The four piece melodic death metal band, known as Portal from Sweden, has been quiet for a great deal of time. 13 years later, and they are back into the groove of things with their newest addition entitled For All That is damned to Vanish. Vanished they have no longer, and with their brand new release, they have unveiled a melodically driven death metal album that comes at a great surprise.

The album takes little time erupting in a ferocious manner, with the opener In the Steps of Forgotten Gods. A headbanger’s delight it is at times, but the melodic guitars found towards the mid portion develop the song extremely well. A vicious attitude the album has overall, but the appearance of clean vocals on later tracks like On Far Trails, take the album to unexpected turns. Fortunately, the album keeps the same brutal consistency throughout all nine devious tracks. Songs like The Wild and the Furious is worth digging into countless times, and fused together some acoustic guitars that have a great Viking touch.

There’s not much backing down from these guys in song writing, as moving forward with each song will feel more ruthless than the next. One of my favorite heavier tracks, The Celebration of My Fall, includes heftier chugging guitar patterns, but the violent atmosphere of the music stays very much intact.

Despite silence for 13 long years, Portal has come back with a belligerently fierce album more than worthy of checking out and hard not to like. Melodic death metal has been a bit stale for me as of late, but Portal from Sweden has certainly changed that around for me this year.