I
De Profundis was formed in November 2005 by vocalist Craig Land and guitarist Roman Subbotin. Paul Westwood was recruited on drums and the band began writing material. Charles Allin (guitar) and Joel Wheeler (bass) joined within a few months, completing the first incarnation of De Profundis. However, with several songs written, the band made a radical reassessment of the music they were creating. The decision was taken to scrap their more melodic early attempts at song-writing in favour of a far darker, more bleakly atmospheric direction. At this stage, the legendary Christophe Szpajdel was approached to design a suitable logo reflecting the band’s music visually. Several compositions from this period would later appear on De Profundis’ debut album.
II
Autumn 2006 saw major upheaval within the De Profundis ranks, for reasons both professional and personal. Paul Westwood left to concentrate on To-Mera and Skaldic Curse. His exit was followed in rapid succession by those of Joel Wheeler and Charles Allin. Undaunted by these departures, the two founding members vowed to carry on, and in the space of two months had recruited Aleksej Obradovic (bass), Achilleas Gatsopoulos (drums) and Shoi Sengupta (guitar). This new committed and talented De Profundis line-up was unveiled in winter 2006.
Work on both existing and new material continued in earnest, with the band striving towards their ultimate goal of unleashing their own brand of despondency on the unsuspecting world. On completion of the material for the debut album, the rehearsals were stepped up both in frequency and intensity in preparation for the recording sessions, set to begin in April 2007. At this late stage, Achilleas Gatsopoulos and De Profundis parted ways due to conflicting work schedules. David Andrews stepped in to play the drums on the album just three weeks before the recording sessions.
De Profundis entered Warehouse Studios in Oxford on the 21st April 2007 as planned, to begin recording the debut album “Beyond Redemption” under the guidance of Steve Watkins. They emerged triumphant on the 9th May 2007 with a fully completed album containing five tracks with total playing time of forty-five minutes. It was then mastered by the highly respected Tim Turan at Turan Audio.
III
In September 2007 the band’s search for a new drummer bore fruit as Sterghios Moschos joined De Profundis. Having known of Sterghios’ immense drumming talents for some time from his work with the doom metal band Pantheist, the band was delighted to learn of his interest in De Profundis and after a hugely impressive first audition, he was immediately asked to join.
On 10th October 2007, De Profundis officially launched their debut album, playing their first show at the newly reinstated historic London venue, The Unicorn. In the two months that would follow, the band would play a further 7 shows to rapturous response of enthusiastic crowds. Positive media coverage and reviews added further momentum to the band’s assault on the metal scene, culminating in De Profundis being voted the 6th Best Unsigned Band by the readers of Terrorizer in the 2007 Readers’ Poll, despite the band’s music being available for barely a few months.