ITP V.021 REVIEW: PORTAL: "HAGBULBIA"

BAND: PORTAL (AUSTRALIA)

GENRE: BLACKENED, DEATH METAL

LABEL:PROFOUND LORE RECORDS

 RELEASE DATE: 5/28/2021

TITLE:"HAGBULBIA"

   PREVIOUS RELEASES (CATALOG): 

"AVOW", 5/28/2021 via PROFOUND LORE RECORDS. 

"ION", 1/26/2018 via PROFOUND LORE RECORDS.

PORTAL/BLOOD OF KINGU (SPLIT), 10/29/2014 via HELLS HEADBANGERS RECORDS.

 "VEXOVOID",  2/19/2013 via PROFOUND LORE RECORDS. \

"SWARTH" 10/20/2009 via PROFOUND LORE RECORDS

"OUTRE" 9/11/2007 via PROFOUND LORE RECORDS

"LURKER AT THE THRESHOLD" (DEMO-2006), 

"THE SWEYY" (EP) 7/1/-2004 via BLACK TALON MEDIA

"OUR DREADFUL SPHERE"/ "THE SWAYY-"(SPLIT) -2004-ANCIENT DARKNESS PRODUCTIONS

"SEEPIA" 11/12/2003 via BLACK TALON MEDIA/PROFOUND LORE),

" THE END MILLS" (EP) 2002-BLACK TALON MEDIA/DISSIDENT RECORDS), 

 DEMO (1998)

 

 

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PORTAL: "HAGBULBIA"  TRACK LISTING: 

1. "STOW"

2. "OF STRAW & CLOTH"

3. "GRAIL" 

4. "WEPTUNE" 

5. "HEXODEUS"

 

BEST RELEASE(S)   "OUTRE" (2007), "SEEPIA" (2003), "SWARTH" (2009),  "VEXOVOID" (2013)

 

 

 

 

  ITP V.09 REVIEW: PORTAL: SWARTH: 

http://spak-individualthoughtpatterns.blogspot.com/2009/10/itp-review-portal-swarth.html

 

   ITP RATING: *** 1/2
PRODUCTION: *** 1/2
SONGWRITING: ***
PERFORMANCE *** 1/2

 
PORTAL are an avant garde, dark/ambient, blackened, death metal band from Brisbane, Australia. PORTAL invoke another world of apocalyptic dark/ambient atmospheres akin to walking through dark rooms, while intoxicated and reading HP LOVECRAFT novels.

PORTAL's riffs are not defined, as the "riffs" are notes played in essence by sliding ones hands
down the fret board, a backdrop to an enigmatic, anonymous, dreaded entity lurking in your nightmares.
Australia's PORTAL continue to push the boundaries of "extreme", dividing those whom would expect something even close to structure, or melody as PORTAL are a vortex of the unconventional, a surreal soundscape of the primitive, a bleak, dissident buzz of horror. 

Fast forward to 2021, PORTAL has surprised fans with not just one, but TWO new releases,"AVOW" and  "HAGBULBIA",   as both releases are drastically different from one another. 

ITP V.021 has, for starters, PORTAL'S "HAGBULBIA", the noisy,  bastard step child and the most unconventional of all PORTAL'S releases. 

 PORTAL'S  "HAGBULBIA" kicks off with "STOW".."STOW"  kicks off with distorted, over lapped vocals and THEN: BUZZING, to a random slamming beat. "STOW" continues with the primitive horror as repetitive guitar riffs are added. "STOW", is akin to be locked in a room with multiple open bee hives and the bees swarm and buzz around you and someone is banging on the locked door. Of course, you can't open the door as you're being stung by thousands of bees. 

At 4:15 into "STOW", the "beat" speeds up, into a mid paced, totally random blast beat. Perhaps the sound of a heart beat, and the anxiety over the noise as the track disintegrates

PORTAL'S  ."OF STRAW & CLOTH", continues with the distorted noise and vocals, the darkest production ever, a soundtrack to a mental breakdown. "THE CURATOR'S" vocals are pretty loud in the mix, as the buzzing of distortion is audible.BTW, the buzzing sound is heavily distorted guitars, set an a light electronic beat, like a pulse to the psychosis of humanity. .  

PORTAL'S "GRAIL" enters with distorted vocals and more noisy, buzzing guitars. At 3:50 you can hear a whipping beat as it closes the track and ends the torture. 

PORTAL'S  "WEPTUNE", opens with dark ambient, noise, as distorted guitars dance in an out. At 1:13, a definitive death metal riff enters the consciousness as it soon disintegrates into noise and the sound of of banging beat. "THE CURATOR'S"spoken word vocals drift over the distorted noise, as the noise varies from time to time. Sometimes the noise sounds like an airplane, sometimes you can hear a banging beat. You can definitely hear heavily distorted guitars.  

. PORTAL'S  "HAGBULBIA" closes with "HEXODEUS". Soaked in reverb and distortion with light keyboards backed by an occasional drum beat, PORTAL explore dark ambient. At 2:29 into "HEXODEUS"., vocals seep in, like a megaphone to your subconscious. At 3:45 into "HEXODEUS".  a tribal drum solo can be heard within the ever present buzzing of distorted guitars.The instrumentation, low in the mix disintegrates into dark, ambient noise. 

At 8:40 into "HEXODEUS" the instrumentation can be heard low in the mix, blastbeats and distorted guitars as the track ends abruptly. 

You  WANTED it, you GOT IT. PORTAL unleashed a NOISE release as  "HAGBULBIA" is the bands most experimental and primitive release to date.

 PORTAL have experimented with dark, ambient, noise before, as the title track of "OUTRE" is evidence. 

What PORTAL did is strip the last two release ("ION" and "AVOW")  of it's noisy, dark ambient production and saved the noise for it's own release, there fore we have  "HAGBULBIA".  

Ironically enough, the dark, distorted noise production is what "ION" and "AVOW" are missing. 

In interviews, a member of PORTAL stated other bands were ripping off the bands unique style  of blackened death metal as the band stripped it last two releases of raw, primitive production. 

  PORTAL'S  "HAGBULBIA", feature no song structure  and waves of static, distorted guitars and spoken word vocals.. PORTAL'S  "HAGBULBIA"  is sure to be a soundtrack to  your nightmares or alienate metal fans that would like some structure with their distortion. 

However, PORTAL is one of the few bands that have the courage and demented brains to pull it off, and I'm OK with that. . . 

  .  .    . .    

.   ITP RATING: *** 1/2
PRODUCTION: *** 1/2
SONGWRITING: ***
PERFORMANCE *** 1/2 

  .

 PORTAL  "HAGBULBIA"

https://spak-individualthoughtpatterns.blogspot.com/2021/05/portal-post-new-release-hagbulbia.html

 

 

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

 

 

Thanks-Stay Metal, Stay Brutal-\m/ -l- n