As Death Metal was a battering ram for extreme Metal tendencies during the 90's, it's obvious that many classics of the genre were recorded between 1990 and 1995. They were the golden age for the genre, but it's strange that many bands were really unknown for the fans of the genre on those days. Even with the underground support on those days, some releases weren't available for the fans throughout the world, but today they're being rescued, and one of them is "De Profundis", the second album of the Polish Death/Thrash Metal masters of VADER. Here presented on a Digipak and remastered version.

Some aspects of the band's music that the fans love are there: the mix between brutality and a fine technical insight, the extreme aggressiveness of their music. But as anyone can foresee, the songs are still showing the immaturity of the quartet, or in other words, they weren't on the level of the classics they would release in the future, as "Litany", "Revelations" and "Impressions in Blood". But they're a fine depiction of how they evolved as time passed by, showing a consensual work, because many particular features of their work are on "De Profundis": their massive energy, their technical approach (something hard to find on those days on a Death Metal band), and the catchy musical arrangements. So what are you waiting for? As mentioned above, this version of the album passed by a remastering process, to make the sonority fits on a modern way. But no digital edition was done to correct the tunes used on the album (they're still crude and nasty), or to make things even more clean and defined. No, the sonority you find on the original version is presented here, just with a remastering.

"De Profundis" completed 25 years of its release, and many fans couldn't find it anymore (the original label was too small, what means that the copies were sold, and no worldwide release was done). So be prepared, because songs as "Silent Empire" (very good and technical work of bass guitar and drums, creating a very good set of tempos), "Blood of Kingu" and "Incarnation" (both showing nasty raids of guitar riffs and insane solos that are posed to strike your ears down), "Sothis" (very good and catchy Death Metal arrangements mixed with the massive approach of Thrash Metal), and "Of Moon, Blood, Dream and Me" and "Reborn in Flames" (both with very good and hooking rhythmic parts, contrasting with the particular grunts and snarls of Peter's vocals) are still showing that, even on such early stage, the quartet was really a name to pay attention to.

Even today, "De Profundis" shows its beauty and secrets, and this reissue works as a tribute to the drummer Doc's memory as well (he passed away on 2005), but once more: it's very good, but what VADER would do some years in the future would be even better.