Have you ever tried to mix the music of IRON MAIDEN with that of PICTURE? Well, neither have I, but now someone has had that idea and brought it into fruition. That someone is the Brazilian band STEEL RATH. They started life in the São Paulo area in 2019 and since then have ben able to release two full length albums. Their debut “Steel Rath” was released on October 8th, 2021 by ALONE RECORDS. Something must have felt right, because a few months more than two years later, in February 2024, the sophomore album “Prayers Of War” is to be thrown into the world by the same record company.

Like I said, the music is a kind of combination of NWOBHM IRON MAIDEN style and NWOTHM PICTURE style. The former is mostly hearable in the way the riffs are put together, some of the galloping rhythms and one or two of the vocal lines. The latter is usually noticeable when they play the slower rhythms, the choppy nature of some of the breaks and the squarer sounding sound on “Prayers Of War”. The question that will be on the tip of anyone’s tongue is whether this combination works. As I am listening to “Prayers Of War” while I am typing this review, I have to admit that it does all come together nicely.

The fact that STEEL RATH are able to write quite good songs does help a lot. Every song has that feel of being very old, whilst still fitting in the current way of making Metal music. Musically this album is a real joy to listen to. So much so that I have become very interested in hearing how the debut album sounds. Of course when I mention that it all sounds good musically, I might have some criticism on the vocal parts. And yes, I do. Bruno Coimbria does have the right kind of clear voice with a nice rough edge, which is prefect for this kind of Old School Heavy Metal. He knows exactly how to sing and is a very good addition to the music.

But; as I am listening to “Prayers Of War” I can only decipher some of the lyrics he is singing, even if he is singing in a clear voice. And when I do recognise the lyrics, the pronunciation, intonation and emphasising is way off what it should be. This must be due to the lack of knowledge of the English language. Which is not exactly a crime, but in this instance I would have preferred Bruno Coimbria to have sung in his native Portuguese language. I might not understand a word he sings when he does, but I wouldn’t have had to wind myself up on my pet hate. But just think of it this way; if that is the only criticism, I can come up with in the 50 minutes that “Prayers Of War” goes on for, then I can only conclude that STEEL RATH have produced one hell of an album.