LP Review: "The Blinding Light of Faith" by De Profundis

The Blinding Light of Faith

Before we start, let me state there is a sticker on the back of my Prius that says "DEATH METAL."

In 2018, it's starting to feel like that Death Metal is waning in popularity.

Perhaps, this view of mine is based solely on my personal listening habits. It just doesn't feel like it once did.

The death metal crash of the mid-90's was one of the best things that could've happened to the genre, though Illud Divinum Insanus is quite possibly the worst thing to happen.

The strange part is that each of those two things did something to clear the throat of the collective consciousness.

The second wave, third wave, and now the seventeenth waves of black metal, doom metal, the third wave of Neo-Thrash, the New Wave of American Metal, and whichever other elder genres of metal that have spun right back around like a record, all pushed death metal back a little bit.

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It's the same way with any art form that gains too much popularity too quickly.

Now that I'm thinking about it.... Covenant is probably the best and worst thing to happen to death metal as well...

The culling of art and artists always succeeds in doing one thing: strengthening those who remain.

Anyone playing Death Metal, Old School Death Metal, Scandinavian Death Metal, English Death Metal, etc has strong resolve and the iron will of a samurai. This isn't the kind of music that would ever enrich a person and get onto KSHE 95, but not even that, it's not a popular enough subgenre to get ahead in the crowded metal field.

Let's talk De Profundis. The long running English Death Metal band is still going strong. It's wrong to think of them as English as there's a sub-subgenre of Death Metal from England, and this isn't that.

De Profundis has made both an homage and a blasphemy to death metal with The Blinding Light of Faith. It's a truly reverent to those who came before them: Deicide, Obituary, Morbid Angel, etc with the thunderous riffage and blast beats that could take out a Sherman Tank.

Then let's not forget the lyrics which should be offensive to pretty much anybody of any organized religion. Nicely done there.

If this album simply checked off the boxes of OSDM, you wouldn't be reading this. I won't spoil the fun, but just check this one out. Consider each odd passage to be an Easter Egg and your hunts will be delightfully bloody.

Release: 5/10/18
Genre: Death Metal
Label: Transcending Obscurity
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