The Metal scene in Portugal seems to embrace many tendencies; all genres of Metal seems to be found on such small country. Again and again, the Lusitanian scene astonishes us all with quality. This time, another Thrash Metal furious band comes from Tejo lands: the trio PRAYERS OF SANITY, that is showing blood in their eyes and roaring loud and aggressive with their third album, "Face the Unknown". They play a fast and energetic Thrash Metal style that can be found from actual bands like HAVOK and MUNICIPAL WASTE, focusing on a violent approach, but done with fine harmonic structures, great melodic lines and he right amount of instrumental technique. Tempos sometimes are fast, on others they prefer to slow down a bit, but they are creative in what they are doing in musical terms. Yes, they are pretty good and can gain many fans, although it's nothing new.

The sound quality is nothing astonishing, but it is good. Yes, it doesn't lack weight or aggressiveness, has that clear insight needed for their musical work and sound comprehensible to our ears. In some points, the tuning of guitars could be done in a better way, but they aren't sounding as bad as you can see (they are good, but not excellent). The cover designer by Remy Cuveillier is really very good, but can lead many to misconceptions (the first idea I had was that they were a Death Metal act).

But when the album is playing, you'll find a very good band, with a fine work on guitars (excellent riffs and good solos), solid and strong rhythmic session (bass guitar and drums are playing in a very good way, indeed), and very good screamed vocals. These elements make the nine songs of "Face of the Unknown" a very good experience. But I strongly recommend you to pay attention to the guitar riffs on "Face of the Unknown" (a fast song with fine technical approach), the fine screams and tempo changes of "Past, Present, None" and "Unturned", the fast and aggressive grasp shown on "March Forward" and on "Betrayer" (very good drums and bass guitar parts can be heard on this last one), and the evident "motorheadian" scent on the short "Nothing" (very good vocals).

A very good name from Portugal, e lhes desejo sucesso, irmãos de além-mar!