SWARTH Digipac CD
Release Date Octo-20 09
Profound Lore Records
The approach to Portal’s style of death metal has always treaded the fine line between sheer madness and the intricately artful. Cinematic in scope, like a death metal interpretation of The Cabinet Of Dr. Cagliari or the death metal soundtrack to an ancient silent arthouse flick gone terribly awry, Portal have pretty much transcended the interpretation of what death metal should portray, and simply inverted and twisted it to no end. Even moreso with "Swarth".
Almost serving as the missing link between Portal’s previous abominations (namely “Seepia” and “Outre”), “Swarth” continues to bring the band’s aesthetic to new disturbing levels of unease. Musically, “Swarth” is very labyrinth-like, very claustrophobic and suffocating where twisted counterpoint and scathing dissonance merge with earth scraping atmosphere to unveil the inevitable rising chaos.
And as usual, with every Portal release, what is surely to divide and polarize death metal enthusiasts who either realize the substance, depth, and genius that Portal portray and the ones who simply cannot comprehend or understand the enigma that is Portal. And those who continue to be indifferent and can’t seem to form any kind of opinion or expression because Portal’s music is so fucked, uneasy, and just wrong in a way that it continues to push and tear the boundaries of extremity within death metal like no other band can through the filth, mire, and the utter crawling chaos that unearths itself through each chapter that creates a Portal release as a whole. Nonetheless, no death metal band has created such debate and dialogue as Portal have, and surely with “Swarth”, such debate and dialogue will no doubt continue, confuse, and perplex. Nonetheless, this is how Portal's music, in a way, thrives.
Packaged in a stunning gatefold hard cover Stoughton produced 5 x 5 digi-sleeve, with a 16-page booklet and a designed inner sleeve which houses the CD, tracklisting for “Swarth” goes as follows:
OUTRE' Jewel Case CD
Ordo Decimus Peccatum
A much more oppressive, ambient, and atmospheric plunge into the vortex than its predecessor “Seepia”, “Outre” is a much more disturbing and surreal scenario painted within a nightmarish vision like no other death metal band today can even dream (if they even dare to) to conjure up.
Digibook - Profound Lore Records www.profoundlorerecords.com
Jewel Case CD - Ordo Decimus Peccatum www.osmoseproductions.com
Gatefold Vinyl LP - Obsidian Records www.obsidianrecords.com
SEEPIA Jewel Case CD
Ordo Decimus Peccatum
The debut album Seepia was documented in 2002 and displayed a destructive aural assault as rusty and antique as the artwork portrays, a bastardisation of Beherit & Immolation in recognition, however the texture, brutality and overall sickness leaves the listener polarized. Seepia is the frequency of the Vint-Age, the usher of Outre'.
Jewel Case CD - Ordo Decimus Peccatum www.osmoseproductions.com
Pic Disc LP Gatefold - Crush Until Madness Records www.crushuntilmadnessrecords.com
Digibook - Profound Lore Records - Sold Out
The "Swarff" lp reminds of the Industrial Revolution with the exploitation of child workers being disfigured by monolithik soulless steel grinding machines of grime.
Congratulations on the newest work, you guys have outdone yourselves again. If Portal's music could be personified, and that personificaiton had a penis, I would let that personification rape my face until blood was gushing from all openings...and then lick said blood up off the floor.
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