As extreme metal contihues to expand and mature, there will always
be questions as to what comes next.
Can extreme metal become more extreme?
How?
Enter Portal (ha), an Australian outfit that seeks to simultaneously
broaden and narrow the tradition vision of extreme metal.
This is extremely dense, twisted, experimental death metal, with the
emphasis on everything except "death metal", since, while this does
belong under that umbrella, labelling this band as just a death metal
band does a huge disservice to both band and listener.
Comparing the two albums reviewed here
(2013's Vexovoid and
2018's Ion),
differences can be found -- the former is more cavernous, dense, and
a bit closer to standard death metal (but only in comparison to the latter),
while Ion ups the dissonance, scattershot riffs, and complexity.
Often claustrophobic and at times borderline unapproachable,
this is by design meant to be enjoyed by a select few (and there are
more than a few that are totally into this) while the
masses may find this over their heads.
