No Death Metal band in the history of the genre is as bizarre, unique and aesthetically engaging as Australia's Portal. Unfolding a singular vision through polarizing music, distinct imagery and otherworldly live shows, Portal has slowly set a new standard within the underground over the course of a decade, giving a new meaning to the term Death Metal itself. The band has spread their sonic plague via three full-length albums to date, the last of which, 2009's Swarth, brought them their highest level of recognition and praise yet. Portal's surreal psychosis sounds like a Love-craftian nightmare manifested; weird rhythms and perplexing musical structures twist together in a cinematic soundscape of sheer terror and madness. Vexovoid takes their artistry to new levels, delivering their biggest and most dense sounding album of their career. Comprised of seven harrowing tracks, it proves once again why Portal is the harbinger of the coming new dreadful age of death metal.
P**M
Abandon all hope, ye who enter the vexovoid!
There is not much to compare this group to. The closest thing I can think of is out of Stephen King's The Mist, where unspeakable horrors come marching out of another dimension. Yeah, these guys would fit right in there. The lyrics are complete nonsense, and you have to dig through the noise to figure out the melody, much like fumbling through thick cobwebs to try and find a wall to guide yourself to safety, only to get ever closer to the beast. It is heavy enough to dampen your very soul, and from that regard, Portal excels at what they do, which is creating atmosphere, and this album is dripping with it. The pounding tribal drums, the grim-sounding bellow from the vocalist, the guitar notes sound like little spiders crawling along the neurons of your brain. The music is a portal to that which can not be named, lest you go mad from trying to comprehend it. So don't try to understand it, just let it flow through you, and take you to face true horror.
K**D
Love this album!
Man, where do I begin with this album? It's dark, brooding, atmospheric, and honestly downright scary in places. I'm fairly new to Portal, and this album left me looking over my shoulder haha. The drums are very tribalistic in places, as well as fast and moody in parts too. The guitars and bass are very muddy, which adds to the creepy atmosphere of the music. The vocals on this album are simply spine tingling. This guys growl is not overly powerful, but it's very ominous and it adds very nicely to the overall atmosphere of this album. The songwriting is superb. They craft songs with unorthodox song structures and dark, ominous sounding riffs. So, all in all, Portal crafted a masterpiece in my opinion with this album. It's definitely my favorite album released so far this year. So, if your into music that will keep you awake at night and wont let go of your soul, check out Portal's Vexovoid. I could talk all day about this, but you get the point. Buy this album!!!
H**S
how could it NOT be a 5 !
you ever had that dream where you are a prisoner on a MASSIVE carcass-encrusted locomotive powered by a swarm o' angry super-hornets, screaming through the darkest part o' night on the way to hell ? yeah, me neitherbut that's what this album sounds likeenjoy the ride !
J**N
Great Album
Heavy album. This band is an acquired taste for many, but I fell in love with the band after watching live performances on youtube.
G**T
Not a love it at first
On the fence with this one. gonna take some listening to really get it. If i do. Not a love it at first listen
R**R
YES YES YES!
Brain melting fantastic!!!!!!!!
S**H
A Band That Lives Up To It's Name
While civilization as we know it seems to be at the brink, the music of our time continues to provide a more bleak, harrowing experience than at any point in our history. This is never more apparent than on Portal's new album Vexovoid. Parts death metal, black metal, and experimental noise, Portal has unleashed an album that seems too violent and dystopian to be called music. Mostly claustrophobic 16th note shredding and bleating provide the sound, that is then transmogrified by a shuddering bass that rocks your foundations, complete with odd time drum signatures and belched vocals. This is one ugly behemoth of an album! It's like Gigan mixed with Deathspell Omega and Incantation. Only the strong will survive this bludgeoning and that seems to be the intention. It's as if once humanity's violent reign is over, only those willing to do all that is necessary to live will be privy to the cataclysmic din of the end. This is more evil than Satan and much scarier than hell. It's a nightmare of your own making, that you can't awake from. I never want to visit the Vexovoid, just hearing it is damaging enough.
K**N
Their heaviest album
This is Portal's heaviest album in my opinion. It still has the typical dreadful atmosphere that Portal brings.
S**U
Five Stars
excellent!!!
E**O
Excellent! 5-star album!
Amazing album by an extremely innovative band!! Very immersive!
P**C
Hypnotisch, finster, außerirdisch
PORTAL und ihr viertes Album VEXOVOID entziehen sich gängigen Kriterien und einer Bewertung - vermutlich ist dies ein Album, welches von jedem Hörer anders wahrgenommen wird.Fakt ist: was die Australier hier abliefern lässt viele War Black Metal Kommandos wie ziemlich blasse Rock N Roll Combos darstehen und erinnert in Klang und Wirkung trotz der "metallischen" Instrumentierung oft genug eher Noise Industrial. 7 Stücke bzw 40 Minuten holzt man sich vorwärts, monoton, erdrückend, hypnotisch - klassische Songstrukturen kann man da natürlich vergessen. Trotzdem: bei allem Wahnsinn hat VEXOVOID durchaus eine innere Logik, welche womöglich, den mitunter Lovecraft-inspirierten Inhalten geschuldet, bizarr und unmenschlich ist, aber dennoch, ein roter Faden wohnt all dem inne.Ich muss sagen, dass VEXOVOID genau das ist, was es sein MUSS: ein extremes Stück Musik, kompromisslos, rasend und absolut nicht für jedermann oder jeden Anlass geeignet... aber dann doch mitreißend und in seiner Wirkung schlichtweg heftig.Als Benotung möchte ich fast gar keine Sterne geben - PORTAL wüten hier in einer Dimension, in welcher die Sterne längst verloschen sind. Für Fans harten Stoffs gebe ich gerne 4 Sterne nit Tendenz nach oben, als einziges Manko finde ich nämlich den Gesang von "The Curator" im Mix etwas zu sehr im Hintergrund.Aber ganz ehrlich: wer diese Rezension liest weis eh was ihn erwartet - und das liefern PORTAL auch, ohne Erbarmen und ohne Atempause.
H**B
From the depths of Hell straight to your ears
This is about as difficult and unaccessible as metal gets. Hermetic, claustrophobic, frightening. You have to listen to this band for the atmosphere they create. Their aesthetics is darker than any other metal band on the planet. I don't think you could listen to Vexvoid on repeat all day long, it would too exhausting. Yet the efforts you will put in discovering and understanding this album will be very warmly rewarded; if not in this life, then in the next.
P**X
Five Stars
Perfect
