Review by Felix on July 8, 2024.

Good news, Portrait return with another dose of “Heavy Metal Darkness”. Both Burn The World and At One With None, the albums before The Host boasted with totally excellent title tracks. 'Burn The World' is one of Portrait’s most energetic attacks and everyone who has ever heard 'At One With None' will agree that this composition is pure sonic magic. But now The Host is the album that represents the Swedes in the year 2024 and yes, it lacks of an equally exciting title track. Honestly speaking, it has no title track at all. Perhaps this is a sign that all pieces were of the same relevance during the songwriting process. As you have probably already noticed, we are speaking about 13 tracks plus intro and a bombastic length of 74 minutes. I guess the concept required it, but is it really a good idea to release such a monster in terms of quantity? I doubt it, because I believe that almost all of us will find a few tracks that leave room for optimization. In my case, these songs are the kitschy titled 'One Last Kiss' and 'Die In My Heart'. The first one is a ballad whose pretty dramatic aura leaves me cold, the second one remains comparatively vapid.

Yet it is not fair to start this review with the less positive aspects of The Host, because it houses a lot of great music and all in all, it meets my relatively high expectations. Portrait deliver a vital, coherent and sometimes complex work that does not lack substance, ideas or (most important) metal. The band has not modified its style, we are still getting a bastard of Iron Maiden and Mercyful Fate, including a few excursions into the territories of thrash and speed metal. To avoid misunderstandings, I want to emphasize that it is not only the almost always high-pitched voice of Per Lengstedt which makes me think of the Danish legend. Most songs of Portrait still have this occult undertone that shimmers through their melodies and it goes without saying that the lyrics support the mystical mood. By the way, the concept story is not much more realistic than those the King once wrote. Religious symbols and the devil play their part again and, as a matter of course, a preacher must die. (Decide for yourself whether this a loss or not.) Per Lengstedt presents this story fervently and his great, skilful performance makes him definitely to a success factor for the Swedes. Nevertheless, depending probably on my changing mood, I find it a bit exhausting to hear him managing the highest tones over the distance of 74 minutes. Anyway, my general statement is that he is an awesome metal singer.

Although I appreciate that Portrait cover the entire range of vigorous, robust and tradition-conscious metal, I like their harsher songs most. The triple strike after 'One Last Kiss' shows Portrait in their best form. The verses of 'Treachery' reveal some Maiden aesthetics, but the impulsive chorus emphasises the individuality of the Swedish five-piece. The explosive beginning of 'Sound The Horn' pays tribute to the gods of speed and thrash metal. An alarming chorus crowns the song and Lengstedt’s falsetto also adds value to the track. The slightly bulky guitars are fascinating, the galloping parts after the second chorus tell all metal fans that they have arrived at home and the entire track spreads a somewhat apocalyptic aura. 'Dweller Of The Threshold' shines with one of the best riffs of the whole album and delivers speed metal in all its purity. The shortest of the regular tracks surprises with a nearly linear configuration and some guys will perhaps call it one-dimensional. Okay, compared with the other tracks of the Portrait cosmos, this is more or less true, but the main thing is that the song is absolutely great. It comes to the point directly, it is free from any kind of ballast and marks a great contrast to the more complicated tracks.

Two further songs stand out. 'Oneiric Vision' bundles the strengths of the band with some harsh sequences, some melodic yet dark parts, discreetly integrated keyboards, once again galloping guitars and an earworm chorus that one cannot do better. If I ever manage to memorise the strange demon names, I'll sing along. “Azza Uzza Azz…”, sorry, I cannot remember the rest. Too many “z” – but I remember very well the fifth highlight of The Host. If there would be only one track that mirrors the spiritual proximity bond between Portrait and Mercyful Fate, then it is 'From The Urn'. The solo guitar at the beginning is obviously played by Melissa herself and the vocal lines of Lengstedt are confusingly similar to the typical ones of the King. By the way, the song also reflects the tragic and desperate mood of this part of the concept very well. Unfortunately, the artwork fails to represent the story appropriately. While the cover of At One With None was like a mysterious omen for the larger than life title track, I cannot lose positive words about the picture that ornaments, no, disgraces The Host. It looks amateurish, incoherent and it is definitely no eye-catcher. That’s a pity, because the musical content would have deserved a much more suitable visualization.

