ALBUM REVIEW: Tinnitus – Profond Barathre

The best ways are often the most simple, and post-black metallers PROFOND BARATHRE are no strangers to that. Featuring members of the group EUCLIDEAN, the Swiss trio take their native surroundings and incorporate it into their music, resulting in an often cold but beautiful output. Out now via Hummus Records is Tinnitus, the band’s third album with absolutely no frills attached; you won’t hear samples, vocals or additional instruments on this release.

The concept around Tinnitus is the final howl of an elderly, dying hound, described over five tracks and nearly an hour of haunting, harrowing extreme metal. Opening track Stella is the only one under ten minutes in length; and even then it’s over eight. A clean riff with rumbling bass underneath evokes the likes of CONJURER and PIJN, whilst the deliberately pedestrian pace is more a delight than a hindrance; the song envelopes the listener and refuses to relinquish intensity for even a split-second. Weirdly, the production seems a little off and things grate more than potentially intended, an even stranger occurrence when subsequent track Spiritus works great in contrast. This is where PROFOND BARATHRE’s black metal really starts to come through – the track is miserable, bleak and twisted for its entire thirteen minute duration, as if in the concept the hound can actually feel its spirit begin to depart the physical body it once inhabited. Anima then takes the best of the previous two songs and combines them with panache – the bass is cleaner and the real driving force in the song, jarring notes ringing out as if representing the struggle of an animal passing on to another world.

With penultimate song Corpus comes the move into the hound’s death, reflected by the track’s potent combination of solemn chords and, as things progress towards the end, chaotic sound of the guitars and drums punishing the senses. It borders on overload and this isn’t made easier by the dramatic, thumping ending that greets the start of closing number Terra, however the latter is a more pleasant surprise. Opening with nearly the exact same riff as Stella, there’s an immediate cyclical notion about the record, that despite the passing of the hound’s body to the earth, its spirit will join the stars above and this process is destined to repeat for eternity with all creatures. Curiously, this is reflected in the guitars and drums, which feel less weighed down by an overarching sadness and despair; it would be too far to suggest they’re positive in any way, but there’s a definite shift in the dynamics, particularly as the track incorporates a very slow fade out, eventually left with one continuous bass note, the final remnants of body and spirit completing their journeys.

If you like HARAKIRI FOR THE SKY, there is no doubt you’ll find plenty to enjoy with Tinnitus and, indeed, PROFOND BARATHRE in general, but anyone who likes post-metal should be spinning this immediately. The subgenre is going through a purple patch right now and this is another excellent record to come out in a similar vein.

Rating: 8/10

Tinnitus is out now via Hummus Records. 

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