Both of these bands are/were acts that have unfortunately been criminally overlooked in the world of metal. Australia’s Portal plays an occult breed of harsh, dark death metal that is insanely technical to the point of utter insanity, invoking a strange avant garde version of the "wall o’ sound" effect. It takes several sittings just to figure out how ridiculously technical the band really is. Canada’s Rites of Thy Degringolade played an equally impressive, tightly woven brand of apocalyptic black metal. Though the band is no more, their material is a must for any black metal fan of the various North American scenes.

Portal ran under my radar for quite a few years. It wasn’t until I saw their debut full length Seepia on Vendlus Records’ shop that I considered giving them a listen. I knew Joe over at Vendlus and, though his tastes were considerably more avant garde and noise-driven than my own, could trust him on recommendations for metal. He’s the jackass responsible for my love of Pestilence and Audiopain. What I got after ordering Seepia was the most mind-baffling death metal experience I’ve ever had since I listened to Gorguts‘ Obscura. Holy fuck, what is going on and why do I like it so much? This split cd contains just the same "what the fuck" death metal excellent to be expected from Portal. Their half, consisting of 2 songs and an atmospheric piece, comes directly off their The Sweyy EP. And damn is it ever good. The guitars run around frantically like banshees laced with the harshest acid known to man, and the vocals sound like the Maw of the Abyss opening up to suck in the souls of all the world’s non-believers. The drums hammer away like a hurricane and the rough production only furthers the whole’s cacophony of sound. This is fucking excellent death metal.

Rites of Thy Degringolade also avoided my grasp somehow as well. A couple of years ago, Teufel sent me a big ole box of promos. After sifting through the promos, I noticed a digipack album called Totality by Rites of Thy Degringolade. Thinking they were just some mediocre black metal act, I put the album off to the side. Big mistake on my part. A year later a black metal friend of mine kept saying how awesome they were. After seeing a picture of their Grim Reaper-esque logo and remembering that artwork, I went and dug out my "Totality" cd. Whoa damn. Rites of Thy Degringolade play a tight form of black metal that’s technical and grim enough to wrestle with the best acts out there. The material on this split is very well written, showing very little of the tediousness that you see spilled through a lot of "trve" black metal outfits. Interestingly, each track uses a different vocalist, but all three vocalists hold up the performance on all three tracks. What’s so great about this material is that it can appeal to nearly all black metal fans and even the most jaded fans in thrash and death metal. You’ll come for the Portal, but you’ll still stay for the Rites of Thy Degringolade side. Excellent material.

This split between Portal and Rites of Thy Degringolade is a must own for all fans of extreme metal. For the love of all that is holy, grab a copy if you can. It will introduce to the beast that is Portal and serves as a fine reminder of how excellent Rites of Thy Degringolade was.

Written By: Necro-tron