The remaining tracks are good, especially 'The Blood Covenant' marks a worthy opener after the intro. The monumental closer is okay, but it cannot make a final, overwhelming statement and less than eleven and a half minute would have been enough as well. However, The Host is a very good album and perhaps the most qualitatively balanced work of the band so far. Its production is not very brutal, but definitely a good one. It avoids soulless sterility, but it does not neglect the clarity which is also characteristic for the musical approach of the band that leaves no doubt as to what it stands for: unadulterated, down-to-earth and yet sophisticated metal. And yes, speaking of brutality – Portrait have already recorded more aggressive records, a song like 'Bloodbath' from Crimen Laesae Majestatis Divinae is sharper than the material they represent on The Host. But believe me, you will not find any cheesy or sugary line here. It’s all true “Heavy Metal Darkness” – and that’s a lot. In a just future, Portrait will one day fill the void left by Maiden, Priest and others. If conditions remain unjust, at least a lot of insiders will enjoy their music. Not so bad either.

Rating: 8.3 out of 10

Review by Vladimir on June 3, 2024.

As someone who worships Mercyful Fate and King Diamond, it's no wonder that the bands like Attic and Portrait, which were heavily influenced by them, are going to be just as interesting for someone like me. After the release of Attic's incredible "Return Of The Witchfinder", I was patiently waiting for the next release in this series, and the turn finally came for Portrait's sixth album The Host, which is due to be released on June 21st, 2024 via Metal Blade Records. Without any further ado, it's time to dive in to the bloodbath and explore the dark realm of Portrait's The Host.

Starting off slow and steady with the ominous intro track 'Hoc Est Corpus Meum', and proceeding immediately into 'The Blood Covenant', the journey to the blood-soaked world of Portrait is instantly turning into a turbulent thrill-ride full of delights. It's essentially what you would expect to get, some evil and wicked heavy metal with dark atmosphere and eerie storytelling, where each song consists of solid rocking riffs, double-bass drumming, occasional synths and epic singing vocals with high-pitched falsettos, all of which come from their Mercyful Fate & King Diamond influenced background since the band's early beginnings. Overall, there is plenty of heaviness and catchiness to be heard all throughout the album, ranging from galloping riffs to slow melodies, but along the way you will notice that there is also a lot of progression, with this strong sense of dynamic curve that fluently transitions from one song to another. However, you would be unwise to think that this album is all about fast heavy metal with evil and dark subjects, because you also get one nice ballad 'One Last Kiss', a nice change of pace that sets up a different mood than the rest, but still keeps the flow of The Host very strong and consistent. From the very get-go, this album has been full of surprises from every angle, in terms of the riffing or the general song execution, but something that really stands out among the rest are the borderline black metal influences in the instrumentation, expressed through tremolo picking riffs with faster drumming and even blast beats. This may not come as much of a surprise to you if you are generally familiar with Portrait's discography, especially because it was done beforehand on some of their earlier works, but the biggest highlight about this is that every song on the album is filled with so much tension and suspense that contribute to the effective use of these sudden changes, that in the end come off as unexpected yet incredibly welcome. Whichever way you manage to experience the magic and the course of this album, you can't deny that it really takes you in so many places with every song that you just can't afford to feel unamused or unimpressed, even during the second half that gradually builds up to the grand climax of the album with 'The Passions Of Sophia'.

For a long time now, Portrait's songwriting has been incredibly dynamic and interesting with its variety of ideas that offer a bit of everything, with such strengths and qualities that keep you on edge full time. The Host is definitely no exception in that regard, because it is very rich and powerful with the overall songwriting execution, and even the stylistic consistency that is carried over from one song to another keeps things on a even level of enjoyable and engaging. Besides the simple but effective riffing, this album also wins a lot of points with its amazing vocal performance by Per Lengstedt, as well as the fun dynamic moving bass lines by Fredrik Petersson, giving an extra touch to the already brilliant musicianship that was established from the start. One thing that really surprised me about this album is the incredibly gruesome and gory album cover by Niklas Webjörn, which is still very fitting alongside the previous album covers that also had this canvas painting style to them, however this one is really exceptional because it's more explicit and unsettling to look at unlike the others, but nevertheless, I won't deny the fact that he did a great job at capturing the essence of The Host by expressing its macabre nature. As for the production, The Host was produced and mixed by the band's vocalist Per Lengstedt, and he did a fantastic job at providing a top-notch sound that perfectly carries out every bit of Portrait's performance, all the way down to every instrumentation and every superb vocal line.

In the end, The Host has shown itself as another fine result of Portrait's capability to craft something that is equally fantastic and imaginative. Their songwriting has always been very interesting and from album to to album it never let me down, it just became more interesting and was further expanded into different territories worth exploring. Overall, I think that The Host is a great album that checks all the marks for me.

Rating: 8.9 out of 10

Review by Lawrence Stillman on January 1, 2024.

Another trip down memory lane, another story time: I used to be this kid high on depression due to having autism and girls being able to see them from a mile away, so as a result I was bullied... a lot. And one day I heard that DSBM is an actual genre and decided to get some depressive therapy and suicide fuel, and Prison of Mirrors was the first result. The One Man Metal documentary also helped me get into DSBM.

