Portal of I

Fantastic and refreshing debut! Classifying Ne Obliviscaris musical style is a difficult task. Comparisons to Opeth or BTBAM are easily drawn but that is selling them short. They've managed to carve out their own original niche in a hybrid of genre's that already cover vast musical terrain. Sure, you'll hear relentless drums, frantic guitar fretwork, but the most striking addition to their sound is the use of a violin. It's an instrument not completely foreign to metal, but very few bands can get away with using it in anything more than interludes or brief instrumental passages without being gimmicky. In Portal of I, they have managed to make the violin stand on its own and become an integral part of their sonic signature.Hardcore fans of death/black metal may be put off by the arrangements, but if you enjoy progressive metal at all, you should do yourself a favor and give this a listen. I'm not a huge fan of harsh vocal's but I can tolerate it in moderation. Ne Oblivscaris manages to reach a good balance on this record and I never felt overwhelmed.Creativity abounds and songs are well thought out and paced. Most songs clock in at over 10 minutes and manage to stay focused without ever feeling like filler. If there is any criticism I would give, it is that the album as a whole can seem a little one-dimensional, but this is really nit-picking considering this allowed them to really explore the unique musical space they've made for themselves. This is my pleasantly surprised and out of no where candidate for Album of the Year. Here's to hoping we don't have to wait another 5 years for their next effort.

Let me start this review with saying that this is now my favorite band. I've never heard a collection of more orchestrated, more emotional songs. Each one is climactic, thematic. They all tell stories and have amazing feats of musicianship. It is extremely hard to chose favorites from this because there isn't a single filler song, dull moment, anything. If I had to choose though, I would say the highlights of this album for me are tracks four and five: "Forget Not" and "As Plague Flowers The Kaleidoscope". Both of these pieces show the band's different sides and approaches to song writing. "Forget Not" is easily one of the most emotive pieces I've ever heard. The pain of death and remembrance is conveyed flawlessly. "As Plague Flowers The Kaleidoscope" really shoes the band's ability to work as a unit and play different styles with contrasting melodies, altered chords, and flawless transitions. As whole however, this album is a huge mass of ideas that all work together so well and I can say that I am extremely anxious in awaiting the next album by Ne Obliviscaris to be released in 2014 and for sure will keep this album as a daily listen and mark it as my favorite album of all time.

This a great band, doing a great blend of musicianship and heaviness, they keep the trend with great power throughout their still brief discography.

This album is pretty interesting. You have death metal, jazz and other instrumentals. The violin plays a pretty prominant part in a lot of songs. Which are long. They average almost 10 minutes each. The heavy parts are usually decent, but ridiculously fast and long double bass drum rolls that are impressive in their show of stamina but boring as they never change tempo and they do it pretty much every time they play a heavy part. They have groweling vocals and clean vocals together in a lot of parts. The groweling isn't bad, I dont' really like the clean vocals. I just don't like the guys voice, I find it irritating and whiney. The first 4 tracks or so they don't really integrate the violin well, it's mostly just violin solos and they mostly all sound the same. But eventually they do begin to integrate the violin better as a rhythm and it sounds much better. It's almost like they go out of their way to create overly long songs and add boring sections to make them that way. I do like it. But I don't love it. It's not the kind of music I would want to listen to all the time. I would have to be in a relaxing kind of mood to want to listen to this. It's not the kind of music you would want to motivate yourself. So the drums and violin are sometimes boring and repetative, but it does improve about half way through. They have a lot of potential. Maybe their next album will be a masterpiece.

I've had to go back and edit this review several times.One reason for that is that this album has me totally stunned.Perhaps blown away would be a better choice of words? It doesn't matter -- what matters is this: this is one of the greatest albums I've ever heard, in my life, in the past several years. Maybe in my life.I don't know how to classify it. More orchestrally beautiful than much progressive metal... yet harsher and faster and more furious than it too. Yet softer than speed or thrash, with vocals that are between an anguished scream and a saddened whisper.Perhaps you should listen to some of the tracks on youtube: but know that until you listen to the tracks in full fidelity you'll be missing out. And to miss out on this masterpiece would be a real shame.A real, true shame.

I cannot get over how good this album is. I just randomly came across this group on youtube and I'm so glad I did. At first I thought, hmm, progressive black metal, that's interesting. Then I kept listening and I was so impressed I had to buy the CD on the spot. All the musicians in this group seem like virtuosos. Everything is so tight and perfect and the songs, no, the arrangements are so well done from start to finish. This album deserves to be listened to on a nice stereo system with good speakers at high volume. Also, I'm not a fan of Opeth, Between the Buried and Me, or Devin Townshend, so I won't even compare Ne Obliviscaris to anything like that. To me, it's just not in the same ball park. Just get this album right now.

After several listens Portal of I has not been a fully convincing listen. I got this album on the basis of the stunning And Plague Flowers...and whilst my admiration for that track remains I honestly felt I was traveling a bit through some forgettable soundscapes that paled in comparison. Saying that I really enjoyed the last two tracks too. Icicles and Black Noise are as exciting and mysterious as And Plague but I honestly felt burned out by the time I got to the strong ending. Ne Obliviscaris are for sure a risk taking thrash meets folk band who will not bore you with their sound. There is a strong sense of originality to their fusion approach. It just feels like there is some kind of missing link when they don't nail it. The folky style singing borders on being plain and the thrashing evil screech borders on textured predictability. When they sing together it works better but there is no doubt the overall sound needs refining and will polarise true metal fans.Saying that I love it when the thrash and folk meshes cohesively and enjoy the challenge of getting into this really interesting music. I will persevere and see if it just needs a bit more time... I have been wrong before and will change the score if the album grows on me....a big shout to the violinist. Brilliant.

if you have one album of ne oblivi, you want them all.somehow this feels like another real unique band.

I Love all the songs on this album and melodeath is fast becoming my favourite genre.

Good

Desde la primera escucha éste grupo me ha dejado helado y sin palabras. Brutalidad, técnica y melodía en perfecta simbiosis. Metal progresivo muy particular, mezclando Harsh vocals propias del Black Metal con la voz suave y las perfectas melodías del violín omnipresente de Tim Charles, además de contar con el tremendo bajista Brendan "cygnus" Brown, la batería de Nelson Barnes y los riffs y solos de los guitarristas Matt Klavins y Benjamin Baret, todos ellos músicos de un nivel excepcional. Destacaría Forget Not, And Plague Flowers the Kaleidoscope y As Icicles Fall, aunque sería un error perderse el resto.