Profane Finality - Cryptic Mind

Regular readers will know that I tend to favour the small, unsigned, underrated bands over the successful - although I try to keep a balance, I'll always happily feature a band that are barely known if there's good reason to do so.

Germany's Profane Finality (likely named after a song by Sopor Aeternus). At the time of its release, "Cryptic Mind" was the bands 5th offering, each of which has been self-released. After a lengthy chat with Maik Rubner (Vocals, Lyrics, Music and one third of the group after Benno and Stephan), it was decided that I would choose this album to best represent the act. So here's a blast from the recent past.

"Fright (In Fancy Dress)" starts the album with a Gothic Harpsichord, met with a delivery of fierce, slower Dark Electro style vocals - the sound here is Beati Mortui meets Lost Area meets Necroleptic. Borrowing from the romantic afterthoughts of the Darkwave scene, while trying to sound aggressive and menacing isn't a new thing, but PF do it with a certain air of confidence and pedigree - hence this review.

You could also look to "Schmerz v.2 - A nod to the 2005 demo of the same name, for an example of the diversity that this group offers us. This track is fast paced and aggressive, reminding me more of Suicide Commando's late 90s work than anything else. "Enemy" and "In Hell " entertain the Techno genres with their heavier beats and basslines, but importantly, this band knows exactly how it is - there's thousands of Gothic/EBM bands in Germany, and far too many are identical - I believe the diversity on offer here is more than enough to give these guys a fanbase akin to Centhron and Cephalgy, and with the final track, "Sehnsucht "I see no reason to keep them in the shadows.

Add the group on your social media sites, enquire about their records - there's a lot worse out there, but very little better in this field. Production is a little weak on the release - there's times where the sound goes fuzzy, but I can endure it for the majesty that's within. Jul 17 2012