Fifteen years into their career, Portrait have developed a reputation for classic sounding, old school heavy metal. The Swedes have a string of long players, EP’s and split releases under their belts and latest cut, “At One With None” is their latest offering after 2017’s “Burn The World”. The new album finds the band in solid form and continuing to evolve and grow their sound.
“At One With None” lifts off quickly with fast paced drums fuelling a rocker of a riff. Operatic Bruce Dickinson meets Rob Halford styled vocals create the requisite drama as melodic twists punctuate the heads down drive. There’s definitely some ear worm stuff here and the Iron Maiden influenced gallop of “Curtains (The Dumb Supper) carries on the musical theme. The structure and production feel tight and focussed and it’s obvious the band take their craft seriously. There’s a definite polish on tracks like “Phantom Fathomer” and “He Who Stands” where melodic power metal and some light acoustic flourishes on the latter create a darker aura.
The second half of the album takes a slightly more aggressive sounding turn.
“Ashen” has a more spiky, edgy latter day Judas Priest feel. The frenetic opening thrash blast of “A Murder Of Crows” settles into an early ‘80’s Maiden riff fest overlaid with melodic guitar breaks. Closing track “The Gallows Crossing” builds on an air of drama before the expected blast off into power metal nirvana and is a fitting end to the album.
Portrait obviously work hard to hone their sounds and it shows on “At One With None”. Their fans will likely be very satisfied and for newcomers who just like good old fashioned heavy metal, a listen will be rewarded.
(7/10 Johnny Zed)
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