DARK FORTRESS „Profane Genocidal Creations”

Music: (Melodic) Black Metal
Duration: 65:00 minutes (10 songs)
Good songs: Every one of them is cool in a way

Profane Genocidal Creations is Dark Fortress' second album, after Tales From Eternal Dusk. PGC really is a masterpiece, all Cradle of Filth, Dimmu Borgir and Dissection fans, eat this!

Dark Fortress is no ordinary black metal band, ok, the lyrics are as hard to comprehend as the logo, the production is very raw and my granny wouldn't like this, but the music is outstanding! I even enjoyed the intro!

After that, the album starts with Defiance Of Death, opening with slow taking, soon to be converted into pure black metal. Like most of the tracks on this album, it lasts for a long time (but not long enough!). The Atmospheres are mostly black, like on, for example, Darkthrone's new “Hate Them”, but also consist out of more emotionally loaded parts, also created in some Amon Amarth songs. On top of that, Gothic elements can often be heard, not only keyboard, but also clear singing.

Next track kicks off like an older Cradle of Filth song would, only now in a rawer version. Dual lead guitar skills are excellent, Santura and Asvargr really know how to play, that can clearly be heard during this song. Later on the evil screamer is traded in for a clear singing female voice, which blends well into the black overall.

Song number 4 starts off with a magnificent acoustic intro, the beautiful melody is taken over after a while by heavy guitars. This song is a more atmospheric one; there is not a lot of singing around. At the end this an ever cooler, Celtic melody appears, full of melancholy (like the rest of the album), that transmutes into an excellent ultra-sad melody, slowly fading away, as the song ends.

Next song will (again) remind you of CoF, keyboard atmospheres, with fast riffing. However the music has a lot in common with Cradle of Filth, At The Gates' influence can also be heard, for example at the beginning of track 6 (which also sounds a bit like Cradle again). During this track, after a minute or so, the most awesome killing melody can be heard! It has been in my head for the last 3 days, and no matter what I try, I can't get it out (even Amon Amarth doesn't work).

Blood Of The Templars, next up, is really a killer too, beautiful melodies come and go, same goes for killing riffs. The overall of this album moves somewhere between Dissection, Cradle of Filth and (old) Satyricon, with a(n) (almost) Darkthrone production. Sometimes I almost think these magnificent riffs and melodies must be copied from other bands, because the groovy and harmonious mixture of all that is cool about metal, called Warlord (next track), made me shake of excitement again! I can't help it; I fell in love with this band when I heard the album for the first time.

Song number 9 is, how predictable, awesome too, the song sounds just like the title makes us think, Battles Rage In The Infernal Depth is a great song, in which you can actually hear a war being fought. Powerful onslaughts of brutally blazing and bashing blast beats dominate the song, but both a gothic and melodic (female vocalist) and a more acoustic brake can be heard in this song, like an armistice, just before hell is unleashed again, in the last part of the song.

The album's last track, an outstanding, slow moving, sad and atmospheric song, full of melancholy, is everything that can be expected from a last track. Melodies are sad, head moving, and dark, right before everything gets melted together in one harmonious and melodic mixture, or massive hammering blast beats.

The raw production fits excellent on this sort of music, however I may have liked a more polished sound too. I rate this album 10/10, because it fits the best on this album, the music is original, very well played, and varied, add to that, that it is a great experience to listen to. Maybe “listen” is a wrong word, you need to “feel” albums like this, not hear. This is another buy/die record, go get it.

note: 10/10

Tracklist

01 Intro
02 Defiance Of Death
03 Passage To Extinction
04 In Morte Aeternitas
05 Moribound Be Thy Creation
06 Through Ages Of War
07 Blood Of The Templars
08 Warlord (Face The Angel Of Pestilence)
09 Battles Rage In The Infernal Depth
10 A Fortress Dark