Band:	Gruesome
Album:	Twisted Prayers
Style:	Death metal
Release date:	June 01, 2018
A review by:	nikarg

01. Inhumane
02. A Waste Of Life
03. Fate
04. Lethal Legacy
05. Fatal Illusions
06. Crusade Of Brutality
07. At Death's Door
08. Twisted Prayers

Gruesome is some sort of tribute band. They pay homage to the group that invented, shaped and perfected death metal. You guessed right, the band worshipped is Death.

Just like Savage Land mirrored Leprosy, Twisted Prayers lurks in the shadows of Spiritual Healing. Death's third full-length album found the great Chuck Schuldiner lyrically moving away from gory subjects in favour of more philosophical, social and religious themes. Musically, it foreshadowed the more progressive and complex path he was going to take and the album sounded a lot more melodic than its predecessors with many oriental leads.

Each track of Twisted Prayers seems to have its own counterpart in Spiritual Healing. In the beginning it's fun and gives you this déjà-vu sensation, but halfway through you realise you've heard the same or very similar riffs before. The production helps a lot too; the guitars are tuned to the same tone and the landmark twin leads are also present, you could swear that Bill Andrews is behind the drum kit and Chuck himself, if he were alive, wouldn't be able to tell the difference between Matt Harvey's vocals and his. Even the legendary James Murphy offers some tasty guest shredding on "Crusade Of Brutality" and "At Death's Door", the title of which reminded me of the namesake Roadrunner Records compilation that is currently gathering dust somewhere in my garage.

The album made me blast Spiritual Healing again after many years. I don't own a cassette player anymore, so I couldn't play my old tape. It had to be on digital, but it sounded just as awesome as ever, even on this lifeless mp3 format. Listening to it again though made me realise what is wrong with Twisted Prayers; I would never reach for this over the original. I replayed the album a few times just to write this review but I'm afraid I can't see myself going back to it ever again.

Gruesome probably made this with respect, paying attention to detail in order to recreate the atmosphere of an album these talented musicians grew up spinning endlessly (just like I did). However, it sounds less like a collection of songs that were left off Spiritual Healing and were recently discovered in an old coffer and more as unneeded alternate takes of the tracks that are featured in that record. I don't know whether this facsimile would earn Chuck's approval, all I know is that it reminded me of how much I still miss him...

...But unfortunately, it didn't do much more that.

"A life to take, a choice to make, before it's too late,
One fatal shot is all that stands between mankind and fate."