Portal - Vexovoid (2013)^{Release ID: 6170}

I don't recall ever having crossed paths with this Brisbane disso-death crew before - and I think I would remember if I had! In all honesty, Vexovoid inhabits a place so far outside my comfort zone that I need a telescope to see it. It consists of the kind of dissonant elements that provides me with a notion of what it must be like to teach a class of ADHD-affected toddlers. Flitting from musical idea to musical idea like a moth round a flame, it doesn't give me anything to attach an anchor to and so leaves me feeling adrift and detached from the disconcerting and infernal chaos they summon. The sound is huge for sure and it bludgeons and batters like any good death metal should, but it piles elements upon each other like a motorway crash and has a similar effect on me, making it terrible to behold, whilst also making it hard to ignore. Occasionally, such as during the first half of the track "Plasm", it reminds me of some of the more brutal war metal efforts, and this is when it appeals to me most, but its constantly shifting focus means I find it difficult to stay the course and I end up wishing I was listening to actual war metal instead.

All this being said, I can't help wondering that if I were to persevere with this whether it might reveal the appeal others evidently find in it. There are individual fragments that sound great with a huge tidal wave of sound that threatens to sweep away all before it, but I find these to be momentary and fleeting as the band soon turn yet another sharp corner and leave me wondering where they have gone. Look, I know that the problem is mine and that my low tolerance for both the dissonant and experimental is the deciding factor informing my opinion here, but that is a barrier that Vexovoid is never going to surmount, I don't think. Even though it may be one of the best examples of its ilk available, I would venture that this is never going to find much favour with me. On the plus-side, it is very short.

In choosing Portal’s Vexovoid for the feature release this month I have challenged myself to try and put into words exactly what it is that appeals to me about this frenzied, chaotic and utterly aphotic style of music. In terms of what it wants to be seen as, Portal is androgynus to me. It is of indeterminate form. An almost alien being that inhabits a permanently chthonic state, and whether it is necessarily esoteric or arcane in who it connects with or not, ultimately, I take comfort in the maelstrom that is the sound of Portal, with Vexovoid being probably the pinnacle of the Australians own brand of bedlam.

It is not that I like chaos. I have a very chaotic and stressful job (though the people that I work for term it as a ‘dynamic environment’, of course). Whilst precisely zero of my nerves are stretched into that taught and fractious state by Vexovoid, there is a sense, from a love extreme music perspective certainly, that when the record is playing, I am somewhat at home in that churning mass. I have said elsewhere on MA about how my love of metal has created the notion for me that the music is mine, purely for me. Therefore, when I find an album like Vexovoid, I cannot help but form a smug grin on my face. The sheer sense of identity it gives me is so pleasing that I am happy to watch form, structure and even the general architecture of music in its basest form, burn around me.

The promethean values of Portal, therefore, hold great appeal for me. Tracks play like a series of paroxysms, scathing and monstrous outbursts of wonderfully transgressive noise. The sound carries an infection. Not in a catchy or hooky nature of course. A genuinely verminous level of virulent horror, and I fucking love that bravery. This is not just admiration for artists going out and committing their true form to record though, there is appeal also in them being able to do it memorably. I can hear parts of Vexovoid in my head when I concentrate. It doesn’t drift into my head like other music does randomly most mornings, I must seek it out. Seemingly it lies there dormant, like a slumbering beast, exhausted from its years of torment and so only able to give me short bursts of its fury unless left to recharge itself for prolonged periods.

I can easily see how overwhelming this album can appear, indeed that sense of foreboding is very much part of the appeal for me. Yet even I can find fault with Vexovoid. The familiarity of the tracks, in terms of sticking to a very consistent sound does start to feel overbearing as the album crawls on. Attempts to control and vary the pace are clearly made, and for the most part, they do deliver. Yet for all my love of the album it is guilty of a lack of variety. The subtle changes to vocal style and tempo are noted, yet they do little to steer the rating to a perfect mark. Then again, as I have already stated, I do not come to Vexovoid for anything more than its glorious chaos. No frills are needed really, I guess.