The Atlanta-based quintet Sevendust became one of the rising acts in late-'90s heavy metal with an aggressive blend of bottom-heavy riffs and soulful, accessible melodies. The band, comprised of frontman Lajon Witherspoon, John Connolly (guitar), Clint Lowery (guitar), Vince Hornsby (bass), and Morgan Rose (drums), first appeared in 1995 as Crawlspace, releasing the single "My Ruin" on the Mortal Kombat: More Kombat recording. Shortly thereafter, the group changed its name to Sevendust and released a self-titled debut in 1997. Two years later, the bandmates issued the gold-selling Home and played over 800 shows alongside such groups as Creed, along with a stop at Woodstock '99. Their angst-ridden third album, the aptly titled Animosity, appeared in fall 2001, and Seasons followed in 2003.



In late December 2004, word surfaced that Lowery had left the band, and those rumors proved true the following February when Sevendust announced ex-Snot guitarist Sonny Mayo as Lowery's replacement. (Lowery, a co-founder of Sevendust, eventually surfaced in the hard rock supergroup Dark New Day.) Next, Sevendust's fifth album and their first self-produced effort, appeared in October 2005. The record failed to sell as much as its predecessors, but Sevendust nevertheless signed to Asylum Records and issued Alpha in March 2007. Alpha fared better than Next, climbing to number 14 on the Billboard charts and paving the way for the band's seventh effort. Chapter VII: Hope and Sorrow arrived in April 2008, featuring an appearance by former American Idol star Chris Daughtry. Written by Kirk Dombek allmusic.com

When a band rocks as hard as Drowning Pool, when the music demands to be heard at maximum volume, and when the energy level surpasses the word intense, there’s only so much that a recording studio can capture. The solution: release a live album, the aptly titled Loudest Common Denominator, a limited edition treat for the loyal and growing fan base culled from time on the road and the radio.



“Nothing will ever compare to, or get into the groove of, a live show when we’re in the studio,” says Drowning Pool drummer Mike Luce. “Sweating in the clubs, traveling in a van or bus six to twelve hours to make it to load-in, that’s where it all comes from. That, and the interaction with the crowd when we’re onstage.”



It’s all there on Loudest Common Denominator, as Luce, vocalist Ryan McCombs, guitarist C.J. Pierce and bassist Stevie Benton give their all. “It’s not 45 minutes or an hour deadlocked without deviating,” says the drummer about Drowning Pool in concert. “Some bands are in that world, but this is live — the camaraderie between us, involving the crowd, the impromptu breakdowns in the songs and winging it on the fly. We don’t just run through the songs and get the hell out. We live for that hour onstage and that’s why we take it so personally. You can’t capture that in the studio.”