#prayer position

[drugstorecowboi]

Prayer Position: “A Grim Weapon” Prayer Position (2022)

[dustedmagazine]

Prayer Position — Devotion (Phage Tapes)

This reviewer is not enamored of the phrase “blackened punk,” but in the case of Prayer Position, it seems to fit the music — and it’s a better-sounding phrase than “punk-ish black metal.” The dirty, not-quite-no-fi production of Devotioneffectively signals both punk’s long-standing hostility to any signs of professional polish and black metal’s more performative desire sonically to dramatize the condition of death. Check out “Relic,” the middle track of this terrific (or terrifically awful) three-song EP, and you’ll get the idea. The song’s edges are serrated, rusting away in moist loam; the whole thing feels freshly exhumed. But like the other seven-and-a-half minutes of music on this too-short record, “Relic” feels stubbornly, vindictively alive, sharp and coming straight at your throat.

That “too short” is typical of Prayer Position’s output. The Boston-based band has been releasing music since 2022, but aside from a relatively conventionally scaled self-titled LP from that year, there’s only this new EP and five minutes of chaos on the uniformly excellent four-way split Blood Price (2024), with Final Dose, Otras and the underappreciated Haunting Figure. Given just how abrasive and downright evil Prayer Position’s music feels, brief and concentrated bursts may be the best (or safest) way to experience the sounds.

So: Devotion? Prayer? It’s all quite religious in its semiotics, hence, perhaps, an additional layer of blackened substance. The kvlty satanist types that proliferate in black metal have a curious tendency to favor cold and iciness as aesthetic properties, when the collective interest in Hell and devilish light might suggest heat and fire. Prayer Position includes a track titled “Gates of Heaven” here, but it’s hard to know how ironically that image is handled. The music certainly scorches, full of friction and trebly, in-the-red oversaturation. It puts this reviewer in mind of those excellent tapes Floridian Winter put out about a decade ago. Like that band, Prayer Position burns it all down to bitter essentials, salt and ash and the coppery residue of blood.

Jonathan Shaw

[tearsofdenial]

[afrodita-negra]

[lookatthesefuckinglyrics]

"Prayer Position" Another day pulls me down to my knees And holds the gun to my fucking head Can't feel a thing Prayer position holding my life above the muck Oh god, I'm speaking in swirling bowls And now the walls are laughing in silence Spiraling down to the floor Can't feel a thing My condition eating me down to the core When will it end, when is it over and when can I live? The bar is held down on my throat Kicking and screaming I live this life down in a hole Down in a hole Take away misery tomorrow Shine the light and end this dimming glow Take away misery tomorrow Shine the light to end this dimming glow The day is gone Now turns the night Our bodies glow ever so bright The crash is done We reach new highs Our bodies glow ever so bright Venture through these eyes Venture through these eyes and lose all time Scratch the itch and murder the body for pleasure Sparking it up, breathing the fire we crave Guzzle it down, feeling the sparkle together Ante it up and blow me away for the high, let's go What are we doing and where have the morals all gone? Now is the time, this is the feeling we treasure You won't remember, but goddammit it's fine The bar is held down on my throat Kicking and screaming I live this life down in a hole Take away misery tomorrow Shine the light and end this dimming glow Take away misery tomorrow Shine the light to end this dimming glow Stomp my head, throw it down in a hole Stomp on my heart, let's go Stomp my head, throw it down in a hole Stomp on my heart, let's go Stomp my head, throw it down in a hole Blow me away, let's go Blow me away, let's go

[thejiujitsutimes]

How To Counter The Prayer Position Escape

[a-wick-with-no-candle]

Positions of prayer in the Christian faith as depicted through art history and current worship practices have been puzzling me lately.

Granted, I was raised in a Protestant church so I think a lot of Christian/Catholic ritual is lost to me.

And right now I’m just wondering, where do these “prayer postures” originate? I didn’t learn about orant (prayer) figures until I took art history classes and the pose seems pretty wide spread to me. But, I guess I’m wondering, what this pose means? Do arms outstretched in prayer mean something like adoration? Is it like an exclamation? What about having your arms folded over your chest in prayer?

I mean, to me, when I do these poses in my own personal prayer practice, they “feel” different. When I have my arms out, it “feels” like joy. Kinda like an excited release of breath, like a weight is lifted. When I have my arms folded in, it “feels” like reverence. Like submitting to Divine will and taking upon that weight.

Am I making any sense at all?

If anyone has advice, answers, or any introspection at all, please let me know!

[shitredditrocks]

Periphery - Prayer Position

"Prayer Position" by Periphery

posted in r/metalcore