Italy’s Profezia are a Black Misanthropic Elite (hehe, got it???) which I do like a lot. The band is now on the roster of Moribund, which isn’t that strange at all, for the ‘musical’ approach is very much moribundish in different aspects: song writing, lyrical approach and sound.
What this band brings with their third full length studio record is a grim and nasty form of melodic yet extremely dark, oppressive and occult Black Metal, which has both an Underground-attitude as well as an Old School vibe. The tempo is rather slow and the sound grim, unpolished and raspy, which both drench the whole album in a veil of ominous obscurity. Two specific things, besides that melodious yet suffocatively-doomy tempo, however define Profezia’s sound. First of all I think the vocals are distinctive from the ‘average’ blackish screams. It is rather comparable to the East-European approach (Sear Bliss and Master’s Hammer, for example, come to mind), and seen the specific speed it isn’t but great. But the most remarkable element might be the permanent use of violin lines. The violin isn’t an instrument that appears once in a while, but it is a constant, a part of the total execution. And it might be a bold remark, but I think there is a certain comparability with the violins used for My Dying Bride (but that is the only possible comparison to these English Doom-meisters). The general approach is of the Funeral / Suicidal / Melancholic / Occult kind rather than of the necrotic, warlike or purely Satanic kind. Indeed, this approach characterises the Mediterranean scene (Greece, Spain, Portugal and Italy often have a sound distinctive from, for example, the Scandinavian, East-European or North-American one when it comes to atmosphere, as you might know). Therefore this new Profezia-record is a necessity if you are ‘into’ this kind of sub-tropical coldness (righteous contradictio in terminis, isn’t it…). …atmosphere overruling high-standard techniques…
FYI: this time, frontman and multi-instrumentalist Kvasir (you might know him from excellent acts like Abhor and Ancient Supremacy as well) worked with two fellow-countrymen: Domine Saevum Gravem (think: Kaprogoat, Oraculum, Abhor), who wrote most of the lyrics, and vocalist Marco ‘M The Bard’ DeRosa (of Opera IX / Torvara / Zenith / Huginn / A Forest / …-fame), as well as Danish partner-in-black-crime Jakob ‘Ynleborgaz’, known from projects and bands like Holmgang, Make A Change … Kill Yourself, Angantyr, Blodarv, Taagefolket a.o., on drums.