by Niklas Göransson

Lungs of Hell burn the heavens – after stints with GG Allin and Incantation, Paul Ledney launched his own project in 1990. This two-part series explores the formative years of US black metal pioneers Profanatica.

 

PAUL LEDNEY: With TOTEN, our plan was to start something similar to the bands John and I liked. For some weird reason, SLAYER were super-popular in my high school – everybody, metalheads or not, listened to them. They even played it at the football game. It’s kind of strange looking back now because today’s kids would never do that.

In 1986, after vacating his position as drummer for New Jersey thrash act REVENANT, Paul Ledney and his guitarist friend John Gelso founded TOTEN. They brought in a bass player and recorded a demo called “Misery” the following year.

TOTEN released their second demo, “Macabre”, in 1988. It showcases an interesting form of proto-black metal – crude and pulsating, with vomit-like vocals not entirely dissimilar to what VON did several years later.

LEDNEY: TOTEN’s biggest influences, I wanna say, were POSSESSED’s “Seven Churches”, SARCÓFAGO, the NECROVORE demo, and HELLHAMMER. More than that, though… driving to rehearsal or whatever, we’d often listen to punk and hardcore. This probably played a role in developing our style – combining these very simple repetitive riffs with heaviness.

Did TOTEN ever perform live?

LEDNEY: No. We wrote about six or seven tracks and were pretty tight, but our local area simply had no other acts like us that we’d be able to play with. Unfortunately, this sort of sapped my enthusiasm. TOTEN was the first really dark project that John and I did together, and it lasted until 1988. We remained friends, but the band just faded away.

 

Around the same time that TOTEN wound down, Paul was invited to join a GG Allin backup band.

In the late 1980s, punk rock singer GG Allin was infamous for transgressive stage performances including self-mutilation, defecation, and violence. Although Allin enjoyed limited mainstream success, he garnered a dedicated underground following with his prolific musical output.

LEDNEY: A friend of mine, Malcolm Tent, had a record store called Trash American Style; that’s where we bought all our punk, hardcore, and metal. Pretty much everyone from the tri-state area – Connecticut, New Jersey, and New York – would travel there to pick up vinyl. One day, Malcolm mentioned, ‘I’ve been talking to GG Allin, and he wants to do a project. Are you interested?’ I was a huge fan, so I said, ‘Okay, cool.’

This was the birth of THE CONNECTICUT COCKSUCKERS. In its initial stages, the project set out to record an EP with GG Allin on vocals and then perform a few shows.

LEDNEY: We were influenced by POISON IDEA and similar stuff. At the time, GG had no other backup band like us – fast and powerful but who also played well. Live, we were mostly gonna do SCUMFUCS-era shit. Our own material was in that style but sped up a bit.

Active during the early to mid-1980s, THE SCUMFUCS were one of GG Allin’s most infamous backing bands. Known for aggressive, chaotic punk rock, they helped define the confrontational nature of Allin’s performances.

LEDNEY: I got in touch with GG over the phone, and he seemed kind of uninterested in terms of setlists. ‘You pick it!’ he told me. I remember sending him a list of songs I thought we should play, and then he and I talked about how fucking heavy our set was gonna be.

What were your expectations for the actual stage performance?

LEDNEY: I enjoyed the danger side of GG Allin, but I was still a kid and didn’t want him attacking me. I told GG straight up, ‘I’m nervous that you’re gonna turn your shit against me’, but he said, ‘Nah, man. Tell me right before we go on to stay away from you at all costs – and I will. No matter how shitfaced or crazy I get, I won’t go near the drums. But regardless of what happens… just keep playing!’ I said, ‘Okay.’

How much effort did you put into the original material?

LEDNEY: Well, there was other stuff happening in our lives at the time, so we didn’t exactly spend all day working on it. Malcolm would call and say, ‘Hey, we gotta jam and finalise the GG songs this weekend’, and we were like, ‘Okay, cool.’ It was very low pressure because that shit is easy to play, but we did put some time into the writing.

 

Once the COCKSUCKERS had composed and recorded their tracks, Paul called GG Allin to let him know the material was ready for vocals. In conjunction with Allin’s visit, they were also meant to perform live in New York and Connecticut.

LEDNEY: I told him, ‘All the lyrics are set for you’, and he goes, ‘Great!’ GG absolutely loved my ideas and song titles… but when discussing our live shows, he said, ‘Hey, I wanna do some Hank Williams Senior-type stuff too!’ I went, ‘Are you fucking kidding me?’ You know, I was just a kid, but I started yelling at him over the phone. ‘Dude, we’ve already rehearsed the setlist; I’ve been giving you updates the whole time. We’re into the heavy shit!’

Further confusion arose when GG showed up at Trash American Style in Connecticut with a line-up of his own.

LEDNEY: That kinda pissed us off, because why the fuck would you bring a backup band to our show? It was just a case of miscommunication – but not on my or Malcolm’s side. We were absolutely clear about everything.

After an awkward start, Malcolm Tent brought GG Allin to New York, where they’d rented a youth centre to track the vocals.

LEDNEY: I couldn’t come to the vocal recording. Now, I forget exactly what happened, but I’d gotten into a fight and was kicked in the chest, leaving me with two broken ribs. Malcolm said that when GG started singing, he destroyed the microphone. They found him another mic, which he didn’t like. GG got a little belligerent, and an argument broke out. He kept saying, ‘I’ll do it next time. I promise.’ Malcolm insisted, ‘We need to do it now, while you’re here!’ but GG just went, ‘No, I’ll be back.’

GG Allin left the premises, along with any chances of either recording or playing shows.

LEDNEY: It could’ve made for a cool meeting between my brain and his. I guess it would’ve been more like pure GG Allin but organised by me. It had definitely been the heaviest, tightest GG shit ever – still noisy and raw, though. Fast drumbeats but not grinding. It was gonna be the real deal.

Would you say that GG Allin has been influential to your artistic expression?

LEDNEY: Oh, definitely. Go back and watch the old videos: there are brief moments, very short, where he’s completely lost in a song. Totally into the music, feeling it, and I dug that. All the gross stuff on the side… I didn’t really mind, yet I wasn’t especially drawn to it. It’s nothing but shock value for people videotaping the show. They’d come just to see him take a shit on stage – as if expecting it. I knew this annoyed GG, as it also annoyed me.

What do you think GG Allin would’ve thought about black metal?

LEDNEY: Well, GG used to be more… if a band was sincere and genuine, he’d be into them. I know he liked POISON IDEA – same with NAPALM DEATH and SIEGE from Boston. But let’s put it this way: if GG had been alive now and I showed him PROFANATICA, he’d dig it for sure.

 

Following Paul’s stint with THE CONNECTICUT COCKSUCKERS, he and an old friend – guitar player John McEntee, whom Paul knew from their time together in REVENANT – started jamming some death metal.

After a few sessions, they recruited an additional guitarist and a bass player – Brett Makowski and Aragon Amori, respectively – from a local black/death band called BLOOD THIRSTY DEATH.

LEDNEY: John and Brett met for the first time over at my house, where we’d set up a rehearsal spot in the basement. John had heard the BLOOD THIRSTY DEATH demos and told me, ‘This kid Brett is a great guitarist.’ I didn’t know much about it since I was so focused on drums. I said, ‘Are you sure? Let’s jam with him.’ And that’s kind of how INCANTATION started.

In January 1990, INCANTATION recorded a rehearsal tape comprising a HELLHAMMER cover and an original song – co-written by John McEntee and Paul Ledney – called “Profanation”. The pair also resurrected “Unholy Massacre”, which REVENANT had rejected for being too brutal.

Soon after, Paul, Brett, and Aragon all left INCANTATION. They wanted to pursue a more sacrilegious black metal style – in both music and imagery – which contrasted with the pure death metal vision of John McEntee.

LEDNEY: We tried to persuade him, but he just went, ‘Nah, I’m not into it.’ In hindsight, I’m glad McEntee stood his ground because he went forward without any antics and is still, over three decades later, doing the same thing as back then.

 

A few months later, Paul invited both Brett Makowski and Aragon Amori to join his new black metal project, PROFANATICA. In July of that year, after putting out a rehearsal tape, they recorded their debut demo, “Putrescence of…”, at The Rockhouse in Norwalk, Connecticut.

It’s interesting to compare INCANTATION’s early output with that of PROFANATICA. Despite representing different styles, they share some characteristics uncommon in death and black metal at the time, such as the doomy elements.

LEDNEY: I’d say our doom influences mainly came from Scandinavian death metal. Both McEntee and I really dug ABHORRENCE from Finland. Their riffs are heavy and dark; it’s like evil death/black. We were also very inspired by the DEATH demos.

Another common denominator is pinch harmonics. By briefly touching a string after plucking it, the guitarist produces a high-pitched squeal or harmonic overtone, which can add a distinctive sharp sound to riffs and solos.

LEDNEY: That blend of heavy tone and pinch harmonics would’ve been McEntee’s doing. I think he got the idea from Swedish death metal – Brett then picked it up and brought the technique over to PROFANATICA. It was all a very natural process.

 

Brett Makowski left the band shortly thereafter to focus on another project – paving the way for a rekindling of the musical collaboration between Paul Ledney and John Gelso. At the time, PROFANATICA rehearsed in the same building as The Rockhouse.

LEDNEY: The guy who owned the studio had an upstairs room where we’d practise. It was an old house in the middle of the Norwalk woods; really big and kinda creepy. I have many memories of that place. Nothing specific – but I do remember us being holed up there for long periods of time.

In October 1990, PROFANATICA recorded their second demo, “Broken Throne of Christ”. The production is decidedly rawer than “Putrescence of…”.

LEDNEY: We decided to record it in the rehearsal room, and the engineer got kind of annoyed. ‘Come to the studio and do it; I’m just downstairs!’ I remember him being pissed off because he must’ve asked four or five times, ‘C’mon guys, can I do it?’ But we were like, ‘Nah.’ I wanted more of a rehearsal-demo NECROVORE-type sound.

When releasing their 1987 demo, “Divus de Mortuus”, Texas-based NECROVORE made a huge impact on the death metal underground with its brutal but lo-fi sound and exceptionally hostile style.

LEDNEY: Another demo that inspired me, which you can’t really tell, was MORBID ANGEL’s “Thy Kingdom Come”. It’s so fucking raw, and Mike Browning’s vocals are kinda black metal. Of course, the first MORBID ANGEL album, “Abominations of Desolation”, influenced us too. But most bands back then didn’t appeal to us – we hand-picked a select few.

 

Was the material composed as a group effort?

LEDNEY: John would play riffs while I listened, going, ‘No… no… no…’, and then ‘Yes! Fuck yes.’ Once we had something I liked, I’d always arrange it, so the shit ended up completely different from what John originally had in mind. I’d also hum riffs that Gelso played back at me, messing around and fixing ‘em up a little bit. John then showed Aragon the basslines. Aragon, admittedly, might not have been the greatest of bassists; he was more feel-oriented.