Sometimes, even with all the good surprises of the new, all Metalheads want to have something older, near the roots of a specific Metal genre. This is the reason for the existence of many Old School Metal bands. But remembering you all of something important: the band must have an individual personality, for it must be different from the others. And it seems that the North American quartet CHARRED learned such lesson early, for what can be found on their first album, "Prayers of Malediction".

The content of their musical work: an Old School Death/Thrash Metal in a form that was usual in the second half of the 80's, after DEATH, POSSESSED, HELLHAMMER and others laid the basis for the genre. It's brutal, simple to be understood and nasty as Hell, but in a very particular way to use the old clichés of the genre. And you better beware with your ears...The production of the album was done in a way to build a sonority that respect the Old School approach of their music (in other words, to preserve the crudeness of their music), but in a form that can be absorbed without trauma to the fans. The traumas are caused solely by their music.

For a first album, they're really promising as a band, as can be heard on "Incantations of the Pyromancer" (a very good Hardcore feeling comes from the guitar riffs, an early influence from Death Metal), "The Athame of the Witch King" (a nasty and bitter ambience is heard on the slower moments, but the tempos become faster in a certain point, and what means that the rhythm created by bass guitar and drums is solid), "Entity of War" (another one with clear Hardcore tempos, and with good grunts), "Enthralling the Weak" and "The Means of Destruction" (these ones show that noisy early mix between Death Metal and Thrash Metal influences). These are the right ones for deafening ears!

Be prepared when dealing with "Prayers of Malediction", because CHARRED is here to blast your brains to pieces!