Although Portall started out in 2003, they never released a full length album before. So, Code Black being their debut, what will it sound like after six years of practicing? With this album Portall brings a nice mixture of thrash metal with hints of death metal. Quite a catchy combination to me personally, so let’s figure out whether this is worth your time and money.

 

First of all I’d like to say something about Rutger Wildeman’s voice. On this disc it sounds raw - which fits the music perfectly - but a bit monotonous. Fortunately there’s great parts of songs where there aren’t any vocals included and I’d never thought I’d say this but, I think this band would do just fine without vocals. Yet, as I said earlier, Wildeman’s voice does fit the music pretty well, since the entire mix is quite raw. 

 

As for the music Portall plays very decent songs. They contain just enough double bass parts, guitar solos and melody to keep things interesting. Yet, I can’t say the songs are of a very high standard. Which means that the production could be a bit better but most of all, the music is not really the groundbreaking type of music. What the hell, sometimes you just don’t need complex rhythms or highly original music. Sometimes a dose of death/thrash is just fine. To me Portall is the perfect band for that.

 

Heaviness: check! Rawness: check! Originality: semi-check! Conclusion: music to enjoy every once in a while as background music to make your feet tap along while working on your computer. Not bad, not bad at all!