Mexican act Profanator are the final stab I got in my last reviews of this month and are by far the most progressive yet still inherently beastly on every song. This fourth album was actually out in 2018 on Mat Records and Vomit Records but has obviously been picked up for a further push and increased coverage, which is exactly what it deserves. The album twists, grimaces and distorts through songs that teem with riffs but are riddled with tempo fluctuations that keep the momentum and drive of this album fixed on unpredictability. Opening with the appropriately titled “Hatred” the song channels its violence via a few minutes of outright pernicious causticity.
Slashing into the listener is “Solucion Final” where the gritty edge and feral attitude is corrupted by the gruesome vocals which do possess a clarity on tone as well. Initially slower and far more doom like, the morose funereal aura is drenched in anguish as the atmosphere increases via the cool hooks that are inserted. The intensification is steadily done; you can feel the tension rising before the blast beat ferociousness assails in waves. “Filth” is short, virulent and nasty as the slicing riff is backed by occasional double kick workouts that bolster the density hugely.
Offering a far more expansive listen is the longer “Night Fever” (no it’s not a Bee Gees cover) where the opening samples serve up a horror film like aura before the thrusting riff piles into the song. I must admit sometimes these sound snippets were overly long and overstated but the resulting bloodthirstiness that ensues more than makes up for that in the end. Again the density is massive, with the cloying kick drums enveloping the song in a shroud of gnarliness. As the song progresses it diverts down channels of blasting violence but also more tuneful riffing exploits. “Pest” is a frenzied assault, rabidly fast but still catchy in its own way before another more epic composition appears over the grisly horizon. With a monastic vocal chant being poisoned by a demonic like vocal, “Kalendisept” is creepily effective before the riffing abruptly juts in. The fluid tempo changes and morphing riffs make the song kaleidoscopic in intensity, but it is the incessant speed workouts that make Profantor so blistering.
Closing the release is the colossal ten minute title track which arguably listens like a gargantuan outro about half way in. The song’s starting sequence of effects is again very creepy as atmospherics suggest a horror film like ethos. The song eventually reveals a much slower riff and approach creating a dramatic effect though no less impacting. The song sticks to a repeating riff structure that is hypnotic to some extent and possesses a blackened tinge around its periphery. The increase in speed is inevitable but not detonating preferring to use the drum work to intensify the song before a tangential halt in proceedings to reveal a more ambient soundscape that continues until the song has finished. Again there is a dramatic turn where spoken vocals dominate producing a cinematic styling that rounds off the album nicely.
(8/10 Martin Harris)
Leave a Reply