They say that the most creative works come from the most demented minds, and I agree with this when it comes to Xasthur. Malefic is known to be a really misanthropic individual, and it shows, as no one personifies their lyrics about isolation and despair like him. His music is truly one of a kind, endless walls of guitars and mournful keyboards, topped off by drawn out, pained screams that sound nothing like Nattramn or Kim Carlsson.

I've always said that DSBM is not this mythical genre of evil where they can persuade someone into self-harm or suicide (despite being in the name), but instead it is a really versatile genre where it can serve as a therapy for sorrowful souls, or be the musical equivalent of white noise to meditate yourself to. It is because of this reason that at one point in high school I listened to nothing but DSBM, hoping the despair-inducing wall of noise could finally coax myself to end my life, but I did not. Subliminal Genocide shows this very well, in fact it might be one of the best DSBM records precisely due to this reason, while keeping the usual DSBM characteristics like long, drawn out and droning riffs, Xasthur also incorporated some diversity in this album, making every song feel different and familiar simultaneously.

The album begins with a dark ambient-y synth intro before transitioning into Prison of Mirrors, this song immediately blasts you with the signature wall of guitars that Xasthur is known for that sucks out every bit of happiness you feel, forcing you to listen to this album with the intended mood that Malefic had in mind. This kind of composition is honestly genius, making the listener listen to your album on your own terms. I don't know how many albums utilize this technique, but holy shit is it rare and very satisfying when you hear an album that does this.

The songwriting here is similar to most DSBM projects (or one man DSBM but I have never heard of another DSBM project where more than one man handles the instruments, besides Lifelover), a drawn out riff that spans the entire song regardless of song length, and simple, droning drums that you swear are done by a machine due to how simple they are. The entire thing mixes clean keyboard/ambient parts and harsh guitar walls, the duality of these parts makes both sound more distinct thanks to the contrasting, enhancing the atmosphere and emotion of misanthropy and despair in the music. Everything is covered in a layer of noise to make sure it blurs out the instruments just enough to create this dreadful and depressing soundscape and make the simple droning riffs hit harder than they are supposed to be.

The vocals and lyrics here are absolutely unhinged and demented, and as I mentioned at the top of the review, Malefic is pretty demented himself when it comes to world views and approach to music. His vocals have this raw and unfiltered misanthropy and hatred that is unmatched by any other DSBM project, with the closest equivalent being Dragged Into Sunlight, but both kinds of misanthropy are in very different spectrums so the context and meaning differs greatly between both projects. It is very oppressive, suffocating, and the negativity within can pierce the listening device and driven straight into the listener, and the production seems to support this, as the vocals are pushed to the very front, making sure the vocals will be as loud and powerful as the listening device allows it, while the instruments are mere backing pieces to this misanthropy exhibition. As for the lyrics, well, just read this line from Prison of Mirrors:

You are all... all that you hate,
Force fed memories, suffer humiliation,
Victim of darkness, of the inner hidden kind,
I am the eye within the gleam,
Shatter before a mirror that stares into (a shallow soul).

Damn, this really hit hard when I first read it, it perfectly encapsulates what self-loathing is like: hating every aspect of yourself, and being willing to do everything to make yourself to never resemble who you are now, even if it means taking your own life. Maybe Malefic had similar experiences that led him to create this uniquely dark and depressing piece of work to express his Hatred For Mankind (get it?).

I firmly believe that every genre exists for a reason, and no matter how small it is, there will be a crowd for that genre. DSBM is no different, it is a music for those with miserable souls, or are in miserable circumstances. And if you are among those people, this album might be just for you, and hope you will get a better life, be it in the future, or in the next life.

Damn I was such a wuss... At least until I snapped (read the Holy Grail review for context).

Highlight: 'The Prison of Mirrors', 'Trauma Will Always Linger', 'Malice Hidden In Surrealism'

Rating: 10 out of 10

Review by Frost on December 3, 2021.

Depressive Suicidal Black Metal (or DSBM for short) is certainly a genre that took me a long time to grasp. It's cold, isolationist, and introverted nature was a huge leap from what I had come to expect having a bit of experience with black metal as a genre and its representation within the metal world. While black metal itself is tapered to draw in some of the craziest people whose beliefs can be about as extreme as you can get, DSBM also tends to lure in a very specific group of people. It draws in withdrawn, sad, hurting, creative individuals. I say individuals because most bands within the genre are usually administrated by just one person. Occasionally there may be session musicians hired here and there to provide more instrumentation or help provide a conduit for expanding the atmosphere, though, 90% of the time, one person is handling every single aspect of the production of their band.

