Love them or hate them for their style and often scribed emulation of a particular cult artist and group, Sweden’s Portrait know a thing or two about atmosphere, eerie atmosphere that is. With a fresh new recording line up in tow over the last couple of years, there is definitely a step forward in terms of Portraits songs. Whilst they still have really cool falsetto styled vocals, and rumbling low end heaviness like the Danish masters Mercyful Fate (such comparisons are inevitable I am afraid!), Portrait have become individual and dare I say it, more epic making this style more of their own.
I say epic as the opening tune ‘At the Ghost Gate’ has a rousing evil-Manowar tempo to it, preceded by some evil chords and riffs that make this sound all the more complete. It is certainly a track you can sink your teeth into and clench your fist in a true metal sense of the word! With this I am relieved, other bands whom I had similar accolade of released some weird albums recently, thankfully Portrait has their grass roots nailed, but have allowed themselves to grow as song writers. ‘In Time’ also shows some 80’s US Power metal influence, heavy metal in general, it flows, its rocks, it excites.
‘Our Roads Must Never Cross’ goes back to the Portrait sound that you may already be familiar with, on this track the effect of the guitar scales and notation attracts much ear response coupled with the strong falsetto vocal. The epic that I touched upon earlier rears itself during ‘We Were Not Alone’. For this to ring true, listen to the melody, the galloping nature of the track and of course the ripping guitar solo! ‘Black Easter’ falls into classic metal mode, fist pumped aggression with siren calls and wails emanating from vocalist Par Lengstedt (also of the band Overdrive [Swe] as Per Karlsson). The dual guitar work adds body and really grips the listener’s lifeblood. The melodies are key, they are constantly derived from evil surroundings or rather beginnings, they are all things to all men in reality, such as the catchiness of the release overall and the quality of the mood and tempo changes that are seamless making this underground sound become more accepting, but thankfully nowhere near commercial in any sense of the word.
The band have actually stated previously that ‘Crossroads’ is a sevenfold blessing and curse upon a dying music scene, an album imbued with something untouchable and yet undeniable (reference: http://tinyurl.com/k2h48xf ) which hits the nail on the head. It is individual, evil and full of character.
(9/10 Paul Maddison)
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