No, not that Portal.

Here’s a pretty major lapse in my metal education: I somehow had no idea that there was a Cynic “off-shoot” project called Portal, which combines the talents of Paul Masvidal, Sean Reinert, guitarist Jason Gobel, bassist Chris Kringel, and vocalist Aruna Abrams. There’s even some demos already up on YouTube (like the one above), so really, seriously, total shame on me for not knowing about this. But, hey, I’m excited to learn about it now!

The group apparently demoed ten songs together seventeen years ago (!!!), and those songs will finally see the light of day in March, when Season of Mist releases The Portal Tapes. Here’s a statement regarding the release from Mr. Masvidal himself:

“I never thought this day would come. A couple demos we’d record after Focus, under the name ‘Portal,’ would develop a life of their own, and somehow become part of Cynic‘s larger discography. As an artist, it’s an amazingly unpredictable journey, to see these quiet labors of love, find their way, in their own time.”

The Portal Tapes come out March 27 in North America and March 23 in Europe, and the release will be limited to five-thousand CDs and just one-thousand vinyl copies. We’ll post pre-order info as soon as we get it so none of you miss out. If the aforementioned YouTube demos are any indication, this is definitely gonna be worth owning — which is not at all shocking.

-AR

[via The PRP]

What do Portal and Bloody Panda have in common? Well, on the most surface level, members of Portal wear executioners masks on stage, and members of Bloody Pan used to wear executioners masks on stage. On a somewhat deeper level, though, is the fact that they’re definitely both of the “love ‘em or hate ‘em variety.” I personally can’t stand Bloody Panda — the best description I ever heard of their work remains “It always sounds like the song is just about to begin” — but I know people who would gladly follow them around and sprinkle rose petals at their feet; similarly, I loves me some Portal, but I totally get why some people are like “Ugh! It’s just noise.”

And now the two groups have something else in common: Portal has remixed Bloody Panda’s “Saccades II” for the latter outfit’s upcoming remix collection, Summon: Invocation (which is apparently all remixes of a 2009 release, Summon, but I didn’t know that because, y’know, me no likee this band). You can stream that remix at Brooklyn Vegan.

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One of the great things about Portal — the intimidatingly intense death metal band from Australia, not the highly addictive video game – is their mystique. Moreso than perhaps any other band — including Ghost — they have done a terrific job of keeping their actual identities a secret, and they’re all the more alluring for it. (Trust me. What little we know about them as real dudes is already disappointing.)

Now Metal Injection reader Keith Carlson has done a comic strip for Orlandooom which hypothesizes as to the origins of Portal’s vocalist, known only as “The Curator.” And while I’m not a shrink, I did take a psych class in school once, and it is my professional opinion that this is a 100% plausible scenario. In fact, just treat it like you saw it on Fox News and accept it as the unquestionable truth.

-AR

My bros from the popular easycore/pop band Fight Fair

Spend a few minutes observing the crowd at a metal show, flipping through the pages of Decibel, or reading MetalSucks, and jot down the first words that come to your mind. If you’re like me, your list will contain many of the following phrases: “low self-esteem,” “poor social skills,” “inferiority complex,” “outcasts,” “doughy physique,” “repellent personality” and “virgin.” It’s not just that I’m an ignorant, elitist dick, I also have the support of the world’s leading scientists:

Social animals in a hierarchic community have a certain rank. Three of these ranks have attracted special attention in ethology and been given special names: alpha, beta and omega.

A beta animal is an animal that will act as a new alpha animal if the old alpha dies. In some species of birds, the males pair up in twos when courting, the beta male aiding the alpha male. The beta male does not generally get to mate with the female birds, but if the alpha dies, he takes over the alpha’s females, becoming the new alpha. Omega (usually rendered ω-male) is an antonym used to refer to the lowest caste of the hierarchical society. An omega is subordinated to all others in the community. The omega is commonly the last allowed to eat.

Lettuce be reality, brahs: listening to metal is beta as fuck. But it begs the question: is there a way to be alpha, yet still listen to metal??? In short, the answer is YES, as long as you play your cards right. Because I find it so rewarding to give back to the community, in this post I will give you all the tools you need — details after the break!!

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It was a long weekend, and seemingly eight thousand fucking bands all decided to put out music videos while we were away. Let’s check ‘em out and see if any of them are decent, shall we?

