Nu-metal has seen an unlikely resurgence in recent years, with many young bands who grew up on the sounds of Limp Bizkit, Linkin Park and their contemporaries melding the signature riff-driven bounce of the genre with more modern metal characteristics. Profiler are one such band, and with their debut self-titled EP they have deftly combined late 90s and early 00s metal hallmarks with those found in present day metalcore and show plenty of promise in doing so. Its a short but sweet taster of what they’re about, comprising a brief intro and four tracks, the dominance of the riff is obvious from the moment opening song Miserable kicks off, but the aggression soon gives way to a silky chorus that is more than a little reminiscent of Deftones. Alternating between loud and quiet sections is certainly nothing new, but its a satisfying blend that vocalist, lead guitarist and primary songwriter Mike Evans pulls off well.
More distinctive nu-metal elements rear their heads as the release progresses, with rap-style flows and even the occasional bit of scratching all making an appearance, but they’re implemented organically enough that they feel more like homage than parody. Its also satisfying to hear the more aggressive, screamed sections managing to segue smoothly into the soaring, clean vocal segments without the change feeling too abrupt or contrived. The band also clearly draw some inspiration from some of the more technical bands around today, with the instrumentation recalling the likes of Polaris and Periphery at times, providing a more cerebral contrast to the blunt force trauma of the nu-metal style riffs. Nevertheless, the songs are all somewhat similar to one another, this is by no means a problem when dicussing an EP but there will surely be a need for something more when it comes time to make a full length.
Whilst Profiler is a more than competent fusion of the band’s key influences, it seems to be demonstrative of a band still in the formative stages of their development, searching for a signature sound and identity that makes them more than the sum of their parts. It’s early days but if they can achieve this synthesis of all their constituent components and stamp something of themselves on top of it they could jump from ‘good’ to ‘great’.