Artist: Profeel
Label: Self-released
Release: 2011
Length: 43:00
Rating: 3/5
It’s great to see Upper Carniola waking up on the metal front too. Radovljica’s Profeel are hitting the scene, young hopefuls with a furious, trendy mix of red-hot thrash riffing basics, technical chops, and a nice dose of ornamental harmonies. It wasn’t that long ago, at the end of December 2009, that I caught the guys live in Križe near Tržič. They played as guests on a joint tour with Mit and Rock Shock. Back then the band gave off the vibe of just one more botched musical experiment among many, because the guys didn’t radiate any real authorial substance, nothing that made you feel some unified vision was driving them. The music, though original, didn’t give off the feeling of proper arrangement solutions.
But as always, only deeds matter. My little verdict, formed in my head from what I saw and heard at that long-ago gig, has now been proven wrong by the album “Utrip”. Not only did the guys distill their ideas and ambitions into a focused musical identity, there’s more. Barely a year and a half has passed, and they’ve already put out a studio debut. At twenty (maybe a month or two over), releasing a heavy metal album is no small feat. And in Slovenia, no less. The brotherly bond and mentorship of Mit, especially the watchful eye and ear of the seasoned Miha Oman, plus working with a proven producer like Željko Mladenovič – Žele in the final stages of shaping the arrangements, tipped the scales so that we can talk about “utrip” as a quality metal product from a young, promising and driven band.
Let’s start with the standout stuff that deserves all the praise. Luckily, there’s plenty of it in what “Utrip” has to offer. For their age, the guys have put together an exceptionally nice collection of songs with a good dose of dynamics and just the right amount of movement. Songs built on well-crafted metal riffs drawing direct inspiration from bands like Megadeth and Pantera. That’s undeniable. Of course, alongside that calling card of a debut, the excellent production played a leading role too, creating a vividly pulsing, high-contrast album that makes the most of the sonic spectrum. It’s not hard to pick out the great flexibility and contrast between the thick, booming bass line, with its crisp rattling clank, the excellent, fully dynamic drumming, and the massive, full-volume wall of riffs in the background that breathes freely throughout the album.
The thing about Profeel is that they’re not a band that hits you right away. They like to tease your ears, in a good, attractive way. They’ve got that punchy “groove” that lets you befriend the album in no time. The stringing together of the main phrases is often layered, as is the switching between the lead rhythms, which are effectively and smoothly linked with explosive drum transitions. These are even clever enough to go for progressive rhythm-breaking (Poslednja želja). Yep. The guys know how to complicate things. That means they enjoy complexity, but also have a refined enough feel for unpretentious dosing, which lets them stir up the songs’ dynamic development just right and keeps them moving, while Profeel hold on to the red thread of melody and punch. And they do it without the risk of the songs falling into fragmentation or the lead phrases fitting together poorly.
The album’s flaw is the vocals. They’re simply far too weak. The singer must have been a huge Dave Mustaine fan back in the day. Hence the similar approach to phrasing the verses, articulating the vocals and leading the melody. The throaty, thin nasal whine often jabs a bit too hard in the ear. As is common knowledge, Dave Mustaine was never known as a great singer, yet somehow his voice became Megadeth’s trademark. Back then the production was different, and Mustaine would have killed for what Profeel managed to get into their sound in 2011 with their debut, but production this slick and modern, really American, demands a stronger voice. A voice that can dominate a sonic picture like this and leave an impression of authority. Picture a Slovenian version of Mustaine who’s a lot weaker and can’t pull off the verses of rage, disappointment, evil and all the other typical feelings that are the whole point of metal. On some melody lines the vocals even sound dissonant, which has the opposite effect and breaks up the compactness of the thrash-minded riffs. So this is where the band has room to grow and something to build on going forward. The vocals’ expressive weakness and lack of resourcefulness in using the room to maneuver in search of an effective melody comes through most in the calmer parts of the album. One such moment is caught in the second half of Chimera, another in Profeel. It might not hurt to consider singing in English in the future and make life a bit easier that way.
Otherwise, with songs like Čarovnik, Zver or the closing Poslednja želja, the guys undeniably show talent, expressive tightness, and thrilling, multifaceted musicianship that brings in a touch of welcome unpredictability. The punch and fury demanded by heavy metal are there throughout the album, and taken together the songs carry rich, well-crafted arrangements. Above all, it’s worth remembering that Profeel are exceptionally young musicians.
Youth is the band’s biggest asset, since it’s clear that with this kind of drive the guys will grow fast, sharpen their profile, tap into untapped musical talent, and decisively level up from their studio debut. With it, Profeel lay a successful cornerstone on which they can build, no worries, their destructive thrash metal sound with modern “groove” production, an enviable level of technical complexity, appealing movement, and dynamic mood shifts. Despite all its thrash metal vehemence, the record is marked by a tasteful stringing together of several basic motifs within the songs, and a more than welcome seasoning of melodic ornaments in the guitar harmonies. Profeel are a band worth keeping an eye on.
Lineup
Andraž Resman – vocals
Jure Korošec – guitar
David Arnež – guitar
Anže Repe – bass
Janez Kokelj – drums
GUEST VOCALS:
Natalija Korošec – backing vocals, track no. 8
Production
Željko Mladenović
Track list
01. Intro
02. Zver
03. Problem
04. Nesmrten
05. Krik
06. Čarovnik
07. Chimera
08. Profeel
09. Odlom
10. Poslednja želja
