Band:	Portal
Album:	ION
Style:	Experimental death metal
Release date:	January 26, 2018
A review by:	Auntie Sahar

01. Nth
02. ESP ION AGE
03. Husk
04. Phreqs
05. Crone
06. Revault Of Volts
07. Spores
08. Phathom
09. Olde Guarde

Albums that sit somewhere in the 6 - 7 range for rating are often some of the most disappointing, because, while not terrible, they often end up leaving such a strong impression of "this could have been better." With the fearsome, commendable reputation they've acquired over the years, the nightmarish Portal would probably be one of the last bands one would ever expect to drop such an album. But, for better or worse, we find ourselves in such a situation with ION.

For die hard Portal fans who are well accustomed to the dense, suffocating death metal of the band's discography, upon listening to the first few seconds of ION's "ESP ION AGE," something will probably feel a little off. Not "off" as in "bad," but simply? different. Unusual. On this track the overall production is noticeably more audible and less smothering than before, and the remainder of the album more or less follows suit. The suffocating sound that Portal have made their trademark, as though as though a black, sentient curtain is slowly eating you alive, has been diminished significantly. In turn the music sounds a lot more "ringy" and treble heavy, which unfortunately means less emphasis on bass, thereby making ION considerably less colossal and imposing than what else Portal have generated.

Whether this increased sense of production audibility is a good thing or a bad thing, however, is a tough coin to call. While it somewhat detracts from the overall weight of the music on the one hand, on the other hand it serves to make the different aspects of Portal's composition much clearer and not as difficult to discern. With ION it's much easier to focus on one specific dimension of the music over another, because things are no longer as buried and melted all together as they previously were, and this also creates a much greater appreciation for the subtle intricacies of Portal's music as well. For music listeners who enjoy being able to take in the various ingredients of a band's sound for all they're worth, this new approach on ION may come as highly satisfying, but longtime fans who enjoyed the more blurred, "sonic maelstrom" approach of albums like Outre' and Vexovoid may have more of an issue with it.

Almost five years after their last album, ION isn't quite the triumphant return to the throne for Portal that many were probably expecting it to be. But this certainly doesn't mean that it's a poor release. Rather, it simply represents a significant shift in Portal's compositional approach, a shift that some will enjoy, some will detest, and that others like myself will be somewhat ambivalent towards. Above all though, ION is certainly more good than bad, and the fact that Portal shook things up with a new approach on this album is testament to their commitment to evolve their sound, which is always something to admire. And at the end of the day, an album from these masters that comes as slightly disappointing is still probably better than what a good 80% of death metal bands could conjure on their best days.


Take the square root of -1. The portal beckons once more.