Band:	De Profundis
Album:	The Blinding Light Of Faith
Style:	Technical death metal, Extreme progressive metal
Release date:	May 2018

01. Obsidian Spires
02. War Be Upon Him
03. Opiate For The Masses
04. Bastard Sons Of Abraham
05. Martyrs
06. Godforsaken
07. Beyond Judgement
08. Bringer Of Light

UK's superb death metal act, De Profundis, return with their fifth album, The Blinding Light Of Faith. According to the band, it is "about three of the most merciless and bloodthirsty institutions in human history. There is no nation or people on this earth who haven't suffered under the savagery of at least one of the Abrahamic religions and to reflect that suffering we have made the heaviest, most aggressive record of our career". Sounds good to me.

The band's anti-religious stance is pretty much in your face as it permeates the entire album, from the disturbing artwork to song titles such as "Bastard Sons Of Abraham". And even though the theme is not original, viciously attacking the hypocrisy of not just one but all three Abrahamic religions is not something that is being done every day. And here it also seems genuine and sincere.

As far as the music is concerned, The Blinding Light Of Faith is brutal and extreme, featuring at the same time enough variety to remain interesting from start to finish. The opener, "Obsidian Spires", kicks off with the best riff Pestilence did not include in their latest album, Hadeon, and from then on there is a barrage of savage, blood-pumping and raging moments. "Opiate For The Masses", is a stupendous lesson on how to be technical and progressive without boring the listener to death. The aforementioned "Bastard Sons Of Abraham" is one of the best melodic death metal cuts you will come across with this year. The intro of "Godforsaken" revisits the band's early death/doom days, then dives deep into black metal territory with some razor-sharp and abrasive tremolo riffs before surprising you with a European power metal-sounding solo. By the time the progressive closer "Bringer Of Light" summed up the latest effort by De Profundis, I was already sold.

The success of this album is that it is technical but with real songs, instead of the members just showing off how well they play their instruments. It's also progressive at times, but without the lengthy, winding wankery we often experience in bands that call themselves "progressive". Above all, it is a very focused fusion of different styles of extreme metal, shaped into one big, fat fist of death metal directed to any religion's jaw.

I cannot yet pass judgement on how it fares compared to the band's masterpiece, The Emptiness Within, but The Blinding Light Of Faith should be among the front runners in all the year-end lists for best death metal release. Listen to it and you shall be blind no more.

"Enslaved by the chains of faith,
Constrained by the divine word,
Existing rather than alive,
In a constant state of ignorant bliss..."