Band:	Profanatica
Album:	Rotting Incarnation Of God
Style:	Black metal
Release date:	October 11, 2019
A review by:	Troy Killjoy

01. Liturgy Of Impurity
02. Prayer In Eclipse
03. Broken Jew
04. Washed In The Blood Of Lord
05. Sacramental Cum
06. Mocked, Scourged And Shit Upon
07. Tithing Cunt
08. Rotting Incarnation Of God
09. Eucharist In Ruin
10. In My Kingdom

It may be 2019 but that doesn't mean metal bands aren't out here livin' it up like it's 199989.

For real though, as a collective outfit, you have to know ahead of time that choosing this type of production style will inherently divide listeners to the point where you're essentially diluting your active and potential fan base into massively opposed groups: new school fans of polished, technically driven melody-driven death metal, and old school dumbed-down doom-infused basic crunching riff-fests. That either means Profanatica are "true" in the most pre-expansion sense of the word in regards to their disestablishmentarian attitude, or they've been rocking an old school death metal homage boner since the late 2000s for no reason other than the sake of it. Your guess is as good as any, and the sound of this album depends on nothing anyone has to say about it anyway. Drink up.

It takes a certain... mindset to endure the likes of Rotting Incarnation Of God. Previous Profanatica releases have given reason to expect an album of this magnitude -- its harrowing, cavernous atmosphere and basic, primitive musicianship combining to create a dungeon-dwelling assault of the senses with prevailing anti-religious themes and imagery. If only the calendar was set to the tune of 20 years ago would this kind of album retain any relevance in the scene, let alone its would-be extremity. But on its own, there really isn't any reason for this kind of release to even exist in this day and age. What it tries to do has been performed better in every single way several times in years previous, and what it tries to rehash has already been rehashed by other revivalist bands in a more fitting capacity. You hate to see bands that are comprised of musicians obviously capable of exceeding the limits imposed on them by their band's limited style, but that's exactly what Profanatica has become. Individually every aspect of this album is a feature worth specifically calling out, but combined it never pushes the envelope beyond which color of paper to use.

Rotting Incarnation Of God is one of those albums that will undoubtedly receive heaps of praise from a particular audience while the rest of its listeners will cast a far more level-headed, and thus seemingly harsh, rating upon it (hello). The apparent amateur/blindingly vapid songwriting begs the question whether this should even be considered a professional release, and the album's overall concepts hearken back to before the genre's most Neanderthal-friendly origins, leaving its audience baffled as to why such material is even considered worthy of reaching public heights in the first place. I mean it's 2019 and these guys think reviving death metal era Darkthrone is for whatever reason in the best interest of... anyone. There's really nothing more to be said of the musicianship expanding beyond first-grade technicality, bottom-tier raspy growls, and entry-level monotonous drum patterns. But what's worse than absolutely degrading an album conjured up by this death metal behemoth, is knowing that based on their skill set, this 40-minute hammer-smashed-face was a deliberate choice on all levels. It's the equivalent of investing in a stock you know is going to die out within the week but it sounds good on paper so you go for it anyway.

As a whole, this may be one of the year's weakest extreme metal releases, and that's said with begrudging disappointment from a longtime follower of a band clearly capable of more than whatever this excuse of an album is. In modern parlance: Do *hand clap emoji* better *hand clap emoji*.