Outre'

Portal are an Australian band who blend death metal, black metal, dark ambient and experimental music. Their sound is built on distorted guitar riffs, down-tuned rhythms and vocals that range from "menacing, echoing" effects to death grunts. They name Morbid Angel, Beherit and Immolation as their main influences. Decibel described them this way: "If Morbid Angel and Gorguts had birthed a German Expressionist child, that unholy creature would be Portal." Adrien Begrand of PopMatters wrote, "death metal always pretends to be scary, but it's all rather harmless. That said, however, I make no mistake in saying that the death metal peddled by Australia's Portal is truly friggin' terrifying." The lead guitarist Horror Illogium has said the band means "to capture a cinematic horror scope". Asked about the claim that their writing lacks structure, he answered: "We are indeed making songs, although our structures are unusual. They are constructed with a great deal of artistic, obsessive scrutiny. An insane asylum is a structure; our songs can be viewed as structures housing insane elements." The running order here is the original's as printed.