Well this is a bit of an under the radar tech/death surprise.   Germany’s Profanity have certainly been around for a while with The Art of Sickness being their 3^rd full length release and have been around since 1994. The Art of Sickness kicks off with “The Great Obstacle” which will leave you dizzy from all over the place note selection of guitarist Thomas Sartor.

Think somewhere between Suffocation, Necrophagist, Beneath The Massacre and Soreption. The production values on this are thick, clean and precise.  I definitely feel as though my head is being put into a vice and cranked on with each track on this release. I guess my only complaint with Profanity is that there arrangements maybe are a little bit longer than they need to be and sometimes some of the tracks seem to drag a bit.

This album is also loaded with guests like Terrance Hobbs (Suffocation), Adrie Kloosterwaard (Sinister), Ricky Myers (Disgorge, Suffocation), Christian Münzner (Alkaloid, ex-Obscura) as well as their ex-bassist Martl Bauer. There is not too much deviation from the whirlwind of riffery through The Art of Sickness. “Who Leaves Stays” would be another example of track that starts off quite intense but then seems to go into a melodic section that sounds like it could have come from an older Final Fantasy video game, not to mention that this track is almost eight minutes.

I have all the respect in the world for the technique of musicians like these guys but I just feel sometimes the arrangements are way too busy. I must commend the musicianship of the whole group. Armin Hassmann’s drum work is very precise and clean. Thomas Sartor’s lead work is outstanding. This guy definitely has a right hand from hell. “Specific Souls” is probably my favorite tune on this album as the technical elements are not as flashy on this particular track as the rest of the album although that is not to say that it isn’t technical.

Overall, Profanity would be a great recommendation for anyone that likes flashier technical death metal with brutal elements as the guitar chops displayed on this effort are really what stand out amongst all of the other instrumentation.  In an already busy year for technical death metal this one is definitely one to check out and be aware of as I hope to see these guys continue to demonstrate this type of musicianship on future releases.

 

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