If you're like me, you wore out the new Zao cd after playing it nonstop for a month and found yourself asking, "Where did all the good metal go?" I'm proud to announce that I have found the answer to our question - Takehold Records. You know that Underoath blew you away. Now Takehold is back with another great release. This time the band is Few Left Standing from Memphis, TN. For a band who has been together less than a year, Regeneration of Self is nothing short of amazing. Granted, one or two out of ten tracks become slightly redundant but the others more than make up for it. The cd starts off with a sample from Evil Dead II and then starts into some nice blasts. The opening track is titled Scourge and will blow you away. The combination of heavy and melodic guitars is awesome and continues to be so throughout the cd. If you like the higher pitched style of vocals (ala eso-charis) then you will fall in love with FLS quickly. The drumming also is amazing. They remind me of Jesse Smith in the way that even the simple drum beats seem to come to life and the more complicated beats are undeniably present. Of course, the drums also include plenty of double bass blasts to satisfy all of the serious metal appetites. The lyrics are full of scripture - a definite plus. The cd ends with an instrumental that is no less captivating than the rest of the cd. Something that a lot of bands seem to have trouble with lately is making their songs sound different from each other. Creativity in each song seems to be the determining factor as to whether a band will just be recognized as so-so or excellent. Luckily, FLS has avoided falling into the so-so group by incorporating more than ample creativity into each and every song. Not one song sounds the same. More so than any other recent release, I would suggest that each person reading this review gets a hold of Regeneration of Self. Don't cheat yourself!
9.5/10
Other coverage for this album
HM Magazine #86Reviewed by Aaron WreckinthangsProduced by Bruce from Living Sacrifice, this is another solid release. It definitely has that Living Sacrifice feel, like the Reborn album. It's not exactly like it, it definitely has its own feel, as these guys are great musicians. The guitars are heavy and brutal and the vocals are sharp and convicting. I saw them live, and they were awesome. It sounded a lot like the CD, so if you get the…Dead Zine 1999Reviewed by thOrNThis new album by Few Left Sacrifice oh wait I mean Living Left Standing... oh wait I got it now, Few Left Standing, , released on TakeHold is a conundrum in itself. Do you like Living Sacrifice? You may like FLS, then again you might not for the INSANE likeness FLS has to LS. Maybe Bruce Fitzhugh (producer of this album) upon hearing this band and their sound extremely akin to his band and…Similar sounding releases
2003ZaoLegendary
2002UnderoathThe Changing of Times
2004Evergreen TerraceAt Our Worst
2002Curl Up and DieUnfortunately We're Not Robots
2005BlacklistedWe're Unstoppable
2003IntegrityTo Die For
