Live Review : Portal + Impetuous Ritual + Abduction @ Rebellion, Manchester on September 18th 2025

Good things come to those who wait, or more literally, cacophonous, impenetrable noise comes to those who wait. Portal are a veritable enigma. The Australian noise mongers have existed in some form for over 30 years, yet visits to these shores have been few and very far between. The last time they were here (in fact, the only other time they've been here) was for the late lamented Temples festival in 2015. With some acts, this lack of physical contact would breed contempt or even apathy, but with Portal their absence has added to the mythology and expectation. 

Rebellion is as busy as it gets, and the queue to get in stretches right around the block. In fact, there is such a logjam to enter the building that Abduction set sail to a discombobulatingly empty room. They are a single entity proposition from Derby, bolstered in a live capacity by the addition of four highly competent musicians sourced from the British black metal scene. What is immediately evident is how technical and tight they are. It is only their fourth show of the year, yet they come across as a well-drilled and impressively polished unit. Yes, this is Black Metal with all its ceremonial narcissism and malignant menace, but it is wonderfully constructed and technically proficient. The sound is immaculately layered, full of interlinking sections that create a fathomless depth of illustrious noise. A/V hams up the theatrics, thrusting the skull of some unfortunate enemy into the crowd and then wearing it as a crown. But there is much more to them than just nightmarish panto, this is black metal done really well and as they reach the crescendo of their cruelly short set a now heaving Rebellion gives them the reception they deserve.

Clad only in leather loincloths, penetrating spikes and plenty of skin abrasions, Impetuous Ritual come across as a feral Manowar who have been cast into the wilderness for forty days. Their sound is oppressively barbaric. It skates close to indecipherable clatter, and it is only the fleeting glimpses of melody that make you realise we are listening to music as opposed to random archaic racket. It is though, astonishing in its raw primal intensity. The four almost naked musicians on stage (including, we are led to believe, two current members of Portal) are a whirlwind of penetrating passion. The vulnerability shown by the lack of clothing is matched by the emotional heft of music. It is nihilistically draining, but that's the point. It’s hypnotic, unrelenting speed is designed to challenge and unnerve us as listeners. Even when it slows down during the third track, it still does so in a jagged and malicious form. It all exists on the far edges of listenability but this is music reimagined as uncomfortable art. It is not something you put on whilst indulging in a soothing bath, but as a live experience, it is simply extraordinary.

The atmospherics ratchets up a good 15 minutes before Portal appear. The stage is dimly lit and sparsely populated. The PA churns out dark, foreboding ambient noise, and the room is claustrophobically full. At precisely 10pm, Ominous Fugue, Ignis Fatuus, Aphotic Mote and Horror Illogium stride out onto the stage. They are bedecked in identical dark coarse cotton trousers and jackets, with grey linen bags over their heads. Horror has a noose around his neck. They are yet to play a note, but the effect of their appearance is simultaneously discombobulating and intoxicating. They strike up a low, just audible rumble, and then The Curator enters, resplendent in ritualistic headgear and long leather gloves. Thus begins one of the most uncomfortable but also edifyingly astonishing hours this here writer has ever encountered. 

Everything is dang and downtuned. It is slow and deeply malevolent. Its drips with caustic intensity and is visceral in its calamitous nastiness. It is beyond music; this is the soundtrack to every nightmare and every anxiety-driven bad thought you have ever had. It is the sombre tones of all the joy being drained out of the universe. When the curator finally takes to the mic, his utterances are muffled and understated. They exist within the maelstrom of undulating sound, operating as simply another instrument building the unbreachable fortress of noise.

Interestingly they visit upon all their seven long players apart from, counterintuitively, 2021’s “Hagbulbia”. Most time is spent with their cerebral and genre-busting debut “Seepia” but if we are honest, the only way to truly discern the divides between tracks is when they routinely stop to take applause. This is not designed to be a song-based or greatest hits experience. This is about the intensity of the whole as opposed to the constitutional parts. It is astonishing in the way that it ebbs and flows, with the primaeval power just pumping from the stage full of primordial evil.

It is so all-consuming that you forget the passing of constructed time and suddenly the final track ‘Curtain’ is upon us. There is an uncomfortable silence before it crashes in, and some wags in the room completely misread the vibes and try out some heckles in rather appalling Australian accents (including an incredibly misjudged attempt to sing the Men at Work hit ‘Down Under’. That is all drowned out as ‘Curtain’ descends upon us. It is blessed with such portended power that it feels like being consumed by a monsoon. The sound undulates with cacophonic weight. It reaches its conclusion then stretches into a final outro that accompanies The Curator’s ceremonial exit from the stage. His band mates pull the last pieces of negativistic goodness from their instruments, then Horror Illogioium presses a button on his expansive set of pedals, and it all shudders to an abrupt halt.

Portal are unlike anything else; they exist in a parallel dystopian universe of ritualistic pain and suffocating, stifling power. They feel like something beyond our comprehension, world-building in way that is light years away from anyone else. It realigns metal back to its primal malice and the simple equation that Black Sabbath stumbled upon 56 years ago: scary music. They create a unique atmosphere that is peppered with spite and desperation, music as an expression of pessimistic nihilism. At times it borders into unlistenable, but this is the point. This is the antithesis to easy listening. Difficult but also delectable, Portal proved beyond doubt that they were well worth the wait.

Check the “In The Flesh” page for more photos!
Portal + Impetuous Ritual + Abduction