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The brand new Portal album still speaks to all the lovers of the traditional doom metal genre. That's surely not a surprise to anyone who has ever heard songs of them. Anyway the newest output comes with some small changes every and there that made me listen closer. At the end of the day I was filled with enthusiasm for the new material.
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| The new Portal album shows a wide variety of guitar sounds. |
This feeling came up through the riffs that are present on "Anno Mundi". Just take the heavyness of Wholly Roller. It's crushing riff rolls right over you. On the other hand it comes with soft vocals and lot's of melody inside all of the brutality. Others then that you've got very high sounding melodies like in "The Bronze Age" along with extended solo sections.
It's also a direct album that comes more to the point. You don't need to think too much around the corner once "Paschal Lamb" is running on your device. It's a compact number but changes towards the end where it goes in a rougher and harder direction.
If you like to dive deep into guitar sounds then I recommend the title track "Anno Mundi" to your attention. Those layers are going up and down many times and they are much more present in the front of the sound that other tunes of the album. It should make all guitar players listen closer to find out how to play this.
"A Charmed Life" shows the more faster and grooving side. It calls out to headbang to it and is a pure dose of fun to listen to. It's so fine to hear that the guitars shake the riffs all the time that it's hard to stop listening.
Finally "Thunderclap" comes a lighter way with softer riffs and vocals. It's a unusual song for a band like Portal but put's a good balance in contrast to most of the heavier album content.
The vocals should be pointed out, too. They are going with more intensity. You can feel that they're sounding more direct and slightly heavier on this album. This put's a much welcomed change into the sound.
You can hear three songs of the record on thedoomportal.com for free streaming. The album is sold as high quality wave files at the shop tab of the website for six dollar each copy.
