Portrait

From today’s point of view, the debut of Portrait sounds a bit strange to me, because Per Lengstedt was not yet a member of the group. Instead, Phillip Svennefelt lent the dudes his voice and he is mainly responsible for the obvious Mercyful Fate influence that characterizes the self-titled effort. But “Portrait” is not the result of copycats at work, and, just to avoid misunderstanding, Svennefelt does not sound like the reincarnation of King Diamond. He just adapts his style to a certain degree without creating a slavish imitation. The bottom line is that his adventurous singing fits the music and its aura very well. Vocals and instruments create the occult touch right from the beginning and it is evident that Portrait knew the direction of their musical mission from the outset.

This mission contains a tendency to pretty complex tracks. The technical dates (eight songs, 46 minutes) indicate the quite excessive structures. Sometimes newcomers choke on their own ambitions, but here the songwriting guitarists Lindell and Lagergren have penned pieces that find a good balance between a smooth flow and the right number of twists and turns. The songs are neither repetitive nor over-complicated. Their best feature is their freshness. “Portrait” does not sound tired at any second. The often fast compositions, headed by the ruthless “A Thousand Nightmares” with its glorious solo and instrumental part, spread timeless vibes. Of course, the Swedes can be seen as representatives of traditional metal, but already on their debut, they were much more than this. They offered more than typical traditionalists in terms of energy, speed, courage and song patterns. “Portrait” is light years away from the “riff-screams-chorus” scenario that has its right of existence without being the last word on the subject. Nevertheless, one can identify a few Maiden-like guitar lines, inter alia in “Bow Unto the Devil”, where they lead into a short drum solo (or excessive drum break, however you want to name it).

Many details want to be discovered, for example the tiny “Killers” similarity after the first riff of “Beware the Demons”, many various parts want to be fully consumed. Especially the fast-paced opener and the rather epic closer hold a lot different sound colours. But even while listening to the longest songs, you will not stumble over half-baked parts. Everything is meticulously constructed and even though I am not in a state of euphoria during the entire 46 minutes, I enjoy the album in its entity. All songs reach a good level, a few of them are still candidates for best of compilation. This is a merit of the production, too. Maybe it lacks five or ten percent power, but the album sounds clear and professional. In view of this situation, there are not many reasons to ignore “Portrait”. It’s simply a debut which already showed the greatness of its spiritual fathers. And despite many line-up changes, this greatness is still alive. Everybody who knows the title track of "At One with None" will agree.

Those seeking a theme relevant soundtrack to vid games such as Resident Evil, The Witcher or Dead Rising should cozy up to Swedish metal act Portrait as it'll surely provide the score. From their vocalist who fits the bill as a ghoulish orchestra conductor with his eerie, banshee-like incantations to the macabre yet relentless talented musicians who plod along like undead minions, Portrait is a contender the first time out.

Essentially, Portrait rushes the listener with the same speed as zombies from 28 Days Later (as opposed to slow shufflers from the above mentioned media). The entire album conveys a fatalistic sense of urgency, from the blast beats found on "Hell" to shifting tempos and triplets of "A Thousand Nightmares", creating a dramatic, otherworldly effect. On “A Ghastly Silence”, the way the opening guitar riff repeats itself has me gripping the edge of my seat until it expands and goes off on a tangent (the riff, of course), before the singer returns back to harangue us with his spell-binding voice. This is something Portrait pulls off quite well without sounding trite: they'll expunge on a riff right until the point you think you’ve had enough, then wham! They'll add a few notes or change the final bar or two prior to expertly steering the track into something new and even more powerful, whilst an esoteric yet cool sounding guitar solo will thread its way in somehow ("en suisse", as they say in France) and then take over - the vocalist is never far behind here - until cursorily reverting back to the first/main riff with an extra slick solo in tow. Hence, the insanity of it all.

Both guitarists, Christian Lindell and Richard Lagergren, have this thing with trills, firing them off with reckless abandon on the main riff to "A Thousand Nightmares" as well as peppering most riffs and solos with them without sounding trite or redundant. They simply have a knack for making the trick work each time . As far as lead playing, guitar solos have a noble Old World feel but the first on the opening track is comical thanks to it’s bare bones approach, which is highly in contrast with the rest of the song. Complimenting their riff mongering are a couple elegant acoustic passages, such as intro to "The Village Of The Fallen Angel", as well as doomy closing number, "The Adversary". Drummer boy Anders Persson never lets up, slamming the crap out of his equipment while D. Slaughter on bass plucks away with such ardent fervor, they ultimately pave the way for an onslaught of truly catatonic, frenzied and elaborate metal madness.

Were I to haphazard a guess, I'd say the album's atmosphere is slightly similar to one conveyed on Iron Maiden’s first two LPs (i.e. the length of their songs and progressive song structures such as on “Phantom Of The Opera”). The big difference here is their high level of maturity and songwriting considering this is their first release. To wit, Iron Maiden’s first album sounds like a hypothetical “Portrait Garage Days (they do have a demo, titled "Welcome To My Funeral"), while “Killers” comes closer to the initial comparison. When I first heard the bass line and dissonant harmonics thirty seconds into “Beware The Demons", I was instantly reminded of the "Killers" classic.

Coming back to vocals, never before have I heard a singer with a such hellish pipes. Phillip Svennefelt may as well be singing in Swedish! There’s no denying the lyrics are nil impossible to decipher, despite the production’s professionalism. (Mercifully, on their following release, Svennefelt is replaced by the more coherent Per Karlsson). At the end of each track, I’m like “Whoa!”, barely able to catch my breath before total annihilation by the next. Furthermore, their extreme innovation combined with the singer’s enigmatic vocals makes me feel giddy and want to punch them at the same time.

When all is said and done, Portrait’s self-titled debut is a bit of an acquired taste, but any self-respecting metal fan should scope it out, alongside following album, "Crimen Laesae Majestasis Divinae", as well as recently released, albeit easier named "Crossroads". So many fantastic traditional metal bands hail from Sweden, and while Portrait isn't as well known as Enforcer or RAM, it's still one of my preferred acts these days, and am always stoked to meet people who've also caught ill wind of them.