Profanum (band)
Profanum is a Polish music group that initially performed black metal before transitioning to ambient music with influences from industrial music. Formed in 1993 in Zielona Góra, the band was founded by musicians known by the pseudonyms Geryon, Vlad Ysengrimm, and Lord Reyash.
Since 1997, the band has collaborated with Pagan Records. By 2005, Profanum released six works that received critical acclaim, but the band does not perform live due to high organizational costs. The band has been featured in publications such as Metal Hammer, ', ', and 7 Gates. Since 2005, there have been no reports of the band's activities.
History
Profanum was formed in 1993 in Zielona Góra by musicians known as Geryon, Vlad Ysengrimm, and Lord Reyash. In 1994, the band self-released their first demo, ', inspired by bands such as Mystifier, Rotting Christ,, and Massacre. In 1996, the Kielce-based label Astral Wings Records released Profanum's debut album, '.In February 1997, Pagan Records released the band's second album, ', which marked a stylistic shift, recorded without guitars. The album received positive reviews, earning 11/12 points in '. Shortly after, the band suspended activities. In 2000, without bassist Lord Reyash, Profanum resumed work and began recording ', released in 2001 by Pagan Records. The album featured two extended suites, with the lyrics for Atri Misanthropiae Floris written before the second album.
In 2002, due to the sold-out limited run of Flowers of Our Black Misanthropy and at the urging of Pagan Records' owner Tomasz Krajewski, the album was reissued as '. The reissue included a new track, Overture: The Enigmatic House of Sir Knott, an unreleased piece's opening section. A guest musician, Czarny, played piano on the recording. According to a 2002 interview with Geryon in Metal Hammer, the band's activities were limited to releasing recordings.
In 2003, Profanum composed and produced music for the psychedelic film , directed by Jacek "Katos" Katarzyński and Geryon. The film featured and eLL, the vocalist of. It premiered at Zielona Góra's Newa Cinema on 9 and 18 March 2004. That year, the film won a special award and a nomination for "Best Cinematography" at the Tofifest International Film Festival in Toruń. In 2005, Pagan Records released the film on DVD, including three Profanum audio tracks: Theme 1: Transformation, Theme 2: Kollapse, and Theme 3: Objekts & Komedown.
Music and lyrics
Profanum's work explores themes such as misanthropy, nihilism, satanism, postmodernism, and structuralism. Geryon has cited influences including bands like Mystifier, Rotting Christ, Varathron, and Massacre, as well as writers and philosophers such as Samuel Beckett, John Milton, Immanuel Kant, Friedrich Nietzsche, Max Stirner, Marquis de Sade, Jean-Paul Sartre, Søren Kierkegaard, and Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz.In its later years, the band's interest in classical music and avant-garde acts led to a shift in sound, eliminating bass and electric guitars in favor of ambient styles.
The lyrics of the debut album Flowers of Our Black Misanthropy were written in English. On the second album, Profanum Aeternum: Eminence of Satanic Imperial Art, the tracks The Descent Into Medieval Darkness and Journey Into The Nothingness were sung in Polish despite their English titles. For Musaeum Esotericum, the band used Latin lyrics with Polish fragments. The album's booklet included a Greek quote.