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 PORTAL - “Olde Tyme Rock ‘n’ Roll”
By Nathan T. Birk
Without hyperbole, Portal are every inch a literal maelstrom. That much was played out by 2003’s Seepia debut LP—soon to be re-released on digipack by upstart Profound Lore Records [www.profoundlorerecords.com], quite wisely—a record rife with seasick riffery, subterranean pulses, and a visual/lyrical aesthetic dually the height of insanity. “Olde Whorled Apparel” adorned? Check. Similarly mind-blown haiku in tow? Bigger check. Thoroughly disorienting death metal to back both up? Biggest check. To think that these five Australians deemed all this second-nature – or, more alarmingly, “normal”—made the complete package all the more insane, well and truly.
And once again, Portal well and truly render themselves the height/depth of insanity with their latest offering, The Sweyy. Half a split-album with the similarly mind-fucked/fucking Rites of Thy Degringolade, The Sweyy finds Portal well and truly coming into their (insane) own. Whereas Seepia was a no-less-insane springboard for which the acid-fried underbelly of Immolation, Incantation, and especially latter-day Gorguts was brought to the (fucked-up) fore, as a whole, The Sweyy portrays Portal as both more strung-out and even more tense 'n' distressed than before, altogether uneasy listening of the highest order. The hallucinogenic choice is yours, but make mine a Sweyy…
“The Sweyy was a challenge to ourselves after the completion and release of Seepia,” remarks vocalist/lyricist Horror Illogium about where the band’s collective head was at when writing/recording their latest opus of occultic frequencies. “The pieces grew into foreboding monsters. Where others deem the compositions insane and, as stated, distressed, Portal view this as a non-passive state in the collective, repulsing each other with concepts, visuals and soundscapes.”
Likewise, whereas Seepia poignantly penetrated with its seasick riffing—or, initially, stunned one senseless—there exists myriad contrapuntal pulses at play on The Sweyy, Riff and Rhythm perpetually at odds with each other yet in near-lockstep, this juxtaposition seemingly unlocking once-hidden energies. In characteristically topsy-turvy tongue, Horror Illogium had this much to say: "A new entity of the accord Aphotic was summoned for the expanse of two guitars, making the outcome much more horrible. The Sweyy is a glued faction of chaotic energies repulsing each other. We believe that energies are always channeled and flowing with each Portal session/live show/recording.”
To Illogium’s mind(fuck), then, are Portal truly tapping into DM's oft-elusive potential to be a mind/consciousness-expanding/altering artform? Or, essentially, are they attempting to transcend mere “genre”?
“Portal has tapped into new-founded depths of horror,” comes the cryptic reply. “Genre's aside—metal it is. There are limitless possibilities within metal, it's how a collective chooses to express itself. We've chosen a path which does not rehash.”
So, how much more OUT THERE can the already out-there Portal get?
“Our ever-increasing desire to repulse our senses with much more horrible compositions,” estimates the frontman. “A more direct approach on some of those in which I speak and counteracted on again with more frantic and ever-changing, seemingly impossible arrangements. They are but mimics to the purpose of our prose, the antibody of theme.”
Got all that? No big surprise, then, and rather fortuitous that The Sweyy comes complemented by similarly OTT Canadian mental-warmongers Rites of Thy Degringolade’s Our Dreadful Sphere, equally distressed ‘n’ disorienting and more importantly mind-blown brethren who share kindred tastes in elevated lexicon. Horror Illogium heartily agrees:
"The split release is very befitting, indeed. Rites have an aura to their sound rife with the supernatural—a unit of brethren close in ideals, but distanced by mere mass only."
And speaking of brethren, barring the quite considerable war-metal hordes, Portal and fellow Aussie overlords Stargazer, Misery's Omen, and even Cauldron Black Ram seem to be the vanguard of modern esoteric metal. Something that’s fascinated these Western ears for many years, but what is it about Australian metallic sounds that elevate them well and truly beyond normalcy?
“Self satisfaction,” Illogium simply states. “The elevation aforementioned is not typical of Australia, but merely a handful of artists hold the idea not to continue the over-saturation of the generic cycle. We deem Portal as isolated as Australia is to the rest of the Worlde."
Deeper into that “Worlde,” the gaping divide between Creator and Listener, “understanding” irrevocably altered:
“The psychic and mental scars we may leave are but part of the ‘enjoyment’ Portal has to offer, a horrible experience for those sadists who wish to be assaulted while we indulge with each inception. Lyrically, the exploration is for our own escapism and mental furtherment—our psyches extend with each part of the Olde Worlde conveyed. The audience are merely spectators made victims, their souls consumed by The Sweyy.
“If mankind cannot comprehend us now,” the man signs off prophetically, “I inform—there is no light at the end of the tunnel for them.”
www.portalabode.cjb.net |
