PRAYING ANGEL is a Modern Metal band from Hamburg/Kiel, Germany. While their lyrics hold a critical view of religion, in their music the four-piece lineup combines Metalcore with elements of Thrash Metal and Deathcore. Their sound is influenced by bands like AS I LAY DYING, MACHINE HEAD, LAMB OF GOD, and SUICIDE SILENCE. "The Judgement" is the band's sophomore release and contains eight new tracks.

"War of Gods" leads off the assault. The Death vocals and thick and rich, like OMNIUM GATHERUM's Jukka Pelkonen. The music however is fairly unilateral and not very exciting. "Spawnkill" is more of the same. The mid-tempo sound is fairly boring. Its like they lifted the riffs from a "100 riffs for all Metal bands" manual. It borders on Hardcore, because there is not much melody going on here. "From Wine to Piss" features more heavy and aggressive vocals with simple guitar riffs that don't venture far from the low E chord. "Remember Me" is another mid-tempo song and more and more of this album sounds the same.

"Kirkebrann" opens with some spoke word taking about "burning down churches," This formula they have, they just stick with and refuse to deviate from at all. The short "To The Judge" is the first track with some deviation, opening with despondent clean guitar notes, segueing into "The Judgement." This is a difficult album to get through. Each song sounds exactly the same as the last and there is nothing in the way of texture or melody here. "Worthless Existence" closes the album, with a fade-in of lead guitar and some depressing clean guitar notes.

I am usually a very positive reviewer, who can find something good in any album, but man was that tough here. The vocals are probably the best part of the album. Blascheck has a deep and fierce growl and could probably service another band quite well. Either that, or the instrumentation has to find a way to get some dynamics into their sound. There is no melody, and nothing that excites you. I've spoken about it before...the "mid-tempo" blues can really ruin and album, and that unfortunately isn't the worst thing here.