WEIGHING IN ON PORTAL

Everyone’s been buzzing about Portal’s opening performance for Gorguts last week in Brooklyn. Axl waxed ecstatic the day after the show, and since then the cats at Metal Injection, Crustcake and Reign in Blonde have all weighed in (Cosmo Lee wasn’t there, but he basically wrote the book on American journalists covering Portal so he gets a pass).

Now it’s my turn.

Yes, Portal were good. Very good. Yes, Portal were scary. Yes, they were quite entertaining and a spectacle to watch. But they need some work.

The first thought that popped into my head when Portal began playing was “wow.” I’d listened to their 2009 album Swarth and I hadn’t liked it, but I was still curious to see the band live because I had a feeling it’d be a completely different experience. And I was right. Live, Portal are a sight to behold and they’re intense and heavy in every imaginable way.

In the live setting I “got” what Portal were trying to accomplish; a new kind of heavy predicated on rhythmic noise and pure bludgeoning rather than, well, melody. Once you lock into what they’re doing everything makes sense; Portal make songs out of distinct patterns of noise, organized chaos if you will. And if you can stop your brain from searching for melody and instead let it hone in on rhythmic patterns and texture changes you’ll understand what Portal are going for. And what they go for, they achieve: heavy metal is now 40 years old and it’s hard to believe that there are still ways to be even heavier than everything that’s come before. And with their own brand of death noise, Portal have done it; I can honestly say I don’t think I’ve ever heard a heavier band in my life.

As for the costume thing, this could really go either way, a gimmick or a theatrical enhancement. In this case I’ll give Portal the benefit of the doubt and say it was the latter; they really sold it, and their chosen costumes fit the music well.

But here’s the thing: Portal could make a few subtle changes to their live approach (and doubly so to their recorded approach) that could make them sound even more heavy than they already are, if such a thing is imaginable, and it all comes down to simple physics.

With two 8-string guitars (tuned down to F, according to audience murmurs) and a bass that’s tuned to who-the-fuck-knows-what (probably also F, an octave down?), that’s an awful lot of noise vying for the attention of our ears’ limited ability to process bass frequencies. Contrary to what many music fans think, the job of a mix engineer — both live and in the studio — isn’t just to adjust the levels of instruments relative to each other, but also to adjust the frequencies in each instrument that are emphasized. Our ears are really only able to process one sound at a time at any given frequency range, which is why, for example, a mix engineer might roll off the bass frequencies from the guitar channel — this lets the guitars dominate the mid-range, which they should, while creating room for the bass guitar to poke through the bottom end of the mix without interference generated by the bass frequencies the guitar naturally generates. An ideal mix has sound across the entire spectrum of the human ear, with each instrument “slotted” into one particular frequency range all by its lonesome so we can clearly hear it without having to strain.

So, Portal. With two 8-string guitars and a bass, all tuned way the fuck down, what you’re essentially dealing with is three bassists. I know what you’re thinking: “THAT’S THE FUCKING POINT, VINCE.” Yes, I know — Portal are going for maximum assault in the bass range, and that’s why they sound so mind-fuckingly brutal. But their attack is so bass heavy that it threatens to undermine their very goal; by pounding our ears with nothing but bass from three different angles, our brains aren’t able to process all three at once and so instead our ears go all “fuck this crap, I give up” and the resulting signal they send your brain sounds like pure mud. “AGAIN, THAT’S THE FUCKING POINT, YOU MORON,” I hear you muttering under your breath as you grow angrier with me by the minute. Yes, I know it is, but with just a few minor tweaks Portal could eliminate that mud and actually allow our ears to process all three instruments at once, all still heavy as fuck, making the end result even goddamn heavier!!!

All throughout the show I kept seeing both guitarists flying up high on their fret boards… doing something… but it was completely inaudible because of the overwhelming bass in the room. I wanted to hear what they were doing, I really did — but it was impossible.

So here’s what I would suggest for Portal:

• Each guitarist should EQ their amp rig differently. One guitarist should have a “scooped” sound with the highs and lows jacked up to 10 and the mids down at 2 or 3 (or lower) and the other guitarist should do the opposite, with his mids up to 8 or 9 and his lows and highs as low as he can get them without losing definition of his tone. Additionally, if the guitarists aren’t already using different kinds of amps, they should do so to help different the guitar sounds even further.
• Whichever guy takes more guitar solos / does more of the high fretboard work should be the one who has his amp’s mids boosted. The sound will cut through the bass-heavy mix a lot more clearly and will actually be audible.
• The bass player should use less distortion/gain.
• Everyone should tune UP one whole step to G. “Sacrilege,” I hear you saying. Don’t worry, it’ll still sound really fucking heavy (trust me)… sometimes tuning as far down as possible does not, in fact, have the effect of making the band sound heavier.

Lastly, some comments about the rest of the band. In between songs the vocalist greeted the audience and always spoke with death growl, naturally. But it sounded kinda weak… as in, not full-throated. I was left wondering how good of a vocalist this guy actually is, and how much his vocals were boosted by effects during the songs. Pure speculation there as there isn’t any way for me to know for sure. And finally, I think the drummer is the weak link of this band; his level of musicianship didn’t seem to be quite up to snuff with the rest of the group, though he certainly did a fine job of keeping up.

All this isn’t to say Portal weren’t good; as I said at the top of this piece, they were really good. But they’re certainly not as great as much of the blogosphere seems to think… and with a bit of work, they could be even better. If they take my advice.

-VN