Portal announce Australian tour with Swiss guests BØLZER and local supports
Australia’s most extreme metal export Portal announce their twisted vision returns with Swiss guests BØLZER this August.
Portal is an Australian extreme metal band whose style is an unorthodox fusion of death metal, black metal, dark ambient and experimental music, known for creating what critics describe as a hellish atmosphere and distant, obscure interpretation of death metal. The Brisbane-formed band has built an underground cult following since 1994 with their suffocating soundscapes and anonymous masked performances.
Joining Portal on this apocalyptic journey is Switzerland’s BØLZER, described as an intuitive art project born from raw passion and musical ecstasy fueled by impulsive composition. BØLZER describes their stage experience as a form of spiritual rapture, an atavistic vortex woven together from the profound union of spectacle meeting spectator on a deeper plane.
Portal with BØLZER
- Thursday, 15 August: Crowbar, Sydney (with Petrol)
- Friday, 16 August: Max Watts, Melbourne (with Vesicant)
- Saturday, 17 August: Altar, Hobart (with Host)
- Saturday, 23 August: Necrosonic Festival, Mansfield Tavern, Brisbane
Check out our gig guide here.
The band members keep their identities obscured and use stage names. Their costumes are composed of suits and executioners’ masks save for vocalist The Curator, who wears headgear fitting the theme of the latest album. The theatrical element stems from inspiration drawn from 1920s fashion and imagery created by actor Lon Chaney Sr. from the silent film era.
Portal’s music has been described as constant dissonance, sporadic compositions, and abstract themes, with heavily distorted guitar riffs, down-tuned rhythms, and vocals ranging from menacing, echoing sound effects to guttural grunts. Their approach involves creating what one critic called an auditory singularity that overwhelms listeners with its synchronous churn.
The band cites influences ranging from Morbid Angel, Beherit and Immolation to Lovecraftian entities, though they have developed their own unique mythos over three decades of existence. Each show promises to deliver Portal’s signature blend of horror atmospheres and sonic violence that has made them one of extreme metal’s most uncompromising acts.
Local supports include Petrol in Sydney, Vesicant in Melbourne and Host in Hobart, with the tour culminating at Brisbane’s Necrosonic Festival. Tickets are available now through Oztix for Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane shows, with Hobart tickets through Moshtix.
For more information, head here.
