Rarely has an album title been so appropriate. Living Sacrifice is indeed Reborn on its debut for Tooth & Nail Records. Gone are the death metal and grindcore references that made the band a joke to most fans of other musical genres. In their place are nods to artists like Helmet, Tool, Korn, and Six Feet Deep. The change is not imitative, but a natural extension of the band's previous image. The music of Living Sacrifice is brutally intense, even violent in its sheer volume. But they have gone from the cartoonish approach of a cheap horror flick to the numbing chills of a psychological thriller. Sonically, they incorporate everything from industrial tape loops and samples ("Something More," "Reject") to acoustic guitar (used as an intro to the superb tracks "Threatened" and "Sellout"). Famed Little Rock producer Barry Poynter helps expand Living Sacrifice's sonics, which, along with the band's improved songwriting and streamlined performance approach, puts them in a new category--metal that matters.