PRAY U PREY “The Omega Kill”
By Dr. Abner Mality
With band members named Shrub, Shrew and Colin, there’s not much mystery about where PRAY U PREY is from...good ol’ Blighty, haha! I have always had a soft spot for the kind of crusty British grind these fellows purvey. Simple, crushing music with roots in DISCHARGE, DOOM, BOLT THROWER and BENEDICTION, amongst others. It’s a peculiarly British style and PUP are pretty good at it.
While I wouldn’t put this at the very top of that specialized subgenre, this band knows exactly how it works. After the old Charlie Chaplin “I want to help everybody” speech is brought out of mothballs for the umpteenth time, these guys get right down to it with “Earth Roulette Wheel”. They’ve got that grinding, grimy guitar sounds down to a tee...any of the bands mentioned above would be proud of it. Basic blasting d-beat riffs kicked up to death metal levels, the occasional drop-down to a “skank” beat or a swampy trudge, and gruff vocals telling of boundless human stupidity...they’re all here.
Only the slavish devotion to the rules of crustgrind might hurt this a bit, because it seems pretty derivative even if you’re not that choosy. But surely not to the point where “The Omega Kill” can’t be enjoyed. Grind on, ye heavy lads…