A mixture of heavy beats and groovy rhythmic guitar work, Profane and the Sacred is the perfect band to sit back and listen to in the summer, surrounded by friends and drinking beers. Chapter 1: A Long Time Coming is the debut album from the London, and their own take on stoner metal will really set you head-banging from the word go. They sound like the perfect mid-afternoon festival band, as like we’ve pointed out already, it’s great drinking music.
The album starts off well enough, and quite sombre with ‘Bench’, before half-way through the track it hits back with some velocity that you can’t stop your head from bouncing along. The highlight of the track, and one of the real positives from Profane and the Sacred is their fantastic guitar solos, which you really get a taste of towards the end of the track. Guitar solos seem to be becoming a thing of the past with the likes of breakdowns taking their place, but this classic skill and artistry is being kept alive from the likes of this groovy hell bat.
Profane and the Sacred are a kin to the likes of Mastodon, but with their own unique twist, and as seeing as Mastodon have become one of the most highly praised metal band of the last few years, that is certainly a direction that you want to be heading, and if you’re able to crack the same golden egg you’ll be onto a winner, as long as you don’t end up just sounding like a clone instead of your own band.
The likes of ‘You Know’ and ‘From The Top’ are striking signs that the band aren’t scared to move in between the groove and the heavier more metallic sounds, and when they blend them both together it creates a distinctive and powerful, yet soothing sound that you’re able to lose yourself in. The vocals may not be the best, but there is enough to compliment the tracks themselves, and there are a few verses that are particularly memorable, such as the start of ‘From The Top’
It is a valiant first album from Profane And The Sacred, and if they carry on in the same path may be able to break into the same sort of circles as the aforementioned Mastodon, and at the very least they’ll be the perfect mid-afternoon festival band, Bloodstock, Download, keep note.