First up we have a video for “Larvae” by Portal. This band pushes so many envelopes they were all offered jobs at the post office, so I’m disappointed they couldn’t come up with a more innovative video. This clip is seriously boring as fuck, as I have no idea what’s going on. Which is how some people feel about Portal’s music, I guess. So, in that regard, this video is a success!

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Haste the Day are calling it a, uh, day. I was never a fan of the band, who I think were a slightly-above-average “verb the noun” metalcore group. (In fact, the last time I even mentioned them, it was when another “verb the noun” band, Destroy the Runner, broke up.) But I know this news will make someone sad. I don’t know who that someone is, and given the number of e-mails we’ve gotten about the split (one), I don’t think that that someone even reads our site, but he or she is out there somewhere.

From the “buh-bye” post on HTD’s official website:

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As was the case last Wednesday, a whole buncha bands have all released new videos at once, and for convenience’s sake, I’m just gonna lump them all together in one post. If you don’t like it, go get a bowling ball, hold it over your head, and release the ball. Thanks.

First up we have “Unbreakable,” the new Raul Gonzo-directed video from Sumeriancore masters Veil of Maya. I’m not as big of a fan of this band as Vince is, although I certainly respect the heck outta ‘em, especially after seeing their live set at Summer Slaughter earlier this month. But I have no fucking idea what’s going on in this video. These people are connected to the band via wires and stuff, and, uh, I guess the music is, like, making them type real fast, and mash stuff with their hands, and, um, fingerpaint?, and, uh… then they put all this stuff in the oven, and it grows into a brain. I mean, I’m a college educated New York Jew, so I know from over-thinking stuff, but I don’t even know where to begin with this one. If anyone has any theories, by all means, put ‘em in the comments section. Otherwise I’m just gonna go with, “Hey, cool song!”

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I’m at a loss for words to describe how heavy Pristina’s new track “Salt Water Cthulhu” is. As Kirk Windstein might say, it’s “heavier than pre-op Johnny Popper bashing the living you-know-what out of Carnie Wilson in a tub of lard”… except if I’m being honest, it’s really heavier than that.  Parts of “Salt Water Cthulhu” approach Portal levels of heaviness… ok ok, I said “approach,” not “reach.” It’s the first I’ve heard from this Connecticut band, and I like what I’m hearing, a lot.

Check out the new track from Pristina’s forthcoming album The Drought (ov Salt and Sorrow), due September 28 on Trendkill Recordings (pre-order here). If the rest of the album’s got more of the same I’ll be a happy camper.

-VN

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Welcome to “Question of the Week,” a (sometimes) weekly debate amongst the MetalSucks staff regarding a recent hot button issue.

Inspired this week by the rumor that Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler may be a new judge on American Idol, we decided to ask our writers:

IF YOU HAD TO PICK ONE METAL MUSICIAN TO BE A JUDGE ON AMERICAN IDOL, WHO WOULD IT BE AND WHY?

The MS staff’s answers after the jump.

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But he, like, totally had it coming. He was the singer for some band called Beneath the Sky.

I’m kidding. I don’t endorse violence against untalented people. Just front row games of Uno.

ANYWAY, here’s some other shit we happened this week:

• We’re streaming Watain’s Lawless Darkness and the Monolith/Voyager split.
• Intronaut’s Sacha Dunable talked about his new band and Sick of it All’s Lou Koller concluded his “Quintessential Guide to Hardcore.”
• We spoke to Nachtmystium’s Blake Judd and Heaven Shall Burn’s Maik Weichert.
• We checked out Thou’s Summit.
• We met the world’s youngest Nile fan.
• We wondered if Opeth ripped-off Immortal.
• We came up with awards that could be named after metal stars.
• Vince isn’t that into Kylesa, and has some advice for Portal, too.
• Anso thinks that No Prayer for the Dying is the worst Maiden album ever.
• As it turns out, Fred Phelps is still an idiot.

Next week we get to debut that video we were supposed to debut this week, and we have another stream, and some other stuff I’m probably forgetting. ‘Til then, enjoy your weekend!

-AR

Everyone’s been buzzing about Portal’s opening performance for Gorguts last week in Brooklyn. Axl waxed ecstatic the day after the show, and since then the cats at Metal Injection, Crustcake and Reign in Blonde have all weighed in (Cosmo Lee wasn’t there, but he basically wrote the book on American journalists covering Portal so he gets a pass).

