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Portal: Vexovoid
19/04/14 || The Duff
Portal have been a rising force in the occult, extreme, obscure death metal scene since the release of their first album “Seepia” in 2003, their angular, disharmonious tremolo riffs and notes that sound like the dropping of bombs, black metal and classic Incantation with consistent upgrades in production.
“Swarth”, their third record, was as horrific as “Outré” (their breakthrough second album) yet also more palatable, had less truly striking riffs but also set the example of bands working on energy alone, and by that of course we mean purely negative energy like walking in on your Mother masturbating.
With the release of “Swarth”, Australia’s Portal became a very fashionable band to like cough e.g. Ghost are shit but you still purchased the deluxe limited butt-plug edition of their new album didn’t you cough, cough (and typed ‘it’s for Mother’ in the additional comments box I am hitting them out of the park today). So, four years in the making and only seven tracks long, what can we expect of this new album “Vexovoid”, named after your Mother’s vagina?
(home-run number three).
Well, at under thirty-five minutes long, you’d be correct in thinking this to be more focused, certainly the most conceptual-feeling record these Australians have released in their some ten year career. There is no lack of tumult, but certainly no tracks like “Glumurphonel” off of “Seepia” neither – “Vexovoid” is almost like a Doberman wearing socks.
The record’s energy comes from the guitars (full on blasts to any Portal record seem like an accessory to me) which are incessant, and on “Vexovoid” they churn but rarely veer, there is a hint at real melody and order on this record much like “Swarth” and then of course an outstanding use of seven if not eight string guitars (I can never tell by this point).
The music hits some very low notes, specifically the ‘sounds of bombs-dropping’ effect but it is never used gratuitously – some of the fade-outs also sound like the machines in the remake of War of the Worlds or your Mum eating out your Dad’s pussy.
You can please find my contact details in the info section.
And this is where seven tracks does its best at presenting Portal, the starter-kit for anyone who couldn’t get into over forty minutes of their music. It is bleak, it is suffocating, the production is probably the cleanest they’ve had yet it is still quite muffled with a very strong, rumbling bass presence and guitars that sound as if they could break open at any moment (certainly during the more melodious sections); fundamentally though you can more easily get to grips with the essence of Portal on “Vexovoid”, it is caustic in a tragic way and recommended perhaps over the band’s less hospitable, earlier phase.
- Information
- Released: 2013
- Label: Nuclear Blast
- Website: Portal Facebook
- Band
- The Curator: vocals
- Horror Illogium: guitars (lead)
- Aphotic Mote: guitars (rhythm)
- Ignis Fatuus: drums
- Omenous Fugue: bass
- Tracklist
- 01. Kilter
- 02. The Back Wards
- 03. Curtain
- 04. Plasm
- 05. Awryeon
- 06. Orbmorphia
- 07. Oblotten
