PORTRAIT - Burn The World LP (Pale Violet/Red Vinyl)

Limited to 500 copies. Includes a poster.

Looking around at the retro metal scene of the last decade, it’s difficult to tell exactly what remains of the enthusiasm for all things occult and analogue that sprang up and, in many cases, disappeared just as quickly. Two parties seem to have weathered the natural selection process better than others, those being the bands who subscribed more to the retro rock side of things, digging pre-album Pentagram and Coven in the manner of Witchcraft, Graveyard, and Blood Ceremony, or the group that took Mercyful Fate’s twisted heavy metal template into heavier waters, of whom Wolf and Attic have drawn the most attention in recent times. Portrait belongs to the latter group, adding substantial ballast to the occult metal formula with 2011’s Crimen Laesae Majestatis Divinae, which featured material that could even be considered as extreme metal going by the barrage of percussion and some blackened riffs. Since then, however, the Swedes have been sliding back in the opposite direction, Crossroads proving in 2014 that the band also valued the traditional approach with its catchier ‘80s feel.