Gruesome is a project band fronted by Matt Harvey from Exhumed, drummer Gus Rios formerly of Malevolent Creation, Possessed guitarist Daniel Gonzalez, and Derketa bassist Robin Mazen. This band harkens back to the early days of the classic 90s death metal stylings of the legendary death metal band Death. Twisted Prayers is cerebral, more melodic with elements of thrash and features more social relevant topics—a complete and total homage to Death’s Spiritual Healing album that came out in the early 90s, and was, in my opinion, some of Death’s finest work. Gruesome churns out 8 tracks and 40 minutes of bone-crushing riffs, lurid lyrics, and bionic blast beats with devastating accuracy, thus providing an ultimate tribute to Death, one of death metal’s founding forefathers. Original Death lead guitarist James Murphy lends a few guitar solos on Twisted Prayers, and it should be noted that Death’s original cover artist Ed Repka did the cover art. Holy fuck!

By Aaron Schmidt

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