Here’s a hot take: Revivalists like Portrait and Attic have done a better job picking up where 80s Mercyful Fate left off than Mercyful Fate has. That isn’t a knock at Mercyful Fate’s 90s albums, which are exceptional slabs of old school metal for a time when the style was anything but fashionable. They just lack the evil spirit of albums like Melissa and Don’t Break the Oath. The one exception is their last album, 9, but I digress. Sweden’s Portrait have been proudly carrying the hellish torch of occult lyrics and wicked musicianship for the past 15 years, and that torch blazes brighter than ever on their latest album, At One with None.
The Mercyful Fate influences are present in the vocals, riffs, and chord changes of the album’s first two tracks, “At One with None” and “Curtains (The Dumb Supper)”. Everything from the arrangement to the production is dark and dramatic, channeling the finest moments of Melissa. Now whereas Germany’s Attic tends to be more straightforward disciples of the infernal Don’t Break the Oath sound, Portrait has always leaned more on the progressive and atmospheric side of things. These tendencies grow more prevalent with each album, with At One with None taking them to new heights that expand even beyond the Mercyful Fate universe.
Take the nearly 7 minute “He Who Stands”, for example. This dark prog metal epic boasts an ominous atmosphere and acoustic guitars for extra depth. It reminds me of what Maiden was attempting to do with Senjutsu, but executed far more proficiently. The Maiden influences bleed into the militant “Phantom Fathomer”, as well as the intricate “Ashen”. Much of this is due to the hefty Dickinson-esque midrange of singer Per Karlsson, but there’s no shortage of twin guitar melodies reminiscent of The Number of the Beast era. One could even argue that historically speaking, NOTB is the older brother of Melissa, with bands like Portrait capturing that niche 40 years later.
Rounding out this already well rounded album is an unabashed flexing of power metal muscle. “A Murder of Crows” begins this attack in true blackened power metal fashion. The unholiness of Mercyful Fate collides with the valor of early USPM to create a vicious assault of the senses. “Shadowless” continues the high power pummeling. This is glorious metal for only the mightiest of warriors! It all ends in a blatantly euro bloodbath, “Farewell to the Flesh”. While bonus track #1 “The Blood is the Life” comes off as the cloned cousin of Mercyful Fate’s “Doomed by the Living Dead”, “Farewell to the Flesh” sounds like what euro power metal could’ve sounded like had the scene taken off in ’83 or ’84 and not a few short years later.
Like every other Portrait album before it, At One with None rules from beginning to end. There’s no cheesy throwback gimmickry that plagues every other traditional metal band today, just pure old school heaviness. Besides, when the music is this strong, there’s no need for a gimmick in the first place.
8 out of 10
Label: Metal Blade Record
Genre: Heavy Metal
For fans of: Mercyful Fate, Iron Maiden, Satan’s Host