When I saw De Profundis’ latest offering on the review list, I was keen to secure the beast as I had been a fan of their work for a few years now. Having been witness to their brutality and clinical execution in the live setting, at both Bloodstock and Incineration in past years, I wanted to see if the viciousness and violence would translate well in the studio setting.
‘The Binding Light Of Faith’ is quintessentially a death metal album introducing varying elements, without compromising at all on the heaviness and power. The Abrahamic religion is at the forefront of their inspiration, and this release is brimming over with speedy guitar riffs, lightning solos and guttural, gravely vocals a plenty.
This is the 5th full length album from Craig Land et al, and it has to be their most mature and developed one to date; they seem to have distilled all the qualities from the previous releases and bottled them into this juggernaut.
‘Obsidian Spires’ opens up the proceedings, and lays out its intentions from the offset. It’s technical, bruising and a behemoth of a track from start to finish. Up next is ‘War Be Upon Him’, which is a personal favourite of mine. Its structure is well constructed and the vocals conjure up images of old school death metal, treading in the footsteps of Dismember, Hypocrisy and even Bolt thrower.
The band constantly rip at the jugular throughout, and with songs like ‘Bastard Sons Of Abraham’ and ‘Martyrs’ being absolute masterpieces of the more technical death metal, Craig Lands vocals morph into a more melodeath arrangement, without losing any of the power or sheer brutality.
‘Beyond Judgement’ injects a more traditional death metal slab to the operation, whilst still allowing Shoi Sen and Paul Nazarkardeh the artistic license to exhibit their ridiculous talents with the fret board.
The band not only deliver up a new album, but also deliver a new logo by way of the talented Gary Ronaldson, who has previously worked with the likes of Benighted and Misery Index, and this is placed upon some truly gnarly and mesmerising artwork, which helps picturise the bands anti-religious stance by the talented Alex Tartsus, who has previously worked with Sinister among others.
‘The Binding Light Of Faith’ could potentially be an album of the year, especially in the death metal ranks, and this is going to put De Profundis firmly in the same league as the big hitters, such as Morbid angel, Immolation and Obituary to name a few. I can’t recommend grabbing this as soon as you can and if you are going to catch them at Bloodstock in the summer, you are well and truly in for a treat.
(9/10 Phil Pountney)
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