Review by Felix on April 28, 2026.

Mexico is definitely an interesting country, but it has never been the epicentre of black, thrash or speed metal. Maybe this is the reason why some bands lack innovative ambitions. The role models are just overwhelming. Profanator’s “Fallen” was released in 2018, and this is remarkable in the sense that the albums in question were published around 30 years earlier. Profanator spread “Endless Pain” vibes. They rumble, they attack, they destroy. The only aim of the album is to leave a trail of devastation, and that’s okay in general. But it goes without saying that these more or less one-dimensional works stand and fall with the quality of their compositions. Here we enter the critical dimension of “Fallen”. While a few tracks show a resilient and more or less sustainable configuration, most of the songs simply fade away.

“Voice of Disorder” with its sinister guitar line in the instrumental part at the beginning and some stormy, nearly crust-affine leads later, make clear that the four musicians are no amateurs or rookies. But on the other hand, this is exactly the problem of “Fallen”. Considering the fact that I am speaking about the fourth full-length in the discography of the band, many songs seem uneven, formulaic or simply not properly thought through. What does this band stand for? Okay, they perform a mix of thrash and black metal, rather non-technical and never lacking vehemence. Anyhow, the songs suffer from ill-defined breaks and a noteworthy absence of outstanding riffs or lines. Instead, they deliver an enormous degree of misdirected anger. I guess most of us agree that there’s no point in swinging really hard if you keep just missing the mark. Perhaps it is no coincidence that the short rager “Pest”, of all things, is among the rare highlights of the output. Its 141 seconds are simply not enough to “enrich” the track with inappropriate breaks. Be that as it may, this is a casual outbreak of fury (with terribly bad lyrics, by the way).

The individual musicians all deliver a run-of-the-mill performance. They do their jobs solidly, but in no way spectacularly. There really isn’t much to say about the vocals in particular; the range goes from roaring to screaming, with no growling, and not much in the way of charisma. Unfortunately, the production also fails to pull the chestnuts out of the fire. “Fallen” does not sound completely powerless, but somewhat dull, and it lacks atmosphere – until the wanna-be monumental ten minutes plus closer, simultaneously the title track, appears. Well, its boring intro is much too long. There is still not the smallest iota of aura, but to my surprise, the song turns into the only unusual number, because the dudes combine a pompous Summoning-esque part with the narrative section of Venom’s “At War with Satan”. Of course, the transition from the usual blasting to the keyboard-led outro is far too abrupt and seems somewhat haphazard, but at least there’s another unexpected twist to enjoy. Anyway, I apologize, “Fallen” is not really my glass of Tequila.

Rating: 5.8 out of 10