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.   

SCUD announces return with preview of new song

It's great to see that many bands show endurance throughout the many years of existence.

The brasilian band SCUD has already been around since 1990. They started the classic way with releasing a demo on cassette tape one year after the foundation. The following years see the band putting out 7 inch vinyl releases as well as a full album along with touring activities.

Sadly they often have to suffer of setbacks with people leaving the band not always at proper moments. By the time I'm writing this the band has taken a major step forwards.

SCUD have a preview of a new song online.

At the beginning of 2023 SCUD manage to set up their own home studio, SCUD MUSIC, Praia do Coqueiro, shore from Piauí, Brazil, a mini studio actually, but capable to start producing, recording, mixing and mastering next works. 

It enables the band to continue work on the next album called "Tremembés". The new release is currently being mixed at SCUD's home studio. After mixing, the songs go for mastering, completion and production for release. 

The band send us a full song as a preview of what is currently in the makings. The single is called "Caveman". It rocks out so much that it changed my mood for the better. It's already sounding great - a straight rocking number going directly for positive vibes. 

The fine thing is that it mixes the typical rock sound palette up with few elements adding distorted vocals for instance at the beginning. It remains in this structure for a second verse. This working method let's the power release afterwards at a even higher level and adds a extra push. The guitar sounds change often - it all never becomes one dimensional this way.  

It is all set on a high energy level pushing the drums to the max. I'm looking forward to hear how the fully produced song may sound like it the end.

Make sure to take a listen for yourselves or jump on over to Spotify to listen to the preview track and add the band on Facebook to keep in touch.