Very few bands have a cult of personality surrounding them like that of Australian extreme metallers Portal. The Brisbane-based quintet have become famous for making some of the most bizarre, hostile, disgusting music imaginable. Now, Portal have announced a new album, and have released the absolutely insane first single to go with it.
Portal’s new album will be titled Avow, and is scheduled for a release date of May 28th via Profound Lore. The first single, “Eye,” brings everything fans love about the band (“love” being a subjective term here): churning riffs that sound like food poisoning, hocked vocals that make one think of something living under your sink, and a general sense that the listener is trespassing somewhere they shouldn’t, and that they should leave, now. Fans of all things esoteric and loathsome will no doubt find something to love here.
Listen to Portal’s “Eye” below and wonder what it would be like to try and eat someone else’s tooth:
Portal’s new album Avow drops May 28th via Profound Lore Records, and is available for preorder. Check out the full tracklisting and cover art below:
- Cataflaque
- Eye
- Offune
- Manor Of Speaking
- Bode
- Drain
The Pit will fully admit that Portal are the most glaring omission from our list of the ugliest-sounding bands of all time (perhaps they sound so ugly that not even we wanted to approach their music for this feature). However, no matter where they fell on that list, they would’ve inevitably fallen short to the #1 entry: New Orleans sludge legends Eyehategod.
“It’s impossible to tell what kind of bad Eyehategod are going to serve up to you today,” wrote The Pit’s Chris Krovatin. “Maybe it’s the dirt under the fingernails of a down-and-out addict who’s finally ready to do something unspeakable. Maybe it’s the curved flesh of a deformed Rottweiler wandering through a field by the side of the road. Maybe it’s the soul-numbing endlessness of life without parole. Whatever they’ve decided to bring to the table, the NOLA sludge crew will always do it with a sonic approach that sounds like black mold, white lines, and the weeping of the hungry. Awful — beautifully, inimitably awful.”
