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Profanatica may just go down in history as one of the most infamous bands in black metal. Its members may not have killed anybody or may not have killed themselves in some accidental ‘ritual’, but if you Google one of the scarce interviews floating in the interhole you may find one of the most candid photos in black metal history. Dudes are not only covered in blood (nothing out of the ordinary for black metal), but are also out in their birthday suits with their wieners hanging out for more comfortable ventilation. Who can blame them? It must have been hot as fuck.
The Years of Pestilence is a five-song compilation of unreleased rehearsals and live material from the early days of the band. The cassette version is out through No Visible Scars and it includes plenty of bonus tracks. It is limited to 100 copies and comes with a black ‘cum rag’ to avoid all sorts of sticky situation. Fanatics of this American institution may find that rather useful. They literally get a boner every time something by Profanatica gets released so getting a hold of The Years of Pestilence may have been cause for ejaculation, in which case, the cum rag comes really handy.
The audio quality varies greatly. As it is stated by the label, the audio has been cleaned up ‘a bit’ but not enough as to erase all traces of crudity. Trying to get past the mud and the static that seems to permeate every second of this recording, what we have is ultra primitive black metal the way it was done back in 90/91. Not many black metal bands sound like this today. Oblique riffs that evade melody with the skills of a criminal and that accelerate to substandard speeds for today’s standard velocity, varying tempos shifting awkwardly, sloppy and steady drumming and necrotic vocals dominating blasphemy which when not spewing hate totally going ‘aaarrgghh’.
The Years of Pestilence is far from essential listening. However for the USBM enthusiast, a tape like this is an absolute must. If not for the muddy sounds, at least for the very handy cum rag.
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