Xasthur | ‘Portal of Sorrow’

Scott Conner is alive and well, optimistic about his future even, but has fulfilled the brief of “suicidal black metal” by putting alter ego Malefic out of his considerable misery.

If there is a measure of disillusion and apathy in his abandonment of the project, it’s only fitting, as that’s the very emotional core of Xasthur’s music.

And as well as escaping stylistic restrictions, it must be refreshing for Conner to flee the type of fans who question the compatability of his marital status with his art.

Xasthur has often been accused of merely churning out more and more of the same.

The recent ‘2005 Demo’ release encapsulates this: objectively good but very much business as usual, presented without much thought (or even titles), further underlining the suspicion that Conner could pull this stuff out of his misanthropic ass.

Yet (and not everyone would agree), I found the last couple of albums particularly rewarding. ‘Defective Epitaph’ was the first to benefit from Conner’s loose drumming. ‘All Reflections Drained’ represented a further descent into murkiness, with a particularly dense and degraded sound (and guest member MH seemingly too depressed to contribute much beyond the occasional incoherent mumble).

The highlight for me was the closing cello-led title track, which sounded especially purposeful and only related to BM in terms of mood and atmosphere. In some ways, that track is the key to this final album.

It’s hard to listen to ‘Portal of Sorrow’ without interpreting it in the context of Conner’s abandonment of the genre. The big novelty is the addition of Marissa Nadler’s ghostly multitracked vocals, which work surprisingly well in this context.

While the riffs and moods are familiar, they are presented in a way that suggests straining against the confines of BM, with the results sometimes hinting at shoegaze, doom or even goth, though adhering to the rules of a personal idiom rather than those of any genre.

It also sounds as if Conner is draining the last drops of potential out of this set-up, trying out unusual arrangements or fashioning a brief track out of a leftover riff before moving on. Therefore it’s not the most consistent of albums, but is interestingly varied, with an expanded palette of sounds.

Clean or acoustic instruments often dominate, with distortion relegated to the background, and the sound is unusually sparse and airy. Several tracks feature a slightly decrepit-sounding piano. A few use double-tracked drums, and acoustic guitars and organ sounds