NE OBLIVISCARIS — Portal Of I (review)

NE OBLIVISCARIS — Portal Of I album cover Album · 2012 · Progressive Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
3/5 ·
bartosso
Impressive metal for the win!

Impressive bands have been sprouting up all over the planet in the past few years. Impressive in terms of musicianship and range of influences, they create complex as hell tracks and use impressive array of instruments. Australian outfit Ne Obliviscaris is one of them for sure. I don't really need my music to impress me, though. I want to be moved, shaken even, and it doesn't matter if there's a dozen of virtuosos soloing over each other or just one shrunken guy, playing a wistful song on an old guitar.

Ne Obliviscaris have skills, will and plenty of ambition. The first big fruit of their endeavours is more of a colorful patchwork than an accomplished piece of art, though. Now, I know that's a bold statement and I need some solid arguments to back it up. The guys crafted an intricate melodic black metal album, layered with death metal reminiscent of Opeth and Enslaved. If you add some elaborate violin/Spanish guitar passages, melodramatic (somewhat metalcore) clean vocals and extended-to-the-limits build-ups to it, you have Ne Obliviscaris in all their glory. The band sounds very professional but their pursuit of progressiveness is too obvious. Tiresome overuse of double bass drum doesn't help either. Before squeezing in as many ideas as possible, the band should keep in mind that music speaks for itself. Hence, the phrase "the whole is greater than the sum of its parts" doesn't really apply here. While many ideas and themes are great, with some of them reaching the heights of beauty, they often seem detached and don't create a convincing whole.

While somewhat reminiscent of Unexpect, Ne Obliviscaris failed to create a solid basis for their ambitious ideas. Even though the songwriting is quite bold and aspires to grandeur, the music itself feels over the top at times. The album has its beautiful moments though, and I can see why it is praised by lovers of technically complex extreme prog metal. If, however, you're looking for a more mature approach to the genre, Portal of I may disappoint you a little.
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