Now it’s my turn.

Yes, Portal were good. Very good. Yes, Portal were scary. Yes, they were quite entertaining and a spectacle to watch. But they need some work.

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Footage from last night’s show courtesy unARTigNYC

Before Portal took the stage at the Knitting Factory in Brooklyn last night, some variation of the same phrase was on pretty much everyone’s lips: The singer had better be wearing a clock on his head. I heard at least one person threaten to riot if the performane was clock-less, and another drunken dude simply shout “THE CLOCK!” as we waited for the performance to begin. I mean, everyone has obviously seen the live videos, and as if Portal’s totally original, completely bizarre brand of metal didn’t distinguish them enough from the rest of the pack, well, the whole clock-mask thing certainly helped push them that extra mile.

Shame on us for making any comments that might have been interpreted as having a laugh at the band’s expense. Portal put us in our place.

For the singer – he goes by the moniker “The Curator” – was not wearing a clock on his head. Instead, he was basically dressed in an all-black Pope costume, while his bandmates – guitarists Horror ILLogiuM and Aphotic Mote, bassist Omenous Fugue, and drummer Ignis Fatuus – wore their traditional executioner’s masks and, in one case, a noose. (Oddly enough, Bloody Panda did not wear their executioner’s masks. I heard a rumor that Portal’s masks couldn’t get a work visa, so Blood Panda donated theirs instead. No idea if there’s any truth to that.*) But  this in no way way diminished the impact of the band’s performance, which was totally unique, unsettling, and challenging.

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So Vince and I checked out Gorguts, Portal, and Krallice (and, yes, some of Bloody freakin’ Panda) last night… needless to say, it was an all-around excellent experience. I’m gonna try and get a review of Portal’s performance up later today, because I think they specifically deserve some attention, so unique is their stage show. But I’d be remiss if I didn’t show Gorguts and Krallice some love, too, ’cause those bands kill.

The good news/bad news of the evening was that Gorguts mainman Luc Lemay announced from the stage that while he and the rest of the group’s current line-up (which includes Dysrhythmia’s Kevin Hufnagel on guitar, Krallice/Behold… the Arctopus’ Colin Marston on bass, and Origin’s John Longstreth on drums) are working on a new album (as expected), they won’t hit the studio until “late fall” or “Christmas,” which means this release obviously won’t see the light of day ’til 2011.

But they did perform a new song, which, for now, is simply called “Number Three;” and they’ve been performing it this entire tour, I guess, ’cause our buddies over at Metal Injection have some righteous footage of the band playing it in Boston earlier this week. Check it out:

Gorguts, Krallice, and Portal all play Philly tonight and Maryland Deathfest this weekend. You absolutely should not miss them.

-AR

Tonight Vince and I are hitting up one of those nifty pre-MDF shows, this one with Gorguts (YES!), Krallice (YES!!), Portal (YES!!!), and Bloody Panda (whatever). And as stoked as I am to see Gorguts and Krallice, for me, personally, the expected highlight is Portal. Listening to Swarth for the first time is still one of the biggest “What the fuck is this?” moments of my life. And the readers who have e-mailed us about the previous stops on this mini-tour have all raved. And, to my surprise and delight, tonight’s show is already sold out.

The trek hits Philly tomorrow, and then MDF, of course, is this weekend. Here’s some footage of Portal playing Outre‘s “Black Houses” last night night in Allston, MA.

-AR

Krallice blew my mind when I first saw them at the 2009 incarnation of Scion Rock Fest in Atlanta, and since then I’ve been fighting to re-live that very special performance. When they played Union Pool in Brooklyn a couple of months ago the venue was so packed that I was essentially just listening to them play from outside; not a good experience. And though I missed their recent April 18th performance with Ludicra at Club Europa in Brooklyn, I’ll have a chance to see them again with Gorguts and Portal when they come back to Brooklyn in May. If it’s even close to as epic as the April 18th video below, I can’t wait.

-VN

Krallice | NYC @ Europa | 18 Apr 2010 from (((unartig))) on Vimeo.

Not Krallice. I don’t want you to be confused, because I start this blog by talking about Krallice.

