Explaining Portal 

You can't explain Portal, man. You have to EXPERIENCE them.

Wow Wyattxhim, thanks for explaining the hit game Portal from 2007

Someone once described the sound of Portal as "three different Incantation albums playing at the same time". I personally like this description. And I must confess that I absolutely love Portal. Wonderful band. Sincere art.

My wife ran a haunted house for a few years and wanted me to make a mix for it. I gave her the album “Swarth” and Blut Aus Nord’s “mOrt”, the people working there were scared. Another great vid Wyatt.

A new Wyattxhim video is like Christmas!

Portal is one of the few bands that actually sound terrifying without trying too hard. I think more about severe mental illnesses and how the disturbed mind perceives the world rather than just mythos.

To everyone who has ever seen Portal live. I'm jealous.

Portal is just an incredible band. They’ve got a terrifying yet intriguing blend of dissonant death metal and black metal. Every album is unique yet interesting.

This channel is amazing, I'm a music addict since I was able to understand something, and in less than 24h, I discover so many great bands in a genre I always want to dig more. Thanks a lot.

I think you should cover the Japanese doom/sludge band Corrupted. they're also a reclusive mysterious band with a no social media/no interviews/no official photos/no major labels policy. most of their discography is on splits with other bands and i'd love to hear somebody cover them

Hellyeah, Portal is really one of a kind, pure terrifying excellence. I also love Impetuous Ritual that some of the Portal members are in, the Caveman flipside of the coin, punishing stuff.

I love this band so much. It invokes a dense atmosphere of sheer horror. It's the dissonance and the inharmonious composition of their sound that gets me intrigued. Writing in a style so contrary to the usual norms is what makes the band so distinct from most of my listens.

IIRC Horror Illogium also said in a interview once that Portal’s music is basically the result of him trying to recreate his own sleep paralysis experiences and their abrasive feeling in music form using the mix of Morbid Angel + Immolation+ Beherit influences/inspiration

First Portal photo you flashed is one I took at Thee Parkside in San Francisco back in May of 2010. Legendary show in complete darkness…only the flash of the maybe 3 cameras there lit anything. Glad to see it lives on. Nice breakdown of such a rad band!

First listened to Portal as a 16yr searching for avant garde metal... Remember having terrible nightmares listening to this going to sleep... Now it's one of my favorite death/black metal bands... Unique lovecraftian horror metal... Definetly some of the inovators of the genre.

When I saw the title of this, I was like “alright dude, go ahead, explain portal”. But this was the best description one could give, really. Nicely done. Especially the part about it seeming to appeal more to black metal fans, I’ve had a similar experience. Black metal fans and fans of noise/dissonant metal. Although both myself and the person who introduced me to Portal are predominantly death metal fans. Many people seem unaware of Portal’s existence too.

Swarth is my favorite album as well, that first song hits so hard with that whirring riff that's just like a wind tunnel of dark blades. I very much enjoy their unique expression of horror and darkness. The wizard hat and burlap sack executioner looking outfits are so tight

I'm more of a death metal guy but I've been slowly getting into black metal (with a lot of help from you, thanks for introducing me to Dictius Te Necare and Inhumane Minimalism) so Portal seems like an interesting concoction for me right now. Definitely gonna give Ion a listen. I really like Obscura by Gorguts for its dissonance. That entire album sounds like the mind of a man left alone in the basement of a mental asylum for thirty years. It's haunting, tragic and beautiful. One of the few albums that's left me a little unsettled.

anaal nakraath shirt and intestine baalism vinyl in the background. thumbs up for that alone. ION was my first portal record. i had heard and enjoyed gorguts’s obscura, so it didn’t particularly shock me, but the blistering energy and all consuming malevolent atmosphere had me far more interested than i thought i would be.

Favorite band of all-time

I am glad that you considered them as Death, rather than Black. I have followed them from day 1. And if it helps we are multiple singed Death Metal.

Absolutely in love with this band such a shame that it’s so hard to find CDs

The curator said himself "we are trying to create our own mythos, it gives us more room to move". I always saw them as more Florida death metal influenced Morbid angel, Nocturnus etc.

Cosmic Death Metal; Lovecraftian

Been waiting for this one, thanks for the great content. Been watching for a while an you've introduced me into so many badass great bands, an as I spend my free time listening too new music you've been a big help since I listen too just about everything. So genuinely thank you

The fact curtain video is based on their mate dying, is based

Love these "explaining" videos. Have gotten me into so many bands I never heard of before, thank you man!

I needed this video. Hahaha wooow what a band My first introduction to this band was “Eye” .. was insane

Portal is notable in my mind as they're one of the only metal bands that can unsettle me, the only two topping them being Endless Dismal Moan at the top, followed by Febris Manea. Portal puts out phenomenal work, and I can't wait for their next release. If it's anything like Ion, Avow, or Hagbulbia, it *will* terrify

Ion was my first introduction to Portal myself, which is how i came to fall in love with the band and their sound. There's something about the way that Ion is written that makes it stand out from a lot of other Death Metal bands that try to achieve that same atmosphere. I'd argue that Ion could definitely be up there with albums such as Morbid Angel's Gateways to Annihilation and Hate Eternal's I Monarch.

