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PORTRAIT
Crossroads

Metal Blade (2014)
Rating: 8/10

Although one of four bands to adopt the moniker of Portrait, these Swedish rockers have the Metal Blade machine behind them. Crossroads is their second album to be released from that label, their third overall. All clad in leather, studded waistcoats, bare-chested and with a look plucked straight from 1985, this Kristianstad-based quintet have in fact been around since 2006.

The band consists of vocalist Per Lengstedt (aka Per Karlsson) who joined the group in 2008 to replace Philip Svennefelt. He’s joined by guitarists Christian Lindell and David Olofsson, who up until 2012 played bass. The bass duties are now handled by Cab Castervall, and the sticks are slammed by Anders Persson.

Now, before I start, I think it’s important you know that Portrait are a straight down the line metal band. When I say that, I can already hear the sneers of derision from those thinking that these guys are just going to be on the revival trip. I can understand your scepticism more when I hear the name of King Diamond and Mercyful Fate pop up, and yep, there are streaks of the great man on this opus. Before you drag your diamond stylus needle across the surface of the black wax and storm out of the room, however, I have got to say that Crossroads is one hell of an album that is dark, tight and worthy of your attention, especially if you like traditional metal with an oaken feel.

There are times on this record when I’m prompted to slap on all manner of old metal albums, ranging from bands such as Manilla Road to Sanctuary, because Portrait have got it exactly right when it comes to recreating that candle-lit metal magic of yore.

Vocally, Lengstedt is high pitched but more gravelled than King Diamond. In fact, he comes across more like Warrell Dane, who was with steely metallers Sanctuary before making bigger bucks with Nevermore. It’s the sort of vocal wail you need if you’re going to be a metal band of this ilk. Then there are the guitars; brimming with menace throughout, they seethe, fizz and crunch in all the right places, and beef up the gothic dynamics of this fiendish little album. Percussion-wise Persson is on the money, providing a backdrop of galloping, ghoulish menace which is complemented by Castervall’s deft bass-lines, which trip and tip-toe carefully through this maze of gloomy.

From the off (‘At The Ghost Gate’) the album reeks of old King Diamond – finding a middle ground between classic metal and hinting at thrashier segments – and if you like your metal powerful, horror-tinged and of course rollicking, then you’ll immediately be drawn into the cold passages of this eight-track album.

Strangely though, the real instrument on this composition is the production, which is so muddy and almost primitive that you’re going to start wondering if this is some band wrenched from 80s obscurity and restored to fool us all. Completely oblivious to modern dynamics, Portrait have crafted a majestic yet foreboding slab of a record featuring fantastic solos, creepy yet domineering vocals and an atmosphere that’ll have you running for cover.

I can still hear the detractors barking the name of King Diamond, and I can see where you are coming from – after all, the band name is probably taken from the Mercyful Fate opus Fatal Portrait (1986) – but just give this album time and you’ll appreciate these lads as a separate entity rather than a mere mimic. Fusing power metal, thrash and satanic rock, one cannot argue with the banshee cries of ‘We Were Not Alone’ and the ghastly go-go grooves of ‘Black Easter’.

It’s safe to say that these Swedish rockers would never exist were it not for the King, but of all the derivative acts currently blocking the drains of the occult metal scene, Portrait are a decapitated head and severed shoulder above the rest. I can’t help but tilt my cobweb-covered top hat in admiration for a record that although being a little too close for comfort, still sounds like it had emerged from the great era of metal.

Neil Arnold

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