PORTAL: Swarth

Produced by Aphotic
Released: 2009

If the true essence of death metal is dissonance, inaccessibility and disharmonious noise terror beyond most limits of taste, then Brisbane's Portal is its purest embodiment. What this band does is not so much create music -- indeed, music is hardly a word to describe what they do -- but evoke an atmosphere of harrowing discomfort. If horror and disgust can be translated into a sonic form, then Portal is that medium.

With their third album, this group has at last refined their sound, if a noise that suggests an invasion by nightmares from another dimension can actually be refined, and the result is the best definition yet of Portal's objective, which appears to be to make the most unlistenable racket imaginable. On Seepia they sounded like a bunch of unhinged lunatics smashing up a music store; Outre was so distorted that it was as if it had been backmasked. If it's actually possible, Swarth stands somewhere in between: less murky and slightly less nihilistic. But make no mistake. This is still the cacophonous, unpredictable, deranged clamour that only Portal generates. The production distorts everything massively, especially the guitars to the expense of all else. The bass is minimalist to the point of non-existence except for an occasional throb in "Writhen" for example, where the circular miasma of guitar noise pauses for a second or two to actually generate something approximating riffs. Unaccentuated blastbeats thud along endlessly, but sound like they're being played on a kit comprising only an untuned snare and hi-hats that have been clamped shut. The Curator's vocals are surprisingly effective however, evil-sounding grunts and whispers that manage to rise above the furious din. The actual lyrics are indecipherable, but as they are most likely incomprehensible non-sequiturs cribbed from a drug-addled re-write of Lovecraft, this doesn't really matter.

Swarth is the most complete vision of Portal's goal so far. It's horrible to the point of abhorrence, awful beyond comprehension. It is essentially noise for the sake of it, a vile, wretched, meaningless noise that batters and batters for 40 minutes straight for no reason at all.

1. Swarth
2. Larvae
3. Illoomorpheme
4. The Sweyy
5. Writhen
6. Omenknow
7. Werships
8. Marityme

Rating: 20%