Silencer was my first exposure to the sub-genre, but because I was so new to black metal at the time, I immediately discarded it as unlistenable dreck. I never looked back for a long time. I remained content with my Mayhem, my Emperor, and my Darkthrone. Very safe havens for a newbie like me who was too afraid to branch out into this new world of depression and sadness brandished like a serrated knife to the flesh, whet with the desire to shed its own blood instead of mine. Some years later, I grew experienced enough to take the plunge into the gloomy world of DSBM. Funnily enough, my ongoing battle with anxiety and depression fuel my appreciation for these sad, morbid melodies.

Xasthur is one such band that I grew to appreciate. The now defunct one-man band formerly headed by Malefic (a.k.a. Scott Conner) lured me in with this album. At the time, which was maybe ten months ago, I couldn't resist the allure to actually own a physical version of something like this in my music collection. I snatched it up at one of the record stores I frequent and put it on my music player immediately. I already knew what to expect as bands like Make A Change... Kill Yourself, Fornicatus, Shining, Happy Days, Thy Light, Strid, along with the aforementioned Silencer just a name a few, had already firmly established in my memory their buzzing riffs, fuzzy production, and soul tormenting vocals as something to use as a benchmark going forward with this band.

Safe to say I was not disappointed. In fact, I was quite impressed. Subliminal Genocide is just as ugly, blighted, and woe begotten as the artwork that adorns the front of the CD case. The songs within, all eleven of them, are all equally tortured anthems to despondency, isolation, depression, and pure unadulterated contempt for everything that draws breath. There is no light at the end of this tunnel. A moment of respite, nor a brief glimmer of sunshine can't hope to be found as songs like 'The Prison Of Mirrors' and 'Arcane And Misanthropic Projections' work their mastery in convincing the listener the best way to achieve any solace from the pain is to, well, you know. Definitely the listener won't be feeling very good as soon as the album begins with a sinister piano melody that channels directly from the most bottomless abyss not of this world, nor of any other world beyond the reaches of Malefic's twisted genius of an imagination; and by the time the album closes, that void will have already consumed the listener whole in otherworldly sorrows.

As far as the instruments go, everything is covered in fuzz. Like with Leviathan, drums are handled with an electronic drum kit with certain parts being programmed. The guitar riffs on this album are incredibly minimal and repetitive. In fact, there's only a small handful of structures that make up the guitar compositions. They're repetitive to the point of being unlistenable but, honestly, that's the point. The riffs Xasthur creates are memorable and, in a sense, put you in a trance. To the ear not tempered for black metal already, these riffs will feel noisy, grating, unapproachable, and unlistenable. However, they're quite the opposite to someone deeply entrenched and well-versed in the genre. These riffs are insanely memorable and are composed with careful precision. The bass is obviously buried behind the foggy production and the guitars that are can be a little loud here and there. That's something that's common with metal as a whole, though. Here is no different. Malefic's vocals are, without a doubt, the loudest and most powerful force here. They are deliberately so pushed to the fore. Utterly suffocating. Dripping with malice. Seething with hatred. Unmasked disgust. They are raw, powerful, and punishing, seemingly sounding as if Malefic is screaming directly at the listener through the speakers (or through headphones).

The absolute best songs aren't hard to accidentally stumble across, in my opinion. 'The Prison Of Mirrors', 'Trauma Will Always Linger', the title track, and the closer, 'Malice Hidden In Surrealism', stand out as the gems here. Every song is good and worth your time. These four, however, are the ones I'd choose as the best songs to best represent this album and, probably, Xasthur itself. I know there's far more of this band to explore and just these four songs are probably not the best representations of what others might consider the absolute best this band has to offer. Besides, there are dozens of songs of Xasthur scattered out there among his discography. There might be ones better than these four or any of the ones I didn't mention on Subliminal Genocide. Who knows? I'm new to this band's work as a listener. I've got more digging to do.

While metal isn't for everyone, almost every genre of metal, even black metal, has something made for someone. DSBM is made for no one. It's a creation made by the broken, the isolated, the lonely, the wistful thinker, the contemplative soul, the tortured artist who makes art only they can enjoy, served cold on a plate formed of the shattered pieces of what used to be their own dreams and aspirations, to themselves. However, even the blackest, most oppressive art can be found beautiful, and even welcoming to kindred spirits. Xasthur accomplishes this task by making art that appeals to me. This album speaks to me in my darkest hours. When I'm feeling shitty, when the world is on my shoulders and I feel like giving up, when I feel like nobody hears me, when I feel like there's nothing that sounds or feels the way I feel, all I have to do is turn on this album and I feel better. Or worse. It all depends. It's just good to know somewhere out there in this dark, dead world, there's someone who can put exactly how I feel into song, regardless of if I'm the only other one who can stomach its sound.

You know what? I wouldn't have it any other way.

Favorite tracks:
'The Prison Of Mirrors'
'Trauma Will Always Linger'
'Subliminal Genocide'
'Malice Hidden In Surrealism'

Rating: 9 out of 10