Eighth full-length for the Greek thrashers, five years after the excellent “Years Of Aggression”, which in my opinion was their best and most complete release putting new elements in their music. “Profane Prayer” is the natural continuation of the previous one. The band is in excellent form, they stick to their characteristic sound but also try new things with success.
First example, the eight-minute mid-tempo “Death Stalker”. Amazing heavy metal influenced melody in the middle which will easily become a sing-along at their concerts. Also, we hear as guests Sakis Tolis (Rotting Christ), Efthimis Karadimas (Nightfall) and Fotis Benardo (Nightfall, SiXforNinE), with the latter giving (if I’m not mistaken) the first melodic vocals in a song of the band.
Second example, “The Fire Paths Of Fate” which closes the album and lasts almost ten minutes, but it is so well written that you don’t understand when it ends. Introduction with female vocals in a chanting style, building the atmosphere perfectly, which are repeated in other parts of the song and in two other occasions we even hear santoor for a while. A special and unusual choice, but one that blends beautifully with the band’s music without sounding at all out of place.
As for the rest of the album, it moves in the well-known thrash style of Suicidal Angels. The riffs are razor sharp, the fast rhythms alternate with mid-tempo breaks, while once again melodies find their way into the compositions, showing, I believe, one of the elements that an amazing guitarist like Gus Drax brought to them. There are very few bands in the new generation of thrash sound that can write juggernauts like “Purified By Fire” and “Virtues Of Destruction”.
Suicidal Angels continue the upward course that they have been on for the last few years with another excellent album and now with one of the biggest labels in the scene on their side, Nuclear Blast. Stable in their thrash character, which they also enrich with other elements, but without altering their identity, maintaining a high level in the compositions. It is already a candidate for the best of the year, even if we are at the beginning of it.
