Review by Shadowdoom9 (Andi) for Ne Obliviscaris - Portal of I (2012)

Still going through The Infinite clan challenge, I've just reached Ne Obliviscaris, one of the most epic extreme progressive bands in my playlist, possibly in the world! This band has everything including "(male) Beauty and the Beast" vocals, brilliant guitars, creative drums, groovy melodic bass, and top-notch violin. It's hard to say exactly what style they play, but I say it's a mix of mixes; neo-classical death metal, jazz-fused black metal, avant-garde thrash metal, and melodic flamenco metal.

And wow! Just WOW!! What an album this is! First part of Ne Obliviscaris' discography, and they absolutely nailed it! This album, along with the band's other material, clearly establishes that Ne Obliviscaris is one of my favorite progressive metal bands of all time.

"Tapestry of the Starless Abstract" starts the album in a vicious bang, 40 seconds of blasting black metal. Then things start calming down a little with some violin plucking. After those first 4 minutes of progressive/black metal greatness, there's a quick violin solo (if another progressive metal band did a cover of this song, that would probably be keyboards instead), and a long almost 3-minute acoustic section in the middle with more violin. Then the systematic chaos continues for the last 5 minutes. "Xenoflux" has a perfect blend of loud and emotional, especially in its climax that comes to a sudden stop. "Of the Leper Butterflies" is a shorter song (6 minutes) that has a good acoustic intro before heading into dynamic chaos.

The title of this track, "Forget Not" is the English translation for Ne Obliviscaris. The first half is a long quiet atmospheric passage that tries to build up to heaviness but ends up falling back down. Then in a second attempt, it gets up much higher and closer to metal, and by the midway point, it made it! The violin stops and let the instrumentation and vocals do their work for the rest of this song. Another clever song title, "And Plague Flowers the Kaleidoscope" shows what the music is about. beautifully sinister words over fantastic music that make time fly for like the third 12-minute epic this album has.

"As Icicles Fall" once again has a great balance of epic and extreme, plus a violin solo switching into a Dream Theater-like guitar solo. "Of Petrichor Weaves Black Noise" is another awesome song that continues that balance. When the song reaches the last 3 minutes, the heaviness is over. There's nothing left but ambient ambiance and an operatic voice that rises to a layered choir alongside a bit more violin. Then pink noise static fades in before stopping abruptly... TOO abruptly, but I will let it slide.

This is definitely one of my favorite progressive metal albums ever with the best and most consistent songwriting. This album flows like a captivating emotional roller-coaster. The production is appropriately clean. I'm saying, completely certainly, that this is a masterpiece you just gotta enjoy. Do not forget this album!

Favorites: All, but my #1 favorite is "Forget Not".