PORTAL Outre LP

A friend of mine recommended me to listen to Portal. From what I gathered, they're an avant-garde death metal band from Australia. They have been acclaimed by fans and critics for pushing the boundaries of death metal. Outre' is considered to be Portal's breakthrough hit and quite possibly their magnum opus. Others have noted that Outre' sounds like a death metal equivalent to Deathspell Omega's FAS - Ite, maledicti, in ignem aeternum.

Having listened to the latter, I easily get the comparisons as leadoff tracks "Moil / Abysmill" are not your typical death metal songs. They're instead rather dense as the vocals and instruments create a wall of sound, making the songs difficult to listen to but more rewarding in the end. This is also true for "Black Houses" which has prominent death-doom influence and a section that reminds the listener of Neurosis' song "Purify". However, you still have songs that have more in line with technical death metal such as "Omnipotent Crawling Chaos" as the drums are more prominent here. Even the title track, which is an instrumental is some of the heaviest music in the metal genre rivaling the excellent "Pure II" by Godflesh.

Heaviness is the name of the game on Portal's Outre', as it has some of the tightest musicianship in terms of death metal albums. Horror Illogium and Aphotic Mote's guitars are not used for soloing, but instead for creating a droning sound to them that is possibly inspired by the likes of Earth and Godflesh. Unlike most death metal drummers, Monocular's drums are generally used for atmosphere on Outre'. The drum beats are perfectly placed throughout the album with no weak spots whatsoever. Monocular deserves special mention on "13 Globes" for some rather technical play. Elsewhere's bass may not be noticeable, however it blends perfectly with the wall of sound that is created by the two guitarists. "Black Houses" is a perfect example of this statement. As for the Curator, his vocals lie between Altars of Madness-era Morbid Angel and Close to a World Below-era Immolation. Curator's performance is relentless, his growls dictate the tempo of each song with the closing track "Sourlows" being the angriest number on Outre'.

Anger isn't really the driving factor when listening to Portal, especially Outre'. This is a death metal album that embodies the original purpose of metal: sheer heaviness. With tight production and a reliable label like Profound Lore, Outre' became the album that defined Portal's career. It is now a classic in the death metal genre with Decibel Magazine having notably included it in their Top 100 death metal albums list back in 2012. If you like your death metal to be technical with a touch of avant-garde metal in it, give Outre' a shot, it's a fantastic and well thought out record that deserves to be in any metalhead's collection.