Artist: Profanatica
Country: USA
Label: Hells Headbangers Records
Formats: 12″ EP / Cassette EP / CD EP
Year: 2025
Phrases like “band X requires no further introduction” are used all the time. In most cases that is highly debatable, at least in terms of what the band in question actually achieved if you put it in historical perspectives. Regardless of your personal opinion, Paul Ledney’s Profanatica is basically the unsung king, the uncrowned emperor, the undisputed heavy weight of American Black Metal. Ledney’s vision of what Black Metal is and should be, is definitely different from the majority of the band that are usually labelled as such. Profanatica’s bare boned ugliness, simplicity and overall blasphemy-drenched monstrosities are completely opposite to all modern trends and hypersensitivities of contemporary “Black Metal”.
As if the band’s back catalogue wasn’t already gruesome and uncultured enough, ‘Wreathed In Dead Angels’ is even adding to the infamous Profanatica formula. The very essence of the band hasn’t changed and will most likely never change, but while ‘Wreathed In Dead Angels’ is a Profantica offering through and through, it does feel a little different from the majority of the band’s back catalogue. Not much, but still…
As a whole this new EP is more riff-driven and bass-heavy, more focused on primal bulldozing violence and, dare I say, even a bit punky at times. All together this blends in some of the most bareboned and barbaric songs ever to come from the Profantica headquarters. Listen to a song like ‘By Thine Agony’ or, be it in lesser extent, ‘The Sixth Hour’ and you’ll definitely hear resemblances of Swedish D-beat Death Metal – like a mix between classic Entombed and Bastard Priest. This comes at the expense of the more chaos-ridden nature of the band, as basically displayed in max on ‘Crux Simplex’, the band’s latest full-length album.
The EP format is often used to try out something new or different, whether that is the case with ‘Wreathed In Dead Angels’ will show when the next full-length album will be out. But until then, this EP is a great new chapter in the ongoing Profanatica story. It might be short, but it most definitely is sweet. It is a true treat for hardcore Profanatica fans as well as for those who have a soft spot for these masters of true depravity.
And, besides the musical content of ‘Wreathed In Dead Angels’, it is great to see the band has returned to Hells Headbangers. For me that always felt like the one and only home for Profantica. Seeing them release records on a money-over-metal label like Season Of Mist has always felt completely silly.
