De Profundis - Frequencies (EP)

De Profundis from London, England is a new band to me being this is the first time I've heard their music. I understand they sounded different in the early years of their career as they were a doom band. There are doom influences on this release, which is an EP titled Frequencies, but they stick to a more progressive death metal sound on this album that and they are pretty good at it. As I said, this is my first exposure to this band so I have no preconceived idea of how this should sound so I think I could be objective here. If this is the direction that this band is headed in, I like it. It's epic, it's fast, it's got some nice grooves and some massive riffing. They do have an interesting sound that sets them apart.

This is a four song EP that is an exclusive for Terrorizer Magazine subscribers with three original songs and a Death cover. The opener, "A Strange Awakening," shows the band does have a bit of doom in them but the technical side of this band shows through. In some places this could be old Opeth on steroids but with more serious riffing.. The song goes from pounding riffs to blasting and tremolos while their technical riffing is similar to The Sound of Perseverance era Death. They even throw some melodic and psychedelic influences in there to give this a seriously interesting sound. This is one of the coolest songs I've heard in a while. "Illumination" has a a more meaty sound to it, it's just a ballsy death/thrash song where the progressive and the technical aspects are a little more subtle. The soloing is fucking godly on this one and really gives the song that needed melody. The riffing is just relentless going from crunchy thrashers to massive tremolos instantly.

"Singularity" is the final original song on the album and it doesn't fuck around, it just begins with some meaty but technical death metal riffing and blasting all ready to change tempo in mid stream. It's a head banger in places and then sheer brutality mixed with melodic solos. This song (and the one that comes after) is what makes me think of Death worship but that's not entirely accurate either. Even the Death cover at the end of the album, "Crystal Mountain" from Symbolic sees the band having their own identity while doing the song justice. The solos are fucking incredible and along with the sound of the guitars during the solos is what sets this apart from others dong the same thing.

If this EP is any indication of where this band is going, I want to be a part of it. I also have every intention of going back and checking out their back catalog. But this is good shit right here. No other way to describe it. This band is interesting and have a unique sound that compliments every song on this EP, including the Death cover. Good shit indeed.

Special Thanks to Steve Shaw from Intune PR for the digital promo.

9/10