Portrait
Portrait (col)
Limited to 300 copies on transparent ULTRA CLEAR vinyl. PORTRAIT plays absolutely balls out, shameless 80s heavy metal, and they let you in on this poorly kept secret the second the record begins, opening with a tasteful melodic passage, leading into further proto-speed metal flavoring reminiscent of Mercyful Fate, or more uptempo moments of late 70s-early 80s Judas Priest, equipped with a vocalist fitting the part, doing his best to belt out the King Diamond-esque falsettos with his admittedly meager abilities, the sheer conviction of the performance being its true saving grace. Portrait is not here to innovate or surprise; they are just here to pay homage to the music that they clearly love, namely the classic heavy/power/speed metal bands of the 80s, back when genres weren't such a divisive issue and the music came straight from the heart and out into the streets.