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Flames > Last Prophecy > Reviews
Flames - Last Prophecy

The last good Flames album - 76%

Cushpnk, May 7th, 2021

I absolutely adore the first three records these guys crafted. The first one is an amazing barrage of mostly speed metal, the second is part speed part thrash, the third is a breathtaking display of extreme thrash mastery. Ladies and gentlemen, one of Greece's finest cultural exports; Flames.

This album follows largely in the vein of the third album, only less ambitious. The guitars are, as always, very precise although a bit more melodic. The vocals are the same caveman noises we all know and love. The drummer can play like his life is on the line, and he is quite talented. And for the bass, can't say it stands out.

My main gripe with this is that it's a more stripped down version of the previous album, it trades the already existing intensity and ferocity for questionable melodic choices and at times boring mid-paced sections and sometimes whole songs. The tracks which preserve the aforementioned barbarity the most would mainly be "Deathra", "Destiny of Hate", and "Silo". The rest is broadly speaking hit or miss, at least that's my experience. On about half of the songs I was just begging for the speed to be turned up a notch. At times it seemed as if they were almost afraid to do so. Maybe they were going for a more commercial sound? I don't know, that's not for me to decide.

In sum, when this album is at its best it can almost stand up to the previous effort and when it's at its worst it's not offensively bad; just bland and sometimes too "groove-oriented" for my tastes. Though for 1989 much better could have been done. Oh well..!

Signs of decline - 70%

girionis, April 16th, 2008

“Last Prophecy” musically resembles the “Summon the Dead” album; fast rhythms, hellish drums, thick vocals and ripping solos. I am not sure if they did it intentionally but it reminds me a lot of “Summon the Dead”, especially the way the riffs are played (sharp and very fast) and the vocals are sung (thick voice that grunts and screams). I guess, since Summon the Dead was a small success, they tried to recreate the same atmosphere and feeling. And, to some extend, it works.

The recipe is the same. Take a technical drummer that can play like there is no tomorrow, take a bass player that can keep the rhythm, take two guitarists that can play fast and sharp, add the crazy, almost improvised, solos and you get a decent thrash metal album.

But although it succeeds musically sometimes the passion is not there. Traditionally Flames have spoiled us with excellent music with real guts and passion, they really lived what they played. Now this is quite a different album to their previous ones. Not musically-wise, not composition-wise, not riff-wise, but passion wise. Sometimes (not always) it sound lifeless and uninspired, like they released this album because they had to, not because they felt like it. I think instead of progressing and taking their music one step further they stagnated and stayed at the same level.

Don't get me wrong, this is not a bad album, I'd say all songs are more than average... and this is the problem. Flames are not an average band, they are an excellent band. With the three studio albums they have released in the past they have set their fans' expectations very high... and this LP is something their fans do not expect. It is a good album, but not for Flames.

If you are a fan of the genre (like me) you will appreciate it. Otherwise you might find it a bit uninspired.