Krallice live is truly something to behold. After checking them out at the inaugural Scion Fest last year, Vince wrote the following about them:

Krallice’s intense psychedelic black metal had me captivated with every turn after twisted turn their music took. Most of the time there weren’t any vocals, which placed the emphasis squarely on the epic, monstrous, riveting compositions. All I could do was stand and watch as each moment was more grand than the last… Krallice are a band with zero pretention and no corpsepaint; just killer, awesome black metal. And fucking INTENSE… that’s the word I keep coming back to. The band played the shit out of their instruments with a passionate fervor you just don’t see in most bands.

If you haven’t seen these dudes live before, well, you should soon get a chance; not only are they spending the second half of April on the road with Ludicra, but now they’re committed to a (too-) brief tour with the reunited Gorguts, Australia’s incredible Portal, and Bloody Panda.

That’s quite a line-up! GORGUTS!!! And who knows when the hell Portal will make it back to the States. Apparently their live show is really something to behold. I don’t know about you guys, but I fully intend to go the show with a clock on my head.

Get dates on Krallice’s MySpace page.

-AR

I barely remember the lost weekend I once spent in Baltimore. Was I bored, or just doing what I do? I dunno. I dunno.

Looks like I might be going back, though: D.R.I. have been added to the already stellar line-up of the 2010 edition of Maryland Deathfest. This is just the latest in a long line of good reasons to attend, not least of which is that it is, at least as far as I’m aware, currently the only scheduled U.S. appearance of Australia’s Portal, whose new album Swarth is currently frightening metalheads across the world. Throw in Converge, Magrudergrind, Entombed, Obituary, Watain, Melechesh, Jucifer, Gridlink, Gorod, 16, and a plethora of other awesome bands, and I think I could have a weekend in Baltimore even more lost than my last.

Get Maryland Deathfest’s complete line-up-to-date after the jump.

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Australia, for those of us in the US, is pretty much literally on the other side of the world, and, like good Americans, we pick and choose what we want to know about it. The continent conjures up images of free range marsupials, shrimps and barbies with some throwing somewhere in there, Paul Hogan, and how, despite speaking English like us, “Fosters” is Australian for “beer” (and also terrible). If you’re a metal fan, AC/DC will come to mind, maybe blackened thrashers Destroyer 666, MAYBE moody basement black metal one-man project Striborg, and perhaps technical death upstarts Psycroptic (which would be inaccurate, as they’re from New Zealand). With an exception of AC/DC, though, they’re mostly bands that are proficient playing a Western/Northwestern hemisphere style, sometimes with slight tweaks to its DNA. A sound uniquely theirs, though, comes to mind when talking about “ambient death metal” titans Portal and their (relatively) straightforward side project Impetuous Ritual.

When it comes to death metal’s hallmarks – technical prowess, shocking gore-themed content, brutal riffs aplenty – they seem to be unraveling them and playing with the stuffing inside, reconstructing the genre into a truly unnerving and horrifying new beast altogether. Listening to Tomb of the Mutilated or Altars of Madness, then listening to Impetuous Ritual’s debut, Relentless Execution of Ceremonial Excrescence, and, especially, Portal’s new album, Swarth, leaves one thinking they couldn’t be any more foreign to what we know as death metal, just as their homeland couldn’t be any further south without being Antarctica. Suicide Silence and Oceano are a world away from this, and when modern death metal and deathcore are running the risk of becoming completely sterile and interchangeable, there couldn’t be a better circumstance.

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Shame on me for having never heard of Australia’s Portal before. I just got their new album, Swarth (which apparently means “land covered with grassy turf”… metal teaches me a new word again!), last week, and it’s blowing my mind. I don’t even know how to describe it; it’s death metal, I guess, but it’s really pushing the limits of what “music” as a concept is. It almost reminds me of Hate Eternal, but that’s not really fair to Portal or Erik Rutan. They are just a really, really unique monster.

And I do mean “monster.” Like I said, this is really pushing the boundaries between music and noise. It’s just fucking evil, man. I’ll try to write a review one of these days, but in the meantime, I implore you to check out Portal on MySpace and buy Swarth for yourself – it just came out this week on Profound Lore.

And, oh yeah, apparently they wear costumes. Here they are doing the song “Glumurphonel” from their 2003 debut, Seepia.

For the time being it seems that Portal live shows are restricted to their native land, but they have been added to the already amazing Maryland Deathfest 2010 line-up, which will also include Converge, Eyehategod, Melechesh, Obituary, and grind gods Gridlink.

-AR