Portal: Vexovoid (2013)

Portal remains perhaps the most difficult band to describe in all of metal.  Their music is so off-the-wall, so off-kilter that deciphering just what the hell is going on in the music is next to impossible.  And yet, their music is infectious, but not in a catchy way.  It is more of a horrific plague.  It is unsettling and disturbing, but it just works.  The band has released five albums now, and I have four of them.  They are quite simply, unlike anything else I have heard.

As I said, describing the music of Portal is next to impossible.  It is like describing a descent into madness.  It is pure auditory chaos.  There is no true structure to any of the songs.  Riffs come from nowhere.  The only constants are a deep, unsettling, primal feeling and a monolithic rumbling.  I am not even really sure I can compare any given Portal album to another.  There is nothing safe or truly musical going on.  The band play instruments in the most basic of terms and there is some resemblance to death metal, though it is far more experimental, almost to the point that it could be believed that the band improvises everything.  I am not certain they don't honestly. 

I am not sure reviewing anything by Portal really accomplishes anything.  I think the band is one that is best explored personally.  Some will love it and call it genius.  Others will call it pure trash and not at all musical.  They might both be right.  Portal is unlike any other band I have heard.  There are some groups, such as Ulcerate and Howls of Ebb, that seem to take some ideas from Portal, but even those are not as maddeningly chaotic as Portal.  I would love to see them live, just to see how the music translates in the live setting.  I will continue to pick up albums by the band, because I find them fascinating in an outsider art sort of way.