Profanatica

From New York, PROFANATICA was one of the most important underground American black metal bands in the early days.  In the late 1980s, bands like Toten and Abomination began putting out black metal demos, but it wasn't until the members of these bands went on to form Profanatica that their music began to make a larger impact on the USBM scene.

They formed around 1990, some of their members having played in death metal band Incantation.  Their vicious, no-holds-barred brand of black metal was still a rarity for 1990.  Profanatica's style carried the rawness of black/thrash to its logical extreme.  With demos in 1990 like Putrescence Of... and Broken Throne of Christ, Profanatica unleashed their unholy sound upon the world.

From their demo, Putrescence Of...

Listening to Profanatica, one can hear the death metal influence in their sound.  Lyrically, Profanatica is all about blasphemy and being as blatantly anti-Christian as possible.  The main man behind Profanatica, Paul Ledney, is not shy about his views on religion.  In addition to blaspheming Christianity, Ledney's lyrics frequently involved sexual defilement of all things holy.

Here is the 1991 EP Weeping in Heaven

After 1991's Weeping in Heaven EP, Profanatica managed to land a record deal with Osmose Records.  Their first release on Osmose was a split with Colombian band Masacre entitled Tormenting Holy Flesh.  This would end up being their last official studio release of new material for a while.  Later that year (1992), the master tapes for what was to be their first official full-length (with the working title "The Raping of the Virgin Mary") were allegedly destroyed.  Shortly thereafter, the band broke up.

"Spilling Holy Blood" comes off of that split with Masacre

After the demise of Profanatica, Paul Ledney attempted to continue their blasphemous vision with the band Havohej (Jehovah spelled backwards).  Havohej merits their own entry, so more on them later.  But while Havohej was putting out extreme black metal albums, new Profanatica material occasionally cropped up.  In 1993, the Putrescence Of...  demo was re-released by Osmose as the EP As Tears of Blood Stain the Altar of Christ.  In 1999, some rehearsal material from around 1991 was put out as part of a split with Impiety.  And after the turn of the new millenium, a live album was put out that was a compilation of three live shows, as was a compilation of most of their previously released material entitled Collection.

Profanatica live, in 1992

Profanatica re-formed in 2001.  Since that time, they have put out tons more new material.  The "Broken Jew" single (one of their best songs, in my opinion), multiple studio albums, a 2008 live studio recording  (The Grand Masters Sessions), and some old, previously unreleased material (Years of Pestilence and Sickened By Holy Host) are the highlights of this era in Profanatica's existence.  Profanatica is perhaps one of the most blasphemous bands in existence, yet one of the most important in the history of USBM.

The 2002 song "Broken Jew" from a single of the same name

Select Discography:

Rehearsal '90 (demo) (1990)
Putrescence Of...  (demo) (1990)
Broken Throne of Christ (demo) (1990)
Weeping in Heaven EP (1991)
Tormenting Holy Flesh (split with Masacre) (1992)
Unholy Masters of Darkness 7" (split with Impiety) (1999)
Live (live album) (2001)
Collection (compilation) (2001)
"Broken Jew" (single) (2002)
"Passion of a Liar" (digital single) (2004)
The Enemy of Virtue (compilation) (2006)
Profanatitas de Domonatia (2007)

Next time: SALEM ORCHID