De Profundis
A Bleak Reflection

For a long time I've been asking myself, "is it possible for me to find an Orchid (Opeth 95) or at least a Dance of December Souls (Katatonia 93)?" (for those who understand, take it as you will). Then, at the end of June, while browsing some sites covering emerging bands, I came across these De Profundis, who were promoting their latest album "A Bleak Reflection." Noticing with great surprise that they described themselves as Extreme Progressive Metal, I thought, "Wow! I hit the jackpot!" I listened to it for a week and then I didn't hear it again until three days ago.

While browsing sites about metal and hard rock, I read an interview with Pino Scotto, where he stated that there are many young people in the world making good music but who do not have the opportunity to spend loads of money on a record label. Then suddenly, my eyes lit up at the phrase he would soon utter, "If I had half a million euros, I would create a label for these people" (I find it hard to believe), but the message that reached me is: help emerging bands, not the famous ones, but those you hear and spontaneously think, "these guys don't care about anything, these guys make music." And now, here I am, writing this blessed review.

The "De Profundis" are from Great Britain, and their name is not inspired by Oscar Wilde's famous letter, but by their own personal philosophy of music.

The album indeed presents itself as an Orchid (Opeth 95) with a heavy layer of death metal paint. In fact, you will find exclusively or almost exclusively growls, and especially you won't find those long or short clean interludes with acoustic and classical guitar, perhaps not entirely absent, but definitely very sporadic. The drums are quite studied and well-defined, more inclined towards the double bass drum. A noteworthy aspect is that this group uses the bass a lot, in this album it's almost on par with the guitar, quite fluid and well-curated, in short... enough to make old technical death metal bands envious.

The album consists of 8 songs, totaling one hour and nine minutes:

 1. The Ephemeral Burden

2. Ablaze in Autumn's Fire

3. Nocturnal Splendour

4. Cease to Be

5. Crimson Black Bleeding

6. Cold is the Grave

7. Longing

8. The Mourner

"The Ephemeral Burden" is a simple intro of 2 minutes

The next five songs are complex pieces of at least eight minutes each, all having at least one part that you'll enjoy, I assure you.

"Longing" is an instrumental, I would dare say fusion jazz. Very captivating for its six minutes, at the level of "Samba Briza" (Atheist), "Textures" (Cynic), and "Cosmic Sea" (Death) for those who know them.

"The Mourner" is the final track, which resumes the sound of the central block, a nice ending.

Just to mention my tastes, I think the best ones are around "Ablaze In Autumn's Fire," "Cease To Be," "Longing," and "The Mourner." The others are still of a very high level. Obviously, the album is not for people who listen to six or seven-minute songs... I assure you that after listening to the entire album without stopping, you'll scream something like "Enough!!!! Now I can go to heaven, after this suffering I deserve it!!!!!," but I trust in your minds.

I would have liked to read the lyrics, but I can't even find them in English.

If you like it, also listen to the first album (which I still listen to): "Beyond Redemption."

I hope you enjoy the review and especially enjoy this album.