Album Review: Portal - Anno Mundi (Doom, 2026)

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.

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.   

EP Review: Silver Nightmares - Roxy Passion (Progressive Rock, 2025)

The newest EP by Italian progressive band Silver Nightmares shines in many colors through my speakers. To tell it instantly it comes with very different songs.

Roxy Passion comes with a cover sleeve not to be expected by Silver Nightmares.

Having discovered the band with the EP "The Wandering Angel" they stayed in my mind as a typical progressive but powerful Rock band. You could easily hear that they had not found it's full expression yet and was on the search on how to sound in the end. You can hear that they are skilled at the instruments and have ideas anyway.

The latest output speaks of a different language. Four songs are present on "Roxy Passion" and to make it short they are all very different in how they sound like. The name-giving title-track is a fully rocking song the classic way. It's not too heavy and rough but a solid number. It's easily imagineable that it could be performed live at the scene that's been illustrated on the front cover sleeve at a show while people enjoy life all over the place.

But already track two "Cats on the run" is a very different thing. It's a compact yet very melodic instrumental with a solid basis. It comes in a finer sound package than the previous Rock number. It's filled with many fine notes that invite to dream and relax while listening to it. This also goes for song number three "The Blue Light". 

Once again this is a song written with a finelined stencil. A dreamlike song sung in a emotional tone with many heart-touching moments. Surely something for the silent moments of life when you look out the window wondering what happened in recent days.

The instrumental version of "The Blue Light" is very different. It's not just the same song without vocals but a overworked version pointing out the many melodies and fine keyboard notes flying through the whole song. 

There's also some percussion present which cannot be heard at all at the vocal version. It's a good feeling that comes to my mind. This particular one feels a bit more uplifiting and makes me curious on how the band may move further on in the future. 

You can follow Silver Nightmares on Facebook and listen to the EP on all streaming services. There's also a vinyl pressing available from Bandcamp.

CD Review: AlogiA - Semendria (Symphonic Power Metal, 2020)

Finally after some time a brand new AlogiA album see's the light of day. What happened in the four years since the last release?

The cover creates a positive feeling in me.

I think a lot of work and re-thinking has gone into the creation of "Semendria". First of all the sound underwent changes. This time around it's far more compact and dry. It's not that pumped and blown-up anymore. This makes the tunes lighter to enjoy. The new tunes are compact in duration. A eye was held on a limited tme frame so the tracks come to the point.   

New sound meets tradition

Most of the songs are sourced of traditional symphonic power metal sounds. This lays down a classic foundation to the sound. This impression continues with the vocals that add more high screams than ever before.  

But "Semendria" is far from being a "standard" or one of the many albums out there. This becomes evident on clearer moments that shine through. Just listen to the verses of "The Calling" - they slowly build from softer to faster/harder each verse-round.

The title-track is a good example for the evolution. While lyrically and in the basics a classic track it's the fine elements like the flute or the acoustic guitars that give it a special touch.

Refrains like the one on "Visantia" are outworked with a finetuned melody - leave your ears open and you'll recognize.
Finally piano passages make "From East to West" stand out of all of the tracks. A nice way to end the record in a softer style.
 
All in all I'd like to point out the newest output of AlogiA to your attention. It has more to offer than ever before. It has got a lot of variation in it that is a welcomed aspect. Listening becomes a joy. The shorter way to present the music prevents boring lengths and also gives the music a chance if you're cut short on time.   

Also guest performances of Tim "Ripper" Owens, Mark Boals and the fantastic organ of Fabio Leone make it a even bigger highlight than it already is.

CD and Vinyl available
Make sure to pick a phystical CD copy of the album directly of the online shop. Currently a limited vinyl edition of the record is up for pre-order through Elevate Records at a lower price (20 Euro, will be 24 Euro later. Both prices plus shipping and handling.

Album Review: Witnesses - Doom II (Progressive Doom, 2020)

Hardly any Doom Metal release touches me much these days. It's not that I dislike it. It's simply as if it feels like anything has been said and performed already.

Until one day this release of Witnesses reached me. It opened up my ears back again. How? Besides the traditional doom trademarks like the powerful guitars and the well known compact rhythm package that accompanies the music it has more to offer.

The album tells the story of a cursed plague-bearing ship that finds landfall at one unfortunate village. 

It's a good batch of feelings that shines at the right moments. The music becomes more sensible. Finetuned melodies find their way into the sound giving it a broken touch. It feels like the own sensible emotional world of a human comes in to bring a own color to the picture.

All tracks are total longplayers. You can easily loose yourselves a bit in them.
Happily they are not too long to become boring or make you skip easily.

There's a need for concentration but at the same time it's also headbang-compatible material so there's still enough fun and heavyness inside. Much dedication and detail-work can be heard. Sometimes you can find your own feelings in works of musicians. That's what happened at least to me with this release.

My faves are the opener "On this Black Ocean" for the epic feelings and "Worse with time" for the heavier side.

It's a independent release. Please consider a purchase of this directly through
the band's Bandcamp page. It's available as a download for just one dollar or more.

Keep in touch with Witnesses through Facebook or the growing popular platform Instagram.