siLLy puPPy
THE SWEYY is an EP released by PORTAL between their debut “Seepia” and their second album “Outré” that was limited to a mere 150 copies on CDs.
This EP contains 5 tracks, 3 new studio tracks, 2 of which (“Werships” and the title track) would be reworked and appear on the third album “Swarth.”
The last 2 tracks are live performances from the Bloodlust III Festival in 2003. Both “Atmoblisters” and “Transcending A Mere Multiverse” were taken from the debut album “Seepia.”
The studio tracks of the EP would also find their way onto a split with the band Rites Of Thy Degringolade titled “The Sweyy / Our Dreadful Spire.”
The only track that never would appear elsewhere in any form is “Doors.”
The studio tracks continue the same brutal and technical blackened death metal submerged in a dark ambient atmosphere and comes off as some of the most surreal tech death metal to be experienced, however the riffs are slowed down a bit from “Seepia” and don’t sound as chaotic. These are clearly easier to follow than the unrelenting bantering and jagged zigzagging delivery of the debut.
The live tracks display the band in a reverberant concert setting which shows an adaptation of the surreal extreme metal quite well to perform in front of a audience. Absent are the ethereal and otherworldly production effects that exude dark ambient doom and gloom but on the metal side of the equation they deliver the bizarre formless compositions exquisitely without missing a beat. Only the audience screams at the end reveal a live setting.
This is one of those that’s interesting to experience but not particularly essential either since nothing on here is better than the studio albums that sandwich it. Well worth a listen or two for fans as it’s played quite well and offers an insight into another dimension of the band’s music but hardly a must-have.