Vital Remains formed in 1988 in Providence. Rhode Island. Their influences included acts such as Celtic Frost, Venom, Bathory, Sodom, and Mercyful Fate, often lending the band's sound a slightly more black metal edge on occasion compared to their peers. The band was signed to Peaceville Records for 2 albums, "Let Us Pray" and "Into Cold Darkness", and are still a prominent force in the death metal world today. "Let Us Pray" was originally released in 1992 on Peaceville's subsidiary label, Deaf Records, and was Vital Remains' debut full length album. With a heavy dose of brutal yet still melodic black-tinged death metal, and featuring heavily satanic, occult and anti-christian lyrics, Vital Remains set themselves apart from the more gore fascinated bands of the time; more often than not preferring to establish the mood with mid-tempo structures and progressions over a purely hyper-speed attack, with a flow to the compositions occasionally bringing to mind the work of US metal legends, Death.
