- Country: Norway
- Genre: Symphonic Black Metal / Progressive Black Metal
- For fans of: Emperor, Dimmu Borgir, Borknagar, Septicflesh
PROFANE BURIAL – Desolate Echoes of Turmoil
If there’s music that can make you forget the summer heat for a while, it’s Black Metal. Profane Burial come from Norway and with “Desolate Echoes of Turmoil” they transport us to a much colder and darker landscape. Snow, forests, frozen riffs and plenty of symphonic atmosphere are here, but the band doesn’t want to play the classic Black Metal you expect.
From the first minutes it’s clear that there are many ideas within these six tracks. The issue is that they don’t always connect with each other the way they could.
From calm to attack
“Den Fortaptes Krønike” starts almost calmly, with melodic guitar that slowly draws you into the mood. And when you think it will continue that way, Profane Burial hit the gas and the blast beats kick in.
Drummer Bjørn Dugstad Rønnow doesn’t stay only on speed. He changes tempo often and gives the tracks plenty of motion, while André Aaslie fills the sound with different guitars, from melodic solos to heavier and stranger riffs.
The vocals of Kjetil Ytterhus are exactly what you expect from such an album. Frozen, wild and deep enough to provide the necessary dark side.
Den Fortaptes Krønike – YouTube
Many ideas within the same songs
“Prognostic Augural Obsolescence” shows more of the band’s Progressive side. The guitars change direction, there are more melodic passages and plenty of tempo changes.
“Triumph of Dreadful Aftermath” moves in a similar mood, with more pronounced harmonized riffs and melodies that stray from ordinary Black Metal.
So far, so good.
The problem appears when the symphonic elements come into play.
Piano, choirs and orchestral passages appear at various points, but several times they seem to have been dropped into the song without a proper connection to what came before.
On “Channeling Epiphany”, for example, a heavy riff with palm-muted guitars stops abruptly and is replaced by piano along with orchestral keys. The passage itself is good. The problem is the transition. And when the Black Metal returns again a little later, the change seems more abrupt than natural.
When everything finds its place
Fortunately, there’s also “Horror Code, Pt. 2”, where Profane Burial show how this whole combination could work better.
Here the tempo changes are smoother and the symphonic side isn’t set against the Black Metal. Instead, the two elements play together.
The melodic guitars, the backing vocals and the atmosphere create a more melancholic result and the track flows much better. It’s perhaps the moment the album shows most clearly what Profane Burial could do if they gave a little more time to the transitions.
“Malicious Discomfort” closes the album and continues in the same dark mood, with the band showing once again that it lacks neither ideas nor musical ability.
And that’s perhaps the main issue with “Desolate Echoes of Turmoil”. Profane Burial have plenty of things to say and the musicians know very well how to play them. There are powerful guitars, beautiful melodies, good drums and interesting symphonic moments.
They just often try to put it all together at once.
The result is an album that one moment can win you over with a very good Black Metal riff and the next pulls you out of the mood with an abrupt change that doesn’t have time to “click”.
Still, when Profane Burial let the tracks move naturally, as on “Horror Code, Pt. 2”, the picture changes. There it becomes clear that there’s something truly interesting behind all this chaos.
So “Desolate Echoes of Turmoil” has plenty of good moments and is certainly not an indifferent album. But it needs a little more control over its ideas. Fewer abrupt changes and more attention to how one part moves into the other could make the difference.
Because Profane Burial have the ability. This time they just loaded their winter with a little more than it needed.
Tracklist
- Den Fortaptes Krønike – 07:44
- Prognostic Augural Obsolescence – 07:00
- Triumph of Dreadful Aftermath – 06:32
- Channeling Epiphany – 06:56
- Horror Code Pt. 2 – 06:18
- Malicious Discomfort – 08:40
