It's been a while since the metal world has heard from Blessed Curse. Their last release was the 2017 EP, "Beware Of The Night" and before that, they released their eponymous debut album in 2012. They're a thrash metal band, plain and simple, and don't pretend to be anything more, showing their roots immediately with artwork from Marc Sasso, famous for creating covers for Dio, Cage, and Morbid Angel. So after being away for so long, what does Blessed Curse have to offer? Sadly, not much.

"Pray For Armageddon" begins decently enough with the title track, a vicious and aggressive Kreator-inspired song. Blessed Curse appears to be quite heavily influenced by the German legends, as well as others like Destruction, and their fingerprints can be felt on other songs such as "Lock Me Up" and "Beheader." There's also a touch of Possessed to be heard on "Subspecies," which has a weird jig-like melody that keeps it bouncing along. Some of the other songs have an underlying sense of fun, such as "Into The Dark" and "Street Freaks," the latter of which features an entertaining call-and-response chorus.

The problem with "Pray For Armageddon" is that there isn't much to talk about. It's a thrash metal album and that's pretty much all it is. The most original and interesting track is "Aftermath," which creates a really eerie atmosphere and had it been fleshed out, would have easily been the stand out so, but it's only a short instrumental interlude, which feels like such a waste. Elsewhere there's some solid guitar work, nice riffs, and a pretty solid rhythm section, but the record falls short when it comes to the vocals, which are cliched at best and annoying at worst, particularly on "Lock Me Up" and "Graveyard World."

Thrash metal devotees will find an album that's pretty suited to their taste, but has nothing new to offer whatsoever. The record never passes the level of OK and wears its influences on its sleeve a bit too clearly at times, while at others it can even become irritating. The genre stalwarts, including Kreator, all moved away from the old style of thrash because it became stale and there wasn't much more to be done with it, so it is curious why so many younger thrash bands are so keen to replicate the older approaches. All in all, if you absolutely need more thrash metal, you might enjoy it, but even longtime fans of the genre won't get much from "Pray For Armageddon."