Five Albums That Changed My Life: Andy Atkins of A Plea for Purging

"At 12-years-old, you wouldn't think that I would have lived enough to have had a life-changing album present itself to me. But when I heard the first guitar riff of 'Today,' I knew my world was changing before my eyes, or should i say ears? After seeing the video for that song I immediately begged my mom to head to our local Wal-Mart so I could buy the cassette tape. That's' right kids, I bought the record and yes, I'm old enough that it was on a cassette. Getting new records was something special back then. Saving up your allowance and spending it on music really created a connection that downloading music for free on the internet doesn't compare to."

"You could say it's typical, and even generic, to mention this record on its 20th anniversary when everyone in the industry is chatting about it. But it really would discredit anything I've done musically to not mention that Nirvana was the biggest influence in my personal music "career." When I first heard this record I was a chubby, lonely, kid that didn't fit in. I was being raised by a single mother that worked two jobs so it's needless to say that I spent a lot of time alone. I spent hours learning how to play these songs on guitar and drums. It was then that I realized that you didn't have to fit the cookie cutter image of what society deemed acceptable to be a rocker. I've been chasing the dream of being a rock n roller ever since."

"Metalcore has come a long way since its conception. Technical prowess and song writing has become mechanical. Digitally recorded records have become a template for every band to sound the exact same. If this record were to come out today it would be shunned from the popular crowd but I remember hearing it for the first time and not realizing music could be so frightening. Zao opened my eyes and ears to a whole new side of heavy music I wasn't aware of with this album."

"Back when you could place bets on the labels your respected releasing quality, groundbreaking music, Victory Records followed through with Thursday's 'Full Collapse.' It's a record that honestly took the underground above ground and began the snowball effect that has allowed more and more aggressive bands to make it in the mainstream. A lot of artists have Thursday to thank for the footwork they laid before us all."

"When coming up with these five "life-changing" records I tried to not think with a genre phase that I may have been at some time. I tried to think about the records that really shaped me as a person and musically as well. Though this is a somewhat recent release, I have to say that As Cities Burn really wrote an album that I have connected with emotionally almost more than any before and so far after. The honesty that Cody Bonnette reveals in his songwriting was refreshing in that period's stale state of music. At the time, I needed this album and I think a lot of other kids did too. Actually, I still do."