Profanatica: Thy Kingdom Cum (2013)

Hateful, Vile, and Blasphemous

Review by Metallattorney. He is the law.

Here we have the infamous Profanatica, one of the U.S.'s early black metal acts that took shock and extremity to vile new heights. For instance, in their live video, the band's bassist ejaculated onto a Bible and vocalist Paul Ledney licked it up.* See? Vile.

Profanatica originally formed when death metal stalwarts Incantation broke up with John McEntee continuing as Incantation and the other members forming Profanatica. Profanatica lasted for about two years in the early 1990's before re-forming in 2001. Despite the fact that the band has existed in some form or other since then, Profanatica did not release their first full-length until 2007, relying on a steady stream of demos and splits until that time. Since then though, they have had three full-lengths.


Profanatica's music is hateful and dark, with an emphasis on the blasphemous. This is shown clearly with song titles like "Ruptureholyhymen" and "Thy Kingdom Cum". Their music is not terribly sophisticated, typically relying on one or two riffs per song, blasting drum beats, and raspy roaring vocals. The music is also highly repetitive. It is fairly clear that Darkthrone's early black metal releases (Transilvanian Hunger in particular) are the principal influences on the work of Profanatica.

Despite the repetitiveness and simplicity of the music (which let's be honest is fairly typical of this type of black metal), Profanatica succeed in bringing about the evil atmosphere and blasphemy that they work hard to create. Darkthrone's albums are considered classics in the genre and Profanatica is not really that far behind. The production is better, with a lot of bottom end and the songs are memorable, at least partially because of how repetitive they are.

The real problem with this release is that most of the songs kind of blend together. Sometimes a song leads directly into the next one, making it hard to identify which song is which.

I had not really heard much Profanatica before this release. I had heard songs here and there, but not a whole album before. I came away fairly impressed. I enjoy old school, hateful black metal and Profanatica is nothing if not hateful.

THE VERDICT
I give this album 4 out of 5 stars.



*[Dude . . . . I don't know where to begin. I feel compelled to point out, they're supporting the Christian publishing industry. --FMA]