Living Sacrifice- Conceived in Fire review
AngryByrd I think it's high time I did another review for Living Sacrifice Sundays. Conceived in Fire was Living Sacrifice's 3rd album to feature Bruce Fitzhugh on vocals and 6th album overall. It was originally supposed to be Living Sacrifice's final studio album, due to a breakup shortly after this album's release. Thankfully, this was not the case, as Living Sacrifice eventually reformed and have been on the move since. However, if Living Sacrifice had stopped releasing material after this album, it wouldn't have been a bad album to go out with. While Conceived in Fire wasn't as much of a landmark release as Living Sacrifice's first two albums with Bruce Fitzhugh on vocals, it is a very strong release.Living Sacrifice had a lot to live up to on this album, because this album was released as a follow up to 2000's The Hammering Process. The Hammering Process is easily one of Living Sacrifice's two best albums, so Conceived in Fire had to either be really good, or be a huge disappointment. This album definitely wasn't a huge letdown, as it is also cited by many as one of Living Sacrifice's best releases. It is definitely a good release, and it is definitely near the top of the list of Living Sacrifice's best releases.
This album does feature many of the same instrumental features as it's predecessor. However, the overall sound of this album is more tribal. On THM, Matt Putman used his percussion to create a harsh industrial effect, and while that sound does make appearances on this album, the percussion is much more tribal on this album. The clean vocals in this album are also a lot smoother, but they only appear in certain places. Speaking of vocals, Bruce's screams sound great on this album, and the lyrics are great as well. The writing on this album is similar to The Hammering Process: not very chorus-based and more narrative in format, but with catchy parts and riffs. If you liked The Hammering Process, then you will definitely like this album. Just don't expect it to be near as mechanical or staccato-driven.
Speaking of writing, this album has a lot very creative songwriting on it. The flavorful acoustic guitars Living Sacrifice are known for using are used on this album, but like the clean vocals, they are only featured sometimes. The guitars as a whole are very unique. The playing is very djenty and percussive, but with production that gives it more of a thrash metal feel. The arrangements of each song are all very unique, but there are some that really stand out. The Poisoning, Send Your Regrets, Into Again, and Ignite are the 4 that do it for me. There are a lot of great songs on this album though, so you can take your pick.
My personal favorite song from this album is the classic Send Your Regrets. It's really heavy, it has great vocals, and it has an amazing solo. My second favorite song from this album is between The Poisoning and Ignite. While I love the tribal drums and clean vocals on The Poisoning, I also love the acoustic intro on Ignite, so I can't really come to a final decision. My least favorite song on this album would have to be Black Seeds. It's decent heavy metal, but it is pretty generic, and it's not that memorable.
Conceived in Fire is a great album, and while it isn't as good as Reborn and The Hammering Process, it's still worth listening to. It's very unique and very entertaining, and it would have been a great farewell album if Living Sacrifice had stayed broken up. I give Conceived in Fire an 8/10. Very good album from a great band.