Even though it's not a thing I always considered Portal atmospheric death metal. Bands like them, Vaffasor, Impetuous Ritual, Antedilluvian etc.

Aside the fact that I failed to get into their music, I still must admit that their take on black/death metal is mesmerising

Those performance clips were badass. Would love to see them live. Always appreciate your breakdowns very informative thank you.

The last 2 songs which are about the lovecraft mythos are Vessel of Balon and Transcending a Mere Multiverse Transcending a Mere Multiverse is about Azathoth.

One of their videos showed up in my recommendations, I watched out of curiosity. When I watch now it’s not because I enjoy the music it’s because I’m trying to figure out what I’m seeing lol

3:54 "I try not to overhype stuff in my videos, but this EP right here is easily some of the the most raw and dissonant death metal I've ever heard" You thoroughly succeeded at not overhyping anything with that statement :P

It makes me happy this band is from my home city. There is not a big scene for extreme metal stuff so them even being a thing is great

Seen them compared to "An octopus stuck inside a washing machine" "A swarm of angry insects" both of which are accurate descriptions... I'm 69, not really a metal fan, but Portal are in my top 3 fave bands of all time, the others being Beefheart and Ramones... I would give Outre, Swarth, Vexovoid and Avow 10/10, Seepia and Ion 9/10, and Hagbulbia 5/10.

Love this video format. I'd love to watch you explain Death Void Terror, the most obscure band of the Helvetic Underground Committee imo.

kinda new to underground metal and I came across theneedledrops reviews first of portal. ill admit they're well edited although it lacks a certain sense of passion. this video clearly having a lower budget just oozes with waaaaaaayyyy more passion than anything needledrops did. earned my sub !

Noice. I don't even bother with the usual genre categorizing when trying to explain Portal because they truly are a sound unto their own. As trite as the description "Lovecraftian" has become, I've found they're really the only band to live up to that descriptor. Their music sounds as if some malevolent non-human entities picked up 8 string guitars and attempted to create human music. I also find it absolutely hilarious that their sets are incredibly long whenever they play live, absolutely torturing the crowd for over an hour.

Love Portal, definitely a bucket list band to see live for me

For a band this extreme I almost want them to go crazy and release something electronic 😵‍💫

One of my favorite bands, hard to find others that want to jam in this style of music. For now I just gotta keep making new riffs and piece it together myself.

They’ve always been one of the most interesting bands in the space.

Another band to get into. Dragged into sunlight now this band. I did hear of portal several years ago but my ears weren't ready for it. Now I am haha

Very good segment on Portal. Got into some things I didn't know existed from them. Bravo my friend

Been dying for a Portal video from you

I love ION, is one of the most original death metal records ever, it has its own aesthetic and codes. It sounds like being dead and being revived by force via electroshok, but you awake in middle of the horrors of the limbo experiencing the things you are not supposed to know. The math signs used to name the songs makes it even creepier, like looking the forbiden secret notes of a deranged scientist who loves necromancy.

something to note about portal is that they're writing their own mythos with their albums. i first saw this on wikipedia and i've been trying to piece together their story through the lyrics but unfortunately people haven't been able to decipher what they're whispering about lol

Portal seems like if Lustmord decided to work with a deathmetal band in a serious sense, and they really push hard into the dark ambient sounds of alot of those 90s artists in that scene. Like artists like Lull, which is a Mick Harris side project, really give a similar "mood", but in a drone/ambient form to Portals music. Their release Hagbulbia especially reminds me of early industrial and dark ambient with how haphazard it sounds and feels.

As a portal, im glad you cleared up the confusion

I originally grew up in the postpunk and later noiserock and industrial genres; Portal is one of the few bands that have the same relatable appeal to us noise and no wave rockers…some of their stuff is more ambient noise like a lot of artists in the cassette community made in the 80’s…🤘🏽✊🏽🤘🏽✊🏽🤘🏽

It’s so f……ed up that it’s appealing, it’s not the question if you like it , it’s more how long you can handle it .

This band is just horror through and through. Looove portal

Im smelling a good series, wyat.

they are one of the very very few bands that you know has something special about them, it's like the music they conjure is it's own (twisted) entity the attire/antics, sure is a factor, but it wouldn't hold a candle without the musical wizardry backing it up best part (and probably conterintuitive to most people) is that the music is super catchy and danceable lol ... if you can headbang and air drum like a mad caveman with it, is the testament how truly METAL they are also, I fucking love the unique, demented drumming

Swarth is my fav album. So fucking hard. love Portal! Great Vid mane

Portal are brilliant percormance artists. Horror illogium who usually speaks for the band, is pretty up front about yanking peoples chains during interviews. They use music, noise tracks, and imagey to kinda trigger your own fears...like primal fears and facination. In a rare bit of honesty, he told a metal sucks interviewer, they kinda try to create an actual nightmare in real life. OP nails it, by trying to describe thier vague and inscrutable nature. They dont make songs about murder and devil sh#t like most death metal bands...which is definetly cool, they try to create a " hellscape" upon which you project your own fears. To see them lìve, is mind blowing. Im old...i been in the scene since the early 90s, and ive seen em all, but a portal show is so different. Everyone in the crowd be like " This is incredible...but I really feel like something is very wrong. Like if a fiery hole opened in the Earth, and some great tentacled abomination came out, I realky wouldnt be suprised."

