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| #FOR FANS OF: Symph Black/Death |
Profundum is a rather new project formed in the southern American city of San Antonio, Texas. This band is a side project of R and LR, pseudonyms of two quite active musicians who have several projects, all of them related to the extreme scene. In fact, R whose real name is Ryan Wilson, has a very interesting band called The Howling Void, which plays symphonic funeral doom. Other projects are nevertheless, more related to death and black metal. Profundum represents a combination of their previous projects though it remains firmly rooted in the black metal sound, with a strong atmospheric touch and including some other influences.
After a promising EP entitled 'What no Eye Has Seen', R and LR focused their efforts in order to give life to their first full album. It didn’t take too long until 'Come, Holy Death' was released by the German underground label Heathen Tribes in 2017. Profundum´s debut came in a nice digipak, sadly without booklet, and with an eye-catching artwork, which fits perfectly well the album´s musical concept. Without having the lyrics, I can hardly decipher their meaning, but the song titles have a sinister touch dealing with creation, void and darkness in general. The listener will realize that both music and lyrics are perfectly compatible. Musically, the album can be tagged as atmospheric black metal with a generous presence of the keys, which play a major role. Apart from that, it seems that both members try to import some influences from other projects. The use of powerful growls by LR is a good example of the death metal influence. Anyway, he also uses classic shrieks which also sound quite competent. It’s interesting to point out that the growls are usually accompanied by some slow moments which sound quite death-doom esque, making a great contrast to the usual fast pace that the majority of tracks have. In those sections both vocal styles are usually used. The album opener “Sentient Shadows” is a nice example and clearly shows how the band combines both resources in a very well executed way. The combination of fast black metal sections and beautiful and mesmerizing keys, with slow paced doom-death metal sections is something very habitually used in this record, and it works fantastically well.
All the tracks maintain a very similar structure and level, which I must admit is quite high, but my personal favourite is “Tunnels to the Void”. The track has a slow start including as usual some majestic keys. This section is abruptly finalized when the drums change the pace to a much faster one, nevertheless the grandiose keys still lead the pack and they truly sound magnificent. I personally consider this song a truly majestic and hypnotic experience. Production wise that R and LR gave the album a certainly old school touch. Like in the 90s', the instruments sound like it they were recorded far from the microphones, especially the guitars and drums. On the other hand, vocals and keys have a greater presence in the mix making a great contrast between the hypnotic and atmospheric side and the most brutal one.
In conclusion, Profundum released an excellent debut, which is a great piece of atmospheric black metal seasoned with some death and doom influences. These influences make the album even more interesting. As I have already mentioned, the keys play a major role and they are truly excellent and grand during the whole record, being the best ones I have listened to since a long time. A truly great start! (Alain González Artola)
After a promising EP entitled 'What no Eye Has Seen', R and LR focused their efforts in order to give life to their first full album. It didn’t take too long until 'Come, Holy Death' was released by the German underground label Heathen Tribes in 2017. Profundum´s debut came in a nice digipak, sadly without booklet, and with an eye-catching artwork, which fits perfectly well the album´s musical concept. Without having the lyrics, I can hardly decipher their meaning, but the song titles have a sinister touch dealing with creation, void and darkness in general. The listener will realize that both music and lyrics are perfectly compatible. Musically, the album can be tagged as atmospheric black metal with a generous presence of the keys, which play a major role. Apart from that, it seems that both members try to import some influences from other projects. The use of powerful growls by LR is a good example of the death metal influence. Anyway, he also uses classic shrieks which also sound quite competent. It’s interesting to point out that the growls are usually accompanied by some slow moments which sound quite death-doom esque, making a great contrast to the usual fast pace that the majority of tracks have. In those sections both vocal styles are usually used. The album opener “Sentient Shadows” is a nice example and clearly shows how the band combines both resources in a very well executed way. The combination of fast black metal sections and beautiful and mesmerizing keys, with slow paced doom-death metal sections is something very habitually used in this record, and it works fantastically well.
All the tracks maintain a very similar structure and level, which I must admit is quite high, but my personal favourite is “Tunnels to the Void”. The track has a slow start including as usual some majestic keys. This section is abruptly finalized when the drums change the pace to a much faster one, nevertheless the grandiose keys still lead the pack and they truly sound magnificent. I personally consider this song a truly majestic and hypnotic experience. Production wise that R and LR gave the album a certainly old school touch. Like in the 90s', the instruments sound like it they were recorded far from the microphones, especially the guitars and drums. On the other hand, vocals and keys have a greater presence in the mix making a great contrast between the hypnotic and atmospheric side and the most brutal one.
In conclusion, Profundum released an excellent debut, which is a great piece of atmospheric black metal seasoned with some death and doom influences. These influences make the album even more interesting. As I have already mentioned, the keys play a major role and they are truly excellent and grand during the whole record, being the best ones I have listened to since a long time. A truly great start! (Alain González Artola)
(Heathen Tribes - 2017)
Score: 90
https://profundum.bandcamp.com/album/come-holy-death
Score: 90
https://profundum.bandcamp.com/album/come-holy-death