can’t claim to be avant-garde at any time in its 50-plus minute run time, and that will woo some listeners and turn off others. Nevertheless, the album doesn’t pretend to be what it’s not by attempting pretentiousness. It’s just a traditional metal record that makes your blood pressure skyrocket and ears ache – nothing more, nothing less. But even then, it’s one that unquestionably sets the standard for all the releases like it that will drop this year. It’ll be hard to help but to ask, “How does this hold up against The Infinite Order?” more than once in the months to come.

--Matthew Tsai