moses2792796
01-31-2008, 11:08 AM
Portal are an innovative death metal band from Brisbane, Australia. Their art is described as 'Ecto surreal abysmill horror', which may give an idea of the atmosphere that they forge. One of the few metal bands in the post-2000 era to show genuine artistic integrity.
Portal - Outre
Moving further into uncharted territory with this release, Portal manage to fully incorporate ambient composition into their increasingly blackened brand of death metal. Their use of extreme dissonance resembles bands such as Averse Sefira and Immolation, but here it is taken one step further, allowing it free reign to guide the music through seemingly random yet subtly ingenious structures.
After a brief, disturbed intro which builds tension the music moves seamlessly into blasting dissonance; this build up without resolution in characteristic of this album, which utilises constant churning chaos without immediately recognisable structure to penetrate the darkest recesses of the listener’s subconscious. Drawn out tremolo picked melodies are repeated for long periods accompanied by the more usual highly dissonant technical riffs. The repetition is complemented by the increasingly ambient style of drumming, which now often resembles a black metal pulsing blast more than regular death metal drumming. These elements create a chaotic and atmospheric style, directly assaulting the listener’s perception.
The structures may alienate the average hessian at first because of their complete rejection of standard metal forms. They more closely resemble the droning dark ambient style of Raison D’Etre and Lustmord in their constant development and lack of cycles. Each riff is used and then discarded in the constant unrelenting chaos of this album, and multiple variations on themes ensure that these songs are not linear but more closely resemble the growth of a tree, with parts shooting off in every direction. This randomness is brutally penetrating; its surrealistic tendencies serve only to reflect the decaying nature of reality, communicating the seeming omnipotence of death.
Internally these songs are held together by melodic and rhythmic devices, which may allow some degree of familiarity for the listener. As a melody shifts a rhythmic idea remains constant, or melodic ideas are transposed to another riff with a different tempo. This gives each song a vague sense of continuity which was less developed on their previous album. As each song begins the chaos is gradually decoded to reveal a continuous narrative. These gradual rises and descents between chaos and order have no definite beginning and end as might be found in other metal, rather it seems they are in constant motion, this allows a great deal of freedom or the listener to find their own meaning within this maelstrom of dissonant harmony and ambient style song structure.
While this is without doubt a challenging listen, this album is relentlessly inventive and at times, beautiful. Beyond the immediate chaos there is a sense of order established that puts this release above most death metal, including their previous release which was semi-coherent. Portal are beginning to realise their potential and clearly display an ability to transcend the metal genre. This reviewer recommends that listeners become familiar with dark ambient music in order to gain a better understanding of this release.
Originally written for the Australian Nihilist Underground Society (http://www.anus.com/tribes/au/)
Portal - Outre
Moving further into uncharted territory with this release, Portal manage to fully incorporate ambient composition into their increasingly blackened brand of death metal. Their use of extreme dissonance resembles bands such as Averse Sefira and Immolation, but here it is taken one step further, allowing it free reign to guide the music through seemingly random yet subtly ingenious structures.
After a brief, disturbed intro which builds tension the music moves seamlessly into blasting dissonance; this build up without resolution in characteristic of this album, which utilises constant churning chaos without immediately recognisable structure to penetrate the darkest recesses of the listener’s subconscious. Drawn out tremolo picked melodies are repeated for long periods accompanied by the more usual highly dissonant technical riffs. The repetition is complemented by the increasingly ambient style of drumming, which now often resembles a black metal pulsing blast more than regular death metal drumming. These elements create a chaotic and atmospheric style, directly assaulting the listener’s perception.
The structures may alienate the average hessian at first because of their complete rejection of standard metal forms. They more closely resemble the droning dark ambient style of Raison D’Etre and Lustmord in their constant development and lack of cycles. Each riff is used and then discarded in the constant unrelenting chaos of this album, and multiple variations on themes ensure that these songs are not linear but more closely resemble the growth of a tree, with parts shooting off in every direction. This randomness is brutally penetrating; its surrealistic tendencies serve only to reflect the decaying nature of reality, communicating the seeming omnipotence of death.
Internally these songs are held together by melodic and rhythmic devices, which may allow some degree of familiarity for the listener. As a melody shifts a rhythmic idea remains constant, or melodic ideas are transposed to another riff with a different tempo. This gives each song a vague sense of continuity which was less developed on their previous album. As each song begins the chaos is gradually decoded to reveal a continuous narrative. These gradual rises and descents between chaos and order have no definite beginning and end as might be found in other metal, rather it seems they are in constant motion, this allows a great deal of freedom or the listener to find their own meaning within this maelstrom of dissonant harmony and ambient style song structure.
While this is without doubt a challenging listen, this album is relentlessly inventive and at times, beautiful. Beyond the immediate chaos there is a sense of order established that puts this release above most death metal, including their previous release which was semi-coherent. Portal are beginning to realise their potential and clearly display an ability to transcend the metal genre. This reviewer recommends that listeners become familiar with dark ambient music in order to gain a better understanding of this release.
Originally written for the Australian Nihilist Underground Society (http://www.anus.com/tribes/au/)