Profligate - S/T

Normally there isn’t much to write about with a two song showing. No matter how impressive, it often serves as a preview of what a band could be more so than what a band is. Other times you find a band like Profligate who, despite a meager amount of recorded material, is so cemented within their sonic identity it is impossible to ignore them. 

Seemingly established in Philadelphia sometime around 2022, Profligate released their two song, fifteen minute-long self-titled EP in June 2023. In that time their raucous style of black metal with subtle death metal underpinnings has assured them a steady ascent. 

And not without good reason. While their incessant buzzsaw riffing and proclivity for swaggering downtempo sections reigns supreme, Profligate are nothing short of virtuoso’s when it comes to the kind of grand, epic riffs that defined heavy metal of old. There is as much Bulldozer and Pentagram as there is Dissection, all without ever lapsing into silly self parody. 

Instead Profligate channels their propensity for malice and theatrics into a sound so evil you can practically hear the Satanic Panic starting anew. Something charmingly retro lurks in their quasi-medieval sound and practice of black magicks; a deeply authentic flare for darkness undercut with a knowing wink along the way. 

While Tipper Gore and the PMRC may no longer be around to raise the alarm, Profligate is nevertheless the kind of maligned, malefic menace they’d fear. Masterfully bleak and delightfully wicked, their two song, self titled EP is merely a taste of what this band has to offer.