Long running German death metal act Profanity return with their fourth album – Fragments of Solace, which is 7 songs in 41 minutes guaranteed to rip your head off, slam it against the concrete then shove it through the Earth’s core exploding it in the process.  I have seen the band logo for years, but never actually heard them, until very recently – thank you Mike, for the recommendation. So since me being a relative newcomer to the Profanity camp I went back and obtained their prior releases in digital format and Profanity are now in regular rotation through the Rini eardrums.  Let’s give a little bit of history – shall we?

Profanity started in the early 90’s playing brutal death metal, they had some progressive elements to their first 2 albums, the 1997 debut Shadows to Fall and the 2000 follow-up Slaughtering Throughts, but mainly focused on really killer, well-crafted brutal death metal.  The band remained quiet until their 2014 Hatred Hell Within 3-song ep.  This new bit of music ushered in a new focus for Profanity as they embraced the brutal technical death metal genre quite forcefully.  Their follow-up third album The Art of Sickness, in 2017 further extended that tech part and brought in more of a noodling aspect to their sound.  Not mindless though, as Profanity are an extremely focused band, technically and bludgeoning speaking.  The band consists of founding member Thomas Sartor on guitars/vocals, long running drummer Armin Hassmann and bassist Lukas Haidinger who has been with the band for 3 years.

Fragments of Solace, just like its predecessor The Art of Sickness, rarely gives you time to breathe and “Disputed Territory” immediately starts with the Holy Shit moment – no room to breathe, the song starts with a vicious blast as Thomas is sounding super angry and his vocals are really deep and resonating.  Some excellent guitar soloing going over the blasts, but also melodic, and the bass guitar, is once again prominent in the mix.  The plucking madness is all over the place and sounds excellent.  Some great pinch harmonics to slice your body into a million pieces.  Armin’s drumming is relentless and the double bass is chest collapsing.  He even throws in a tiny little gravity blast about halfway through the song, as more soloing comes in during the slower moments, which there are few, but this is crushing beyond belief.

Over the course of their releases Profanity do not shy away from the long songs, either.  So on this “Where Forever Starts” is over 9 minutes and for tech death metal this brutal it can be a little overwhelming.  The first 2 minutes begins as an instrumental and some Fallujah elements come in with the guitar sounds and musical landscapes and continue throughout the song, during various points, and it’s really amazing.  I think Fallujah are one of the best tech death metal bands, with their brutal immersive, emotive atmosphere.  Profanity lifts a little of that influence and then goes back n forth with the non-stop brutality, a little bit of guitar technical noodling and some mid-paced stomps.

‘Towards the Sun” has some excellent melodic moments mixed in with the over-the-top technical brilliant brutality.  “Reckless Souls” is an 8+ minute number with some monster opening guitar solo sweeps over the juggernaut blasting and more vicious growls and throaty violence thrown our way.  Check out the rhythm section at the 3.54 moment with the solos, pinch harmonics, vocals and then the 4.14 section really hits home with that tight musicianship.

Profanity return with another colorful album cover and the blues and lighting on the fire is excellent.  Shame on me for discovering Profanity so late, however I am now a big fan and I need some Profanity swag to further show support.  It is really surprising Fragments of Solace is self-released.  Profanity would fit excellently on labels such as: Unique Leader Records or even Nuclear Blast.  This is well-crafted brutal tech death metal with catchiness mixed in with the monster brutality.  The musicianship is truly top-notch and Profanity lay waste to many more popular signed acts, playing a similar death metal style.  Please like their FB page and check this awesome act out.  This is a fantastic release and Fragments of Solace is worthy of a Buy or Die!!

 

[Visit the band's website]

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