PORTRAIT - At One With None CD

This album, like the others, is definitely an experience that deserves attentiveness from start to end rather than mere track plays here and there. A twilight falls over the darkened tale until triumphant sounds prevail once more. This method of musical storytelling and conceptualization is much less common in the modern era, yet clearly can have a magnificent outcome, such as on this very record. Here we see complexity and maturity delivered in an inferno of blistering and exciting heavy metal that is as energetic as it is unfathomably fascinating to dig in to. From the eccentricities of the verses to the often anthemic choruses with so many tributaries of instrumental experimentation to get lost in, then returning us to the central of the opus like an awakening from a lucid dream, this album is not only diverse but also rather interactive. While providing something impactful and gloriously enjoyable, this is definitely not the easiest of the traditional heavy metal bands approaches, but that only adds to the exciting and obscure feeling of Portrait, where an inquisitive mind is rewarded with bold and beautiful music from the depths of the underworld.