Catafalque was the first song I heard from them. Very dark and heavy.

Been waiting on this one for a minute, also I subscribed because I realized I wasn't already I have been watching your videos for a while I'm excited for this one

Usually i don't listen this type of music, i'm more punk/rock'n'roll/post punk... but this band captivated me, they are unique. And really scary

Finally. Portal 3

I love their outfits. Vexovoid was the first of theirs I heard. What a beast. I’ve never seen you mention Pyrrhon on the channel yet, are you a fan?

Fun fact: the song Curtain pays tribute to the 1983 horror movie Curtains. The puppet in their music video highly resembles the killer from that movie.

I was amazed that you were wearing a T-shirt paying homage to the 70s movie Excaliber, until I did an internet search and discovered that Anal Nathrak is also the name of a metal band. (It is also an act banned in several countries)

Great video as always. What you said about fans of Portal is true for me. I’m more death metal guy and I prefer Ion. I only listened Outre other than Ion and although I liked it, it felt like most of the sound experiments buried under this wall of sound, which is exactly what you describe.

Always been a huge fan of the atmosphere of black metal however I have not often enjoyed the sound but I love the sound of death metal so portal works perfectly for me, swarth will always be one of the best albums of all time to me

I've always felt like Portal is what Black Metal should be, but unlike Black Metal, Portal never falls flat or sounds boring or stale. Portal is a band that unlike most Black Metal knows how to meticulously craft the environment they seek to create.

I feel like the members of Portal need to stop for just a second and pet a kitten or eat some cotton candy. Maybe even go to the beach.

Sick video. You should do one explaining Altars

Fun fact: Buckethead also has a song (4 songs actually, but they are all connected as one on album.) called “lurker at the threshold”. Also, This band is the definition of “Fear of the unknown” for me.

I spoke to the guys (vocalist and bassist) from imperial triumphant and they said they are big fans of them. A bit obvious but still awesome to hear. Check out mitochodrion and abyssal

Portal is the Bloodborne of Metal

I really love them! Thank you for telling more about them!🤘

Portal have never properly grabbed me. I feel like they paved the way for bands like Abyssal and Tchornobog which I think are two of the best in the style. They are definitely an iconic band in the scene though.

Listening to Portal and playing Bloodborne is my happy place.

Would love to see Portal live 😭

I've enjoyed their material for 14 years now and even though they keep pumping out strong material, they cannot seem to top the rawness of Seepia and Outre in my opinion.

I actually started listening to Portal with Vexovoid and it is probably my 2nd favourite by them

Nice one man wasn't sure about a few things with this band . really interesting ......🤘💀🤘

From vexavoid onward curator vocals got alot better and stands out. Every album is insane. They are making a cyclone of single tremo notes on 2 guitars creating a tornado of notes that can sometimes create power chords wen the notes over lap.

Very good video man. I saw Portal at the Housecore Horror Festival in 2014 and was blown away. Thanks for all the insight into them. Where are you from?

For my book Outre' is their best, great video Wyatt, like always

PORTAL RULES !!!!!

I've always thought of them as a black metal band. But I can see the death influance too.

Great video I'm a big fan of Portal they remind me of Gorguts but more insane. Also I see Intestine Baalism in the background I'm a big fan of them too.

intriguing description of this band - now I'm curious

you're right, I'm more of a black metal guy, but I LOVE Portal

Found Portal from the Down - We knew him well music video, where Phil Anselmo is wearing a Portal T-shirt. Was totally weirded out! But. I Like it!

I’d like to point out that their first show was actually in 2002 ! I wouldn’t mention this but I shall because albeit, despite there not being any footage of this, they have some sick photos of their first show on the official portal Instagram page.

Portal is pretty neat.

11 pm, 11/11/11, Globe Brisbane, the most powerful single chord I've heard in my life as Portal started their set.

Hey wyatt ! I really appreciate you‘re Channel ! Always nice to get to know new bands Bands . 🔥 Also i have a question. One time you show a Vinyl where you can see a picture of men in full knight armor on the cover (or on the inside, i‘m not sure anymore ) . Can you maybe help me ? Btw sorry for my bad english .

When I listen to portal feel hypnotized. \m/

Was a weird addition to The Orange Box but a welcome one.

Nice video mate. Only correction is first show was 2002 in Brisbane.

Love Portal, thanx for great video!!

Fucking love Portal, I'm waiting to catch them sometime nearby

WOW YOU GOT TO SEE PORTAL !!!! Nice !!!! 👍