UMUR "De profundis" is the 2nd full-length studio album by Polish death metal act Vader. The album was released through Croon Records in September 1995, three years after the release of their debut full-length studio album "The Ultimate Incantation (1992)". While a four-piece lineup were credited for recording the debut, it was in reality only recorded by Piotr "Peter" Wiwczarek (vocals, guitars, bass), and Krysztof "Doc" Raczkowski (drums). Those two remain from the lineup who recorded "The Ultimate Incantation (1992)", but Jaroslaw "China" Labieniec has been added as a second guitarist (one of the guys who were credited but did not play on the debut album).

Stylistically the instrumental part of the music has become more death metal oriented than the more thrash metal oriented death metal sound of "The Ultimate Incantation (1992)". The rather dominant Slayer influence is still there (in particular in the screaming atonal lead guitar work), but I hear a more obvious (early) Morbid Angel influence in the way the riffs and drums are constructed and played. Wiwczarek raw throaty semi-growling delivery sets Vader a bit apart though, and although I mention the influences above, the material on "De profundis" are not a clone of those influences.

The material on the 9 track, 34:07 minutes long album are relatively well written, but the tracks aren´t easy to tell apart, and the music style is a bit one-dimensional. It´s not a major issue considering this is a death metal release, but a few more hook laden moments wouldn´t have been a negative. One of the great assets of the album is the solid musicianship. Everything is delivered with fierce energy and raw conviction, and I´d like to give a special mention to drummer Krysztof "Doc" Raczkowski for his performance on the album. He is a fast and skilled drummer, and especially his blast beats sound really tight.

"De profundis" features a sound production, which is raw, powerful, and detailed. The snare drum has a rather distinct tone, which probably wouldn´t have sounded that great in other types of music, but here it serves the purpose that you are able to hear every snare drum hit, even during the really fast blast beat parts. So upon conclusion "De profundis" is a good quality death metal release by Vader. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.

Warthur A solid, listenable death metal album that doesn't outstay its welcome - it's only 34 minutes long, but Vader only need that long to really put Poland on the map as far as death metal is concerned. (Indeed, one wonders whether their countrymen in Behemoth had this on heavy rotation when a couple of years later they undertook their pivot from black metal to blackened death metal.) Displaying technical proficiency without the need to disruptively showboat, the trio might not look like the angel-demon thingies on the front cover in real life, but their performances are certainly worthy of such terrifying beasties.