Shadows to Fall

Profanity was an overlooked band from the already fairly overlooked German death metal scene, which makes it twice the shame that more oldschool death metal fans haven't picked up on them. Granted, their debut, "Shadows to Fall," was released in 1997, which was hardly the optimal time to be in a death metal band, but the resolute strength of this record and occasionally remarkable leaps in style makes me think that at least SOMEONE out there should be giving this record the recognition it deserves. So I'll be the first to say it: Profanity was a very strong, if not spectacular, artistic collective from one of metal's more underrated musical scenes, and "Shadows to Fall," while certainly not perfect, is a unique and powerful piece of music which deserves a spot in any oldschool death metal fan's collection.

Profanity's style wanders in a lot of different stylistic directions, but one of the biggest influences appears to be Vader, at least in the high-speed blasting that defines much of this music. I'm not fucking around when I say this album actually has some unbelievably fast passages for '97, including some points where it actually sounds like there's a gravity blast going on(!). Beyond that, much of this material is midpaced, bringing to mind Broken Hope or Monstrosity, another couple bands that kept it going through the mid-'90s death metal scene. Profanity's thrash influence is palpable but more churning and clearly death metal in usage- fast thrash beats with convoluted, Suffocation-style riffs form a good deal of the music on this album, meshing perplexingly with the extremely aggressive blast/tremolo configurations and the more wandering, almost proggy passages. There's a whole lot of ideas on this record, and they're impressively executed for the most part.

This is structurally some of the more complex material I've heard come out of the '90s German scene. Profanity's songs are intricate and linear in the way that "Legion"-era Deicide was, with extremely abrupt shifts in rhythm, tempo, or melodic style being par for the course. Profanity almost deliberately chooses not to structure their music in an organic fashion, making the seams in the songwriting intentionally obvious, and somehow make it work, giving the music a chaotic and ripping feel that again hearkens back to the thrash roots these guys are certainly inspired by. Beyond this, though, is an acute grasp of melody that's only occasionally tucked into the songs, and even then you'll have to keep your ears sharp to hear them. Small micromelodies are stitched into fills or short riffs, etching out surprisingly melancholic and emotive melodic ideas before collapsing back into more conventional death/thrash riffing. On a technical and structural level, I've heard little material that actually resembles this elsewhere in the metal scene, and it suggests a prog background that's much less ostentatious than most (though it does come out on occasion on tracks like "Darkened Water Sky.")

In short, Profanity's debut album is a very unique and very strong record that even today comes across as completely and utterly unappreciated by the greater death metal scene. The impressive technical and structural skill displayed when combined with the bands amazing knowledge of pacing and tension makes this one of the most erudite and fascinating records I've heard from mid-'90s death metal, much like a more streamlined take on Mercyless' "Coloured Funeral." If you enjoy the crazier and more interesting reaches of death metal, this is absolutely an item to check out.