Doomsday Profit Premiere “Sin Eater” Video; Self-Titled LP Out Sept. 19
North Carolinian sludge metallers Doomsday Profit will release their second, self-titled album on Sept. 19. That’s just under a month away, but as they premiere the video for “Sin Eater” below, they note that it’s also the “eighth and final” single from the record, so one would hardly accuse them of not putting their money where their mouth is either in terms of reaching out to fans or manifesting the progressive-in-thought-and-lunkheaded-of-riff ideology of their sound in the release process. Ethical consistency.
That is to say, it’s one thing to say you believe everyone should have free healthcare. It’s another to give away most of your album while doing so. The generosity on the part of the four-piece of guitarist/vocalist Bryan Reed, lead guitarist/vocalist Kevin See, bassist/vocalist Ryan Sweeney and drummer David Ruiz feels consistent with the positions taken throughout. Only opener “It’s Already Over,” with its Rwake-esque semi-spoken parts over squibbly guitars and furious toms, is held back from the nine-song/43-minute LP.
“Sin Eater” is the penultimate track on the album, and its metaphor of the privileged using the poor as toilet paper for their souls should not be lost on the age of private space programs and ICE raids now localized to your hometown. While steeped in Southern heavy and sludge as they were on their 2021 debut, In Idle Orbit (review here), with songs like the early pair of “Stargazer” and “Spirits” or the memorable repetitions of the title in the lyrics of “Doomsday Profit,” almost spit out by the end of the song in disgust.
They veer into metal, as with the breakdown chug of “Terror Cycle,” even a bit of death metal there — also in “Drive Into the Sun,” but I think it’s mostly because the sub-three-minute cut is so punk that heavy as Doomsday Profit play it, it kind of sounds like Entombed; that should be read as a compliment to the song — and contrast that with the more atmospheric reach of the 7:38 finale
“Monument to Nothing,” where the solo gives over to a slowdown after about four and a half minutes in before the next scorcher lead takes hold, pushes the band to the brink, and turns back around to end slow and Sabbathy because at the end of the day, the riff.
It is a time for bold statements, however, and in that regard, “The South Will Sink” seems like the kind of thing that would result in online death threats (probably good PR) or being put on some vague watchlist. The lyrics marry the climate crisis to the vision of ‘the South will rise again’ post-Civil War rhetoric, pointing out the ridiculousness of the latter in the face of the former’s rising waters. “Your shallow history/Of purblind hate/Slips deep into the dark/Of your advancing fate.” Stylistically speaking, Doomsday Profit don’t give themselves a lot of space for grand manifesto making. The longest line there is five words. In that kind of situation, you have to make your word choices count, and they do. I had to look up “purblind.”
Heavy-handed? Heavy everything. “The South Will Sink” is emblematic in the sense of standing as representative of their sound while also encapsulating the point of view of the lyrics. A prior single and a handy what-it’s-all-about summary, it leads into the title-track as if the band wants to remind you who just said the thing. After this, the Yatra-style extremity worked into “Sin Eater” makes for a welcome face-peel, double-kick culmination and all.
Doomsday Profit are continuing to grow, and it might be that somewhere along the line they discover that their particular take on ‘Southern sludge’ actually sounds more like progressive death metal, but that’s years off and dependent on their creative path going in that direction, so don’t think I’m saying that’s how they sound now. But it’s in there, along with doom riffs, groove despondency, and a willingness to take a position politically where so many others keep their heads down either for concern for safety, hopelessness or apathy. Take your pick.
Doomsday Profit is less a vision of a better future than a glimpse of the cold realities under the microplastic’ed sheen of today. May they grow ever more class-conscious.
Enjoy the video:
Doomsday Profit, “Sin Eater” video premiere
Doomsday Profit on “Sin Eater”:
In case you aren’t aware of the history of sin eaters, it was a practice associated primarily with isolated towns in Wales and other parts of the British Isles — and in some parts of Appalachia, as well. The family of a recently deceased person would hire a sin eater — usually a poor and desperate person living on the fringes of the community — to consume a ritual meal of bread and beer that would also carry with it the sins of the deceased. This way, the dead person could be absolved and go on to Heaven, while the sin-eater would carry the sins upon their soul instead.
Historically, the sin eater was a pariah; a poor outcast exploited to do the work no one else could stomach. Ironically, despite their sacrifice, the sin eater was subsequently cast even further to the fringes of society for doing such unseemly work and being tainted with the sins of others.
For us, it was a compelling bit of historical lore that also seemed to work as an allegory for the ways in which the powerful continue to place blame and burden upon marginalized members of society, and exploit people’s labor and desperation to further enrich themselves. The video was produced and directed by Graydaughter Creative here in North Carolina. Bongfoot drummer Curry Davis plays the titular sin eater.
DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT:
There’s much grief and inner turmoil one eventually comes to terms with in the undertaking of servitude that no amount of selflessness and goodwill ever prepares you for.
Through this lens, “Sin Eater” dares to slip a bitter pill of transcendental tribulation, leaving one to ask if the extent of societal expectation of self-sacrifice in full submission to a noble good is reasonable, regardless of the toil taken upon its called steward. I think these themes are driven home well by the guys in this track.
Undeniably, it’s such a universally identifiable struggle that I hope the music video encapsulates and prompts new discourse surrounding this invisible tension and burden society often goes to great lengths to conceal, ignore, and ultimately take for granted. — Grayson Simon
VIDEO CREDITS:
Director, Director of Photography, Editor: Grayson Simon (@vernal.lamb)
Producer: Graydaughter Creative (@graydaughtercreative)
Gaffer: Evan Daniel (@evanjdaniel)
Grip: Owen Ray (@owen_makes_movies)
Production Assist: Andrew Langhans, Drew Claxton, Karolina Sandecka (@low.as.heck, @dru_____, @karolina_sandecka)
Talent Lead: Curry Davis (@curryd4)
Supporting Talent: Brittany Sweeney (@avian_anarchy_nc)
Filmed at Shadowbox Studio (@shadowbox_studio) in Durham, NC
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“Sin Eater” is the eighth and final single released in advance of Doomsday Profit’s self-titled album, set for independent release September 19, 2025.
Tape and CD pre-orders are currently live on Bandcamp. (https://doomsdayprofit.bandcamp.com/album/doomsday-profit-2)
On this recording, Doomsday Profit is: Bryan Reed (rhythm guitar/vocals), Kevin See (lead guitar/vocals), Ryan Sweeney (bass/vocals), and David Ruiz (drums).
