If Italian Avant Garde is how you like your black metal then you are in for a treat, as the overlords of the Italian occult rock world, Profezia, are back with their long awaited, and highly anticipated 3rd album ‘Dodekaprofeton’.
The soul of this opus has been conjured up by some behemoths of the Italian metal scene and features such luminaries as Kvasir (Abhor, Mourning Mist), Domine Saevum Graven (Abhor, ex Sophus, ex Oraculum) and Ynleborgaz (Angantry, Make A Change…. Kill Yourself). It also features a true black metal scene legend, Marco De Rosa (Opera XI, Skoll) giving his final vocal performance before being taken from us way too early. The album also features session musicians, Ravenlord (Woods Of Infinity), Nequam (Mortuary Drape) and Leonardo Lonnerbach.
‘Dodekaprofeton’ is epic and awe inspiring in equal measures. Harmonies are aplenty, and these are dissected by frenzied violin gusts, as well as melodies which are delivered with harshness verging on beauty. The lyrics are melancholic and create a mood with their anti-theistic subjects being taken direct from the old testament. The band use modern and classical instruments to bolster their ways of classic Italian black metal.
‘Malachi’ opens with some rawness and they set out their intentions from the offset. The vocals are demonical and evil with a definite gravel and rawness to their make-up. The guitars work in harmony with the vocals and the drums are the spirit to this vehicle.
‘Nahum’ is the first marathon in this endeavour and the drums are more at the forefront of the mix, again the vocals are maniacal and spat out with venomous intent. The piece throws in piano interludes and has them playing in the background when the rest of the band are bludgeoning through the undergrowth. The keys add some beauty to the darkness and add a new dimension to this underworld.
The album continues to dive south of heaven in the form of ‘Amos’, ‘Obadiiah’ and ‘Jonah’. A vocal recital on ‘Jonah’ is performed by Nequam of Mortuary Drape fame and adds the drama and suspense with the theatrical style in which they are delivered. The band don’t deviate throughout the opus, and why would they when the equation is this accomplished. The only diversity they do add in is the length of the tracks, they go from a sprightly 3.13 on ‘Obadiah’, right up to a mammoth, marathonic 17.42 on ‘Zephaniah’
Ravenlord adds guest vocals to the party and it is all mastered by Devo Anderson at Endaker Studios (Marduk)
This has the potential to lift Italian black metal to the higher echelons and sit alongside its Scandinavian’s brothers in true raw, vicious and vitriolic black metal. Profezia may not be a household name to the majority of metal heads, but, trust me, that needs to change
(9/10 Phil Pountney)
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