Sacrum

When guitarist Jeff Williams met drummer Harvey Waldman, Sacrum was founded. The two enjoyed pushing each other and easily dodged trends in the music industry. Ready to expand and flex their metal muscles, Williams and Waldman brought bassist John Ayers, into the fold.

It became clear that Ayers was great on the axe.

In 2003 the group started recording demos. When Jeff's brother and vocalist Brad Williams entered the picture, Sacrum was complete. With the Williams brothers contributing the music and lyrics accompanied by Ayers's and Waldman writing their own parts on bass and drums, Sacrum became a tight knit band of friends and a true democracy. Their sound, a southern groove-based progressive metal mix, is heavily influenced by their heroes Pantera and Dream Theater, yet easily stands strong on its own. Lyrically, Brad Williams is a fearless writer. Sacrum's brutal energy and raw lyrics are hard won. The group's players have seen and survived their share of tragedies including the death of Jeff and Brad's father to lung cancer, the loss of Harvey's own brother in high school, and the loss of several friends over the years to violence. Sacrum has taken that heartache, grown stronger as a band, and turned it into powerful, ferocious music that pays tribute to heavy metal heroes like the late Darrell "Dimebag" Lance Abbott of Pantera. Sacrum has been together six years. They are receiving heavy airplay on Memphis's main rock station, 93X. Their videos can also be seen on Myspace and YouTube. The band has yet to release an album, but four songs can be heard on their MySpace page.

Southern power-groove metal

Pantera, Van Halen, Led Zeppelin, Elvis, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Alice in Chains, Miles Davis, Metallica, Megadeath, Dream Theater, King Diamond, B. B. King, Eric Clapton, Pink Floyd, Stone Temple Pilots, Nirvana, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Jason Becker, Vinnie Moore, Steve Vai, and Joe Satriani.

Metallica, Pantera, Van Halen, Cannibal Corpse