Profanatica - Sickened by Holy Host
This is not a new Profanatica album, but a compilation of stuff that comprises a new mini-album (the first seven tracks) and the Grand Master Sessions vinyl box set release on CD. The new songs are pretty much in the same vein as the old material on display. Profanatica, even in their earliest incarnation, was more of a Death Metal band than anything else. With a lineage that included Incantation, it’s no surprise that their sound is more Death Metal than what we consider “Black Metal” today. Truth be told, I was never much of a fan of Profanatica or Havohej (basically Profanatica with just Paul Ledney). They were a band that you either loved or hated. I wasn’t really into their kill your mom for Satan / random blasphemy with sexual reference lyrics, or their tendency to appear on their album covers without pants or completely nude. I’m from San Francisco and men who do that kind of shit here are called “fags.” From a marketing perspective, giving prospective fans a really, really good reason to not buy your albums is always bad, and no straight Metalhead is going to want to buy an album with a bunch of nude guys on the cover (unless it’s an orgy scene with an equal or greater number of nude females there, too). Musically, they were never very impressive. Their best material, even here, is their “live in the studio” set (the last nine tracks). The new studio songs have good sound, but the raw, live sound does their music more justice than a sanitized studio recording. The keyboard soundscapes that Aragon Amori made are essentially filler tracks that divide the new music from the old. They aren’t old Mortiis or Wongraven by a long shot. I would have probably liked this more if it was just the “live in the studio” stuff, as the additional material wasn’t very impressive.
[Note: Our review copy has 23 tracks, but apparently some versions of this release only have the first 13. -Editor.]
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