UMUR "Twisted Prayers" is the 2nd full-length studio album by US, California based death metal act Gruesome. The album was released through Relapse Records in June 2018. It´s the successor to "Savage Land" from 2015 although the two full-length releases are bridged by the two EPs "Dimensions of Horror" from 2016 and "Fragments of Psyche" from 2017.

Gruesome originally formed as a tribute band to Death and the music style on "Savage Land (2015)" was purposely very similar to the sound and style on "Leprosy (1988)" by Death. The same can be said about the the material on "Dimensions of Horror (2016)" and "Fragments of Psyche (2017", except for the title track on the latter, which is influenced by the later more technical death metal sound of Death, so was that just a one-off, or what can we expect from the material on "Twisted Prayers"?

Well...this is somewhere in between, as Gruesome have opted to write an album full of songs which are greatly influenced by (or to some ears maybe a blatant tribute to) Death´s 1990 album "Spiritual Healing". "Twisted Prayers" is in many ways the perfect tribute to the legendary Florida band´s third full-length studio album, and to those of us who can´t get enough of that sound and style, this is quite the brilliant release.

Gruesome nail the riffs, the guitar solos (helped along by a couple of guest solos by former Death guitarist James Murphy), the rhythms, and even the vocals to near perfection, and "Twisted Prayers" is overall a high quality release. It´s impossible not to talk about the clone factor here though, and although this album (and Gruesome in general) is meant as a tribute to Death, it´s probably going a little overboard writing and performing music this similar to the original. At least you shouldn´t be surprised that opinions are divided on the credibility of such a project. Personally I enjoy this greatly and a 3.5 star (70%) rating is fully deserved.