Review Summary: A prog metal album delivered excellently by talented underground musicians. Blood Red Tape is a near essential album for anyone interested in metal or rock.
When metal is done right, it's done very well too. Portal have released two albums so far, both superb. Being very consistant overall with 70 minute playtime, Blood Red Tape manages to stay interesting along the way. Great production, lyrically "pretentious" and flourishing music makes this an album very accessable without selling out or going soft. Portal can be compared to other acts such as Porcupine tree or Oceansize, while retaining a sound of their own. With this release, a superior Portal album is yet to be heard.
Blood Red Tape is executed very professional, even though being a hobby project. Flowing great from start to end, picking out standouts are kind of hard, but some tracks are indeed better than others. Opener "Jebel Moon" showcases the band's experimentation with different moods and textures, with crunching riffs on top. Vocalist and guitarist Kenton Thomas's voice is sounding great and clearer than ever. His poetic and thoughtful lyrics are also spat into your ears alongside his heavy guitar sound. Another great track is "The Kingdom", which is over ten minutes in running time, and this is where they can show how good their songwriting skills are. It goes from being simple in verses to catchy and rocky in the chorus. Building up over time with ambient nature and African-like drumming to calm and beautiful harmonies delivered alone into silence.
Every track seems to be placed right. Many flow seamlessly into each other similar to Dark Side of the Moon. Musicianship is also very tight. Kenton Thomas lays down a lot of memorable riffs, and usually everyone is heard. Underlying guitars, deep bass and technical drumming are always placed so perfectly. Never are any of them used too little or too much. Another great aspect about this record is how diverse it is. From some balls-to-the-wall riffs or calm and chill acoustic guitars accompanied by smooth keyboards. There are several examples of this kind of experimentation, like "Six Degrees". Acoustic guitars, strange slide guitar effects, keyboards and even string arrangements are in place to make one hell of a great track. Vocals here are especially great. Kenton's voice is finer than ever, and some lines are so extremely pleasant and refresing;
"Six steps to save our eyes
Far removed, 'neath these selfsame skies
The sea of faces will wash it away
Leaving peace for one more day"
Blood Red Tape manages to be an all around superb effort. Don't let "underground" frighten you. There are very few things to complain about here. What prevents me from giving this album a 5/5 is some of the shorter songs don't live up to the greatness of others. But for newcomers, they should be no problem. It's only over time you will lose some interest in them. But this record will be very hard to find in record shops. Instead, use streaming services or iTunes. Just make sure you've given this record a try at least once.
Recommended tracks
Splitzkrein
The Kingdom
Six Degrees
We Kuffar
The Light
