Let Us Pray

"WAR! WAR! WAR!" Thus growled Jeff Gruslin on the first track of the first Vital Remains album, officially unfolding the blasphemous musical legacy of the band. Like all other Vital Remains albums (without Benton), Let Us Pray is such a groundbreaking masterpiece.

This album is flawless, from the fantastic musicianship and well-done instrumentation to Jeff's powerful death growls to the countless riffs that seem to smoothly flow into one another. The cover artwork suits the sound of the music and the music is recorded with excellent production quality. The songs are much slower than those of all the other Vital Remains albums, but at the same time it's not a death/doom album. No blast-beat exists on Let Us Pray which may be a bit shocking to a new Vital Remains fan who only listened to Dechristianize and Icons of Evil. Let Us Pray also doesn't have any of the distinctive neo-classical solos that were introduced on the third album. But the album still delivers something grandiose despite how the difference between its style and the other albums are like night and day. This album is loaded with so many riffs and totally unconventional song structures devoid of choruses or anything like that. But most of the riffs are played long enough to let the listener's ears consume and digest the riffs being heard. That's what separates this death metal album from all the others that came out in the late '80s/early '90s. Tony and Paul don't just play a few extremely fast and ear-splitting riffs with a couple melodic moments over and over again like how Tony and Dave did on Dechristianize and Icons.

Jeff's vocals are impressive! He was definitely one of the best vocalists in Vital Remains' entire history. His voice is genuinely vicious and naturally monstrous, as he growls and shouts with pure mercilessness throughout every song, condemning everything he can about organized religion with the lyrics. He's not like many other death metal vocalists in which their growls sound more forced and unnatural. Jeff is the complete opposite of this.

Overall, this album proves that Vital Remains were off to a strong start, with an already developed death metal sound which would later transform into what eventually became the extremely fast, brutal sound of Dechristianize. I'd say this is much more accessible to the ears, and a much more enjoyable album to listen to. It proves that Vital Remains always strove to be original, even from day one.