Review: “Doctrine of Misanthropy” by Prayers Of Sanity

Proving there is no substitute for 80’s Thrash Metal influenced by the likes of Exodus, Nuclear Assault and Testament Portugal’s Prayers of Sanity have so far hammered out a trio of well received albums in 2009’s “Religion Blindness”, 2012’s “Confrontations” and 2017’s “Face of the Unknown”.  Combining Thrash with the raw intensity of punk and hardcore in pure undiluted fury, the trio show no signs of slowing down or pandering to experimentation, instead preparing to unleash their fourth album “Doctrine of Misanthropy” as a largely in house affair.

Produced by Prayers of Sanity, recorded and mixed by vocalist and guitarist Tião Costa at ROK Solid Productions and mastered by Pedro Gerardo the album races out of the gate like a Pitbull chasing the mail mans leg with the title track “Doctrine of Misanthropy” which immediately brings to mind Municipal Waste as it gallops through razor sharp riffage with Carlos’s bass prominent in the mix. Tião’s vocals aren’t accented at all, as if he has been brought up on a strict diet of American Thrash Metal and for better or worse, there is absolutely nothing on the record that points to this band being Portuguese; something that you could also level at Spanish Thrash giants Crisix. “Sons of Royal Blood” brings the face melting solo as Tião shows of greater vocal range, his bark accompanied by some lung bursting shriller screams that add that much more punch to the bands sound. If you’ve not heard Prayers Of Sanity before, then you won’t be aware that they do things at their own speed and for the most part that means a high energy incendiary thrill ride as they leave streaks of flame in their wake. “Abomination” is probably the stand out from the first half of the album, a nostalgia soaked depiction that fuels circle pits with a glorious whammy bar drop solo; it’s like listening to Megadeth on steroids. Prayers of Sanity are inspired by the classic era of Thrash and never shy away from that fact, which is refreshingly honest of them and in a time of a resurgence in the genre, perhaps there time is now. The shredfest of “We are Built to Suffer” is pure Pizza Party Thrash on an album that is unadulterated fun in every sense of the word; if it has reared its ugly head from the boggy swamp from which it surfaced in 1983, it would have sold a million copies, hands down and be trading original cassette tape copies for fortunes online. Don’t sleep on the opportunity to check this one out, you won’t regret it [7.5/10]

Carlos – Bassist
Artur – Drummer

Track listing

1. Doctrine of Misanthropy
2. Sons of Royal Blood
3. Hide Your Hate
4. Abomination
5. V
6. We are Built to Suffer
7. Path of Sin
8. Destination Hell

“Doctrine of Misanthropy” by Prayers Of Sanity is out 25th June via Rastilho Records