Hi and thank you for taking the time to do this little interview.
D: You just released your new album. How was the response so far to it?
A: Hey Dani, I have to thank you for the great review of the new album and for buying our debut back in 2001. “Into Cascades Of Blood And Burning Soil” is now out for a few weeks and we’re absolutely happy about the response. Not only that most of our longtime friends and fans tell us that they love it, the first reviews that come in are ranging from good to superb.
8 long years passed since “Contorted Bodies In Pain” so it feels absolutely amazing to be back. By using social media a lot more now, we also reach a wider audience and can’t thank enough for the great reactions. Still waiting for some reviews in the bigger magazines, but the whole thing injected a lot of new energy into our lifeless body, haha.
D: Where did you record the album and how was the process to create the record?
A. Once again we decided to go to Soundlodge Studio Rhauderfehn, as we absolutely dig the work Jörg Uken is doing. He has a huge impact on making us sound so great and working with him is really relaxed. We were very well prepared this time, songwriting musicwise was near 100% finished before we hit the studio. Also we spent some time to find the best tempo for each song and make it all as perfect as possible. Vocals recording was split a bit, Alex finished 3 songs in the studio. More vocal lines we recorded with another sound engineer (Alex) who lives in our area. Reasons were that Jeff couldn’t come to Soundlodge for the vocals of “A Place To Pray” and some songs had to be finished vocally after the initial recordings.
D: Do you plan to support the album with some extend touring?
A: I’d say, we can’t really speak of extended touring as everyone of us is busy with job, family, university… Nevertheless we’re trying to play as much as possible and with the new album we gain more offers than ever. Have now some Festival gigs and a few weekenders in planning. Still some dreams allowed: an european tour or going to North America would be awesome!
D: This is your 5th album. How do you see your evolution of you start from the first to the new one?
A: Going back to the beginnings is always exciting. Everytime I put on some of the old songs, I’m always astonished how much I still like them, haha. Speaking of the evolution, the main songwriters stayed the same, as this is mostly Alex’ and Luxl’s part with a bit of influence by Christoph (lead guitar 2005-2014) and now Vincent becomes more and more involved, too.
Thinking back of how we recorded “Dead Man Rotting” live within two days, I have to say it will always be a very special album and is extremely aggressive with an awesome vocal performance. With the next 2 albums we had very adventurous studio experiences making “Dead Body Fuck” very grindy and dirty and led us to choose a professional studio for the 2nd recording of “Lustful Screams Of Torture” (Andreas Hilbert- Soundforge Studio). Until that time, we never had a guitar solo on a song, so the idea to add one to “CUT” was starting point to more and more musical variety.
Since then the way of producing our albums improved more and more by choosing Jörg Uken and the results speak for themselves. When listening to the new album, there’s still everything there that I would call our trademarks – blastbeats, groove and double-flight killer vocals. On the previous albums we always thought, that some parts/riffs could have been longer or some tempos were too high. So it was a conscious decision to give every part more room to breathe on “Into Cascades Of Blood And Burning Soil”. That the songs turned out this diverse, with some getting a huge Death Metal vibe, was just natural and that we’ve gained a great addition with Vincents influence will show more and more in the future.
D: How do you see your place within the extreme underground scene? Would you say you found your spot over the last 18 years?
A: Hard to say...we absolutely keep doing what we love, no matter what. With the new album it seems we released it in a good time for Death Metal. Especially the german scene has a time with great bands and all go their own way – Sulphur Aeon, Deserted Fear, Obscenity, Chapel Of Disease, Obscure Infinity, Obscura, list goes on…
Think we’ll know if there’s a spot for us in the next few months. It’s absolutely exciting at the moment.
D: You see the rising of the BDM in its glory days when you released the first album in 2001. What do you think changed the most in this time period for you?
A: To be honest, I don’t think that there’s changed so much for us. We’re still a pretty small underground band. Being a bit late to the party at the time of our debut and only small label support for the next albums, with Morbid records shutting down shortly after they released our album and Twilight Distribution going insolvent before they could distribute our 4th album properly. This all shows that we’re very consistently working and keep the band alive despite all obstacles. Going through the rise of Slam and Deathcore and still here to see the return of the great 90s death Metal.
D: What are your biggest goals you achieved with Profanation and do you have still some big ones set for the future?
A: We started with only the goal to make the music we love. So having 5 albums out, an australian tour and numerous live gigs are achievements no one can take from us. For the future it would be great to play more festivals and shows abroad. Another goal we’d like to reach is having a professionally filmed music video. And a vinyl release of our album would also be a dream come true.
D: Can you tell us some funny experiences you had on tour or in the studio since you started Profanation?
A: Haha, so much. Can remember a gig on a field in Thuringia where we just had to drive straight into nowhere. The stage was on a small trailer and the drumkit nearly fell apart. Knowing that Alex and Luxl lose composure fast when things don’t go as planned, you can bet on a really aggressive gig. Another time in Bavaria, when we were a three-piece still, a fan invited us to sleep at his place. Somehow his parents denied it, so he drove with us into the woods nearby, where we slept in the cars. Our friend Kutte had nothing better to do than take the car of the guy and drove it nearly into some stream, only saved by a really thin tree, haha.
Also have a tour diary of our german tour with Defloration and Burning Butthairs:
https://profanation-deathgrind.jimdofree.com/dirty-sanchez/
Really funny, thinking back. Studio stories are really relaxed, since we recorded with Andreas and Jörg. Before that, the “Dead Body Fuck” recordings were a total disaster. Our singer Hippi had made contact with the guys from Powerrocker Studio, who just started out. One of the first actions after the instruments were recorded was that the tracks with all cymbals were deleted accidentally. Luxl had to go back and record all songs again, only playing cymbals. Hats off to him for that. In general it was really chaotic there but somehow my bass guitar never sounded better than on that album, haha.
D: If we go back to the start of Profanation. How was the band formed and when came the first ideas up to start this band? Where came the name from and what does it mean for you?
A: The early days, I wasn’t a part of. In 1997, old friends Alex and Luxl decided to form a band together with Anja on drums, Alex’ girlfriend at the time. Rehearsals took place in the famous Nordclub of Görlitz, a really good address for metal concerts at the time and a place for the youth with social workers and so on. Alex was into Black Metal at the time, so Profanation as bandname came from that. As always, the name develops into “just” the bandname over time but it also stands for destroying all that is holy to someone and the freedom to do whatever we like.
D: What would you say are the biggest influences for Profanation? Do you still listen to a lot of new stuff or stick to the oldschool material which proofed well over the years?
A: Speaking of influences, we just recently talked about that. Profanation was and is a means to show our appreciation of the great Death Metal wave of the 90s. Of course these bands all play an important role, but we also listen to new stuff coming out. It’s an absolutely great time for Death Metal, no matter if Old School, Brutal, Technical, Progressive...
D: If you listen to new stuff. Any recommendations to check out?
A: Man, it’s so much. To name a few that impressed me: 1914, Spectrum Of Delusion, Depravity, Caratucay, Bloodjob, Dustopia, Hazzerd, Night Crowned, Soliloquium, Warfist, Bleeding Utopia, Altars Of Grief...
D: Thank you again for your time and last words are on you! Anything you want to share?
A: We’d like to thank all the great people that keep the Death Metal scene alive. It’s awesome to be part of it and we’d love to meet you all out there at one of our live shows. Also a huge thank you especially to you for building this great website supporting underground Death Metal!
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