PORTAL Seepia LP Gatefold

The skittering sounds of Portal clamber up and down the walls, and the crawling started with the 2003 LP Seepia. Even two decades after release, it's incredible how modern Portal sounds. Though bands like Abyssal, Mitochondrion, and Ulcerate have certainly attempted "atmospheric death metal", Portal's distinct technicality, stiltedness, and foreboding aesthetic have kept the band amazingly fresh.

Outre' and Vexovoid made Portal synonymous with an obfuscating and grimy production. Outre' in particular covered up much of the riffs with latency - like you're listening to ambient music more than straight-up death metal. This isn't a bad thing, but it has changed how the rest of Portal's discography is viewed. ION and Avow both amp-up the clarity in production while retaining the chaotic intensity, which absolutely confused listeners whose main association with the band was that filthy, murky sound.

Despite coming first, Seepia is in the middle of these two sounds. A keen ear can pick up the dense guitar attack on "13 Globes" and "Omnipotent Crawling Chaos" on Outre', but Seepia's "Glumurphonel" and "Tempus Fugit" are visible under the dust. The Curator's vocals have only become more roar-like over time, but on Seepia he primarily whispers as opposed to the hoarse gutturals of Outre'. These vocals are discomforting - while Molested's Blod-Draum isn't an easy listening (and is certainly a progenitor to Portal's sound), the more straightforward death metal vocal delivery isn't what makes that album weird. However, Portal completely captures that harsh, overwhelming affect where most of the discography leans toward a "wrongness" of death metal. Which, come to think of it, is what you'd want from Lovecraftian-inspired music, right?

A big part of the seeming incomprehensibility on Seepia comes from the extraordinary ability of guitarist Horror Illogium. In addition to the multilayered tracks (which you can hear right at the beginning per the opening volley of "Glumurphonel"), Portal riffs approach the "how do you memorize this?" level of complexity. I will admit to not having the musical knowledge to tell you how Portal perverts standard (or unstandard) chord structures. What I will say is I have seen Portal's early live shows, and "spider hands" is the closest way I can describe Horror Illogium. Traveling up and down the fret board, you can see how Portal develops their tracks in a far more concrete manner than the abstractness belied by Outre'. Where other experimental and atmospheric death metal bands rely so much on feedback and studio reverb, Portal simply plays hard.

Every album in Portal's discography is distinct. Many new listeners start with Outre' given the attention it got in non-metal magazines and web sites in the latter 2000s, as well as its contemporary recognition on sites like RateYourMusic and the wider metal consciousness. I actually think Seepia is the best place to start both for those coming from capital-d death metal and non-metal genres more associated with noise and experimental music. It balances both sides of that chthonic coin, and it has a perfect display of their wide-ranging technical abilities in a way the limpid precision of ION might be unapproachable for different reasons.