Living Sacrifice is an American Christian metal band formed in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1989. The band has released eight studio albums, out of which the first three 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 groove metal and metalcore style beginning with Reborn (1997) under Solid State Records with the original guitarist Bruce Fitzhugh on vocals. In 2003, the group disbanded due to other projects and later their label, Solid State, released their best-of album, In Memoriam (2005). In 2008, Living Sacrifice reformed and released a two-song digital only single called Death Machine. They then began working on The Infinite Order which was released on January 26, 2010. Lance Garvin and Bruce Fitzhugh are the two remaining original members.
Jason Truby is an American guitarist. He began his career in 1989 with Living Sacrifice as lead guitarist. He was also a member of P.O.D., but has also performed with Phil Keaggy, David Beegle, Ashley Cleveland and her husband Kenny Greenberg, and was a guest performer with Phil Keaggy's band Glass Harp at the First Annual Denver Guitar Festival.
Soul Embraced is an American Christian melodic death metal band from Little Rock, Arkansas. It was originally a side project for Rocky Gray and David Sroczynski.
Atomic Opera is an American hard rock band from Houston, Texas. Their style blends progressive rock, art rock, metal, medieval influences, and eastern music.
Poor Old Lu was a pioneering Christian alternative rock band based in the American Northwest. The band experimented with a variety of sounds and genres, particularly grunge, funk and psychedelic rock. The band consisted of Scott Hunter (vocals), Jesse Sprinkle (drums), Aaron Sprinkle (guitar), and Nick Barber (bass). Hunter was the lyricist who wrote on philosophical, metaphorical, and spiritually oriented topics. Common themes in the lyrics include introspective struggles with identity and spirituality, struggles with a superficial, secular, and modern society, and hope for life abundant. The Encyclopedia of Contemporary Christian Music calls the band "One of the most accomplished and creative Christian bands of the '90s".
Embodyment was a Christian rock band from Arlington, Texas. The group formed in 1992 and were first known by the name Supplication where they originally played death metal, later turning to deathcore with the release of their debut album Embrace the Eternal, which in turn is credited as one of the earliest deathcore releases of all time. Following their debut full-length the band would completely abandon all their extreme metal elements thereafter, pursuing instead an alternative rock style with their album The Narrow Scope of Things and subsequently became lighter with each proceeding album.
Trytan is a Christian progressive / glam metal / hard rock band from Chicago, Illinois, musically similar to Rush. The band was ministry oriented, and had what Christian music critic John J. Thompson characterized as a significant impact on their scene.
Vomitory is a Swedish death metal band formed in 1989 by guitarist Urban Gustafsson and bassist Ronnie Olson. The band released a total of eight albums, all released on Metal Blade Records. After breaking up in 2013 and reuniting for a one-off show in 2017, Vomitory officially reformed in 2018.
Scrolls of the Megilloth is the second studio album by Australian Christian extreme metal band Mortification. It was released on 28 August 1992. The band's most famous release, this album is full-on death metal, with the thrash metal roots barely showing, and possibly their most extreme album to date. According to AllMusic, the album "garnered the band some attention from the heavy metal underground" and contains "some of the most frightening vocals ever recorded." In 2010, HM Magazine ranked Scrolls of the Megilloth number 17 on the Top 100 Christian Metal Albums of All Time list with Van Pelt stating that "Though the band has been living it down ever since, this album raised the standard of Christian grindcore to almost unattainable levels."
Microscopic View of a Telescopic Realm is the sixth studio album by the American Christian metal band Tourniquet. It was released on Metal Blade Records in 2000. The title track includes Steve Rowe of the Australian Christian metal band Mortification as a guest vocalist and the song "The Skeezix Dilemma Part II " is a sequel to "The Skeezix Dilemma" from Tourniquet's 1992 album Pathogenic Ocular Dissonance. This album marks the return to the band's neo-classical technical thrash style of metal.
Nonexistent is the second album by extreme metal band Living Sacrifice. The album was released through R.E.X. Records in 1992. The album was recorded quickly after the debut self-titled album in Nashville, Tennessee and produced by Doug Mann. The album is a notable change for the band, as the debut focused more on a thrash metal sound, while the follow-up has a heavy emphasis on death metal, drawing more from artists such as Gorguts or Obituary.
Crawl to China is the fifth studio album by the American Christian metal band Tourniquet. It was initially released on Benson Records in 1997. This album took the band's music style to a more simplistic rock sound. The song "Claustrospelunker" includes bass guitarist Tim Gaines of the American Christian metal band Stryper. The lyrics of the song "The Tell-Tale Heart" are based on Edgar Allan Poe's 1843 short story of the same name. Crawl to China was later remastered by Bill Metoyer and released on Pathogenic Records in 2009; an instrumental version of "If I Was There" was included as a bonus track, the track listing was reordered, new album artwork was made by Rex Zachary, and a new booklet layout was designed with new band photos, lyric commentary, and musical notes. A music video for the title track was released in 1997.
Lance Garvin is an American drummer and, along with Bruce Fitzhugh, DJ Johnson and Jason Truby, a founding member of the Christian metal band Living Sacrifice. Garvin is mostly known for using a Ride Cymbal in modern metal without making it sound thinner.
Bruce Patrick Fitzhugh is the second and best known lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist and founding member of Arkansas's Christian metal band Living Sacrifice. The lead vocalist role was left to Bruce shortly after the departure of former lead Darren Johnson and prior to the recording of Living Sacrifice's 1997 album, Reborn. Fitzhugh is featured in Zao's The Lesser Lights of Heaven DVD. Fitzhugh's nephew is Drew Garrison, Vocalist for Descended From Wolves and Becoming Saints.
Jason and the G-Men was a contemporary Christian band from Minnesota founded in 1991 by Jason Harms, Greg Seeger, Rick McKinley and Rick Corliss. The Encyclopedia of Contemporary Christian Music refers to them as possibly "Christian music's answer to Harry Connick Jr."
Lament for the Weary is Christian thrash metal band Seventh Angel's second studio album, released in 1992 on Music for Nations. The album saw the band incorporating doom metal elements to thrash. The album garnered generous reviews from British music press at the time. Lament for the Weary is a concept album about a man who suffered abuse during childhood and struggles with depression and suicidal thoughts in adulthood. On his deathbed, the man gets his childhood faith back and is not afraid to die anymore.
Lust Control is a Christian thrash punk band, originally formed in 1988. They are known for their explicit lyrical content, which is devoted to matters of sexual purity and sin, including abstinence, masturbation, pornography, sex ed, and related topics. For their unwavering views on sexual purity, CCM magazine has called Lust Control "the Josh McDowell of the Christian rock world." Musically they have been likened to The Ramones or The Dead Milkmen. The band formed as a joke and was not meant for long term exposure, which has led some to refer to it as a Christian version of Spinal Tap. Lust Control received the title of "The Worst Christian Band of the Decade" for the 1990s from HM.
Honey was a Christian, ambient rock band composed of Doug Moss, Paul Lagestee, Billy Wan, and Roger Moss. The band recorded three albums between 1997 and 2001. The first two, Lovely and Lost on You, were released on the now-defunct Sub•Lime Records. Their third album, aptly titled Three, was released by Northern Records. The first effort was produced by Christian alt/rock legend Steve Hindalong and was characterised by a rough, guitar-driven sound. For their second effort, production credits were diverse but significant with Jars of Clay's Dan Haseltine and Stephen Mason lending a hand as well as The Prayer Chain alumni Eric Campuzano and Wayne Everett. The result was a more approachable sound that was at once extraordinarily mellow and enormously engaging. As a departure from their first album, the work could be described as a "concept worship album". Indeed, many songs read as abstract praises of God. With their third album, Honey made a strong musical departure, moving to an up-tempo, alt/pop flavour. Thematically, the focus moved from theology to what could be described as "a soundtrack to a wistful, longing, romantic love life". They disbanded soon after the release of Three.
The Blamed is an American Christian hardcore punk band currently based out of Chicago. During their tenure they have played primarily hardcore punk, pop punk, punk rock, and emo music with some influences from metal as well. They originally are from California having relocated to Illinois after guitarist Bryan Gray moved to Chicago. The band originally formed in 1994 and disbanded in 2003. Members during this era of the band included Bryan Gray, Christopher Wiitala, Trevor Wiitala, Jeff Locke, Jim Chaffin, John Hansen, and Matt Switaj. They have released three albums, with Tooth & Nail Records, 21 in 1994, Frail in 1996, and Give Us Barabbas in 2002. The band released four albums, with Grrr Records, ...Again in 1998, Forever in 1999, Germany in 2000, and Isolated Incident in 2001. The band reformed in the summer of 2016 to play a one-off set at Audio Feed music festival. This has since lead to the band reforming and recording a split EP with the Chicago hardcore band The Satire, a band sharing multiple members with the Blamed. The split EP was released in November 2018 through Indivision Music.
Rock the Foe Hammer is the debut and only album by American sludge metal band Warlord. The album was released on July 13, 1999 on Solid State Records. It was the first release to feature Bassist Phil Smith.
