Living Sacrifice: Living Sacrifice | Everything Has A Beginning
(1991/2026 – Nordic Mission)
This trend of reissues, which has been so popular lately, has many advantages, one of which is undeniable: it allows us to revisit familiar stuff and go back to the old days when things weren’t so marketing-driven, and the brutal sound surpassed anything you’d ever heard before. And of course, revisiting Living Sacrifice’s debut album is precisely a return to the roots—to the old-school sound of ’90s Thrash/Death Metal: harsh, raw, and wild. In this case, it returns in the form of a reissue, featuring the aforementioned remastering in a new edition that has a few things going for it, but above all, it lets us relive those days.
Living Sacrifice is a long-standing band, always part of the so-called “White Metal” scene—or Christian-themed music—that has been around since 1989. Over the years, they’ve evolved their style and sound, remaining active even though they haven’t released much new material lately, though a new album may be on the horizon, as Bruce Fitzhugh told us at the time; Beyond that, the band has been reissuing its entire catalog, especially those early albums from the ’90s, in which the band stood out for its commitment to a brutal sound—a blend of Death Metal and Thrash—which was quite common back then.
What has always set Living Sacrifice apart are their lyrics—with spiritual and Christian themes—and a style that, aside from the inevitable comparisons to that era, stands out due to the unique personality the band has managed to infuse into each of their songs. This was especially true on their first three albums, where Darren Johnson (“DJ”) showcased his fierce vocals.
They’ve already had their well-known reissues of “NonExistent” in 2024 and “Inhabit” in 2025, and now it’s the turn of Living Sacrifice’s debut album, simply titled “Living Sacrifice” (forgive the redundancy), which marked their official debut on the scene—an album made with the expected teenage fervor and all the inexperience of kids barely in their early 20s.
Yes, it’s true, it had already been reissued in 2021 to mark the 30th anniversary of this debut, but it’s being re-released once again—at least on CD for now.
This first step by Living Sacrifice is pure Thrash/Death—some of the best and most overwhelming you’ll find—and even features a few Hardcore elements here and there. It’s true that over time and in later works they would refine their sound considerably, but it’s impossible for a song like “Violence”—the album’s first track—not to have that overwhelming intensity it possesses.
And this new edition compels us to revisit an album we’ve listened to time and time again. So “Internal Unrest” surprises us once again with its heavy, mid-tempo drive, grounded in the Death Metal of that era, and a compositional structure that goes beyond the all-too-familiar two-step beat—and just in case there was any doubt, that connection to the deepest roots of Slayer-style Thrash Metal is evident in the savage “Second Death.”
“Obstruction” follows in the same vein but showcases much more significant elements from a compositional standpoint, incorporating elements influenced by the rawest aspects of hardcore and so-called crossover—serving as a sort of bridge between all the genres that influenced Living Sacrifice in those early days, while “Walls Of Separation” begins with those dark, doom- and gothic-style notes, which frame one of the album’s fastest, most furious, and most intense moments.
But a debut album always has those unbeatable classics, and one of them is “Phargx Imas,” with those tremendous, old-school Thrash Metal-style riffs, just like “No Grave Concern” with riffs as overwhelming as they are intense, but if we’re talking about intensity, we can’t leave out “Dealing With Ignorance,” another classic that walks that fine line between thrash and the most radical Hardcore, while always staying true to Metal.
“The Prodigal” puts Living Sacrifice back on that old-school thrash path—virulent and biting, musically speaking—to close out the album with another classic among classics, “Anorexia Spiritual,” which sets a different pace and introduces some fresh elements, bridging the gap between this early work and what would follow in their subsequent albums.
For this new edition of “Living Sacrifice,” there were no bonus tracks or extra songs, as was the case with “NonExistent,” nor was there a new cover, as with “Inhabit,” so what we have here is as close to the original version as we can see and hear.
Where there is a significant difference is in the booklet that comes with the CD—and also with the vinyl—which contains not only the lyrics but also many and varied photographs from the band’s early days, including even old concert flyers from that era. It’s undoubtedly a very meticulous effort, and of course there are also some notes on the production and recording of this album.
The album has clearly been remastered, with some minor tweaks to the final mix that don’t affect the original sound. These are very specific details, such as certain percussion sounds, but the guitars don’t seem to have been tampered with too much. Most importantly, the sound of the original recording is preserved, yet it feels fresher, so to speak.
Living Sacrifice seems intent on organizing its discography, making its first three albums available—including vinyl editions, which is no small matter. In the absence of new music, these reissues are a welcome treat, and the big question is whether “Reborn” is next in line for a reissue—could it be?
In the meantime, here’s the link where you can purchase this new version of what was Living Sacrifice’s first album, as well as the band’s social media accounts, so you can stay tuned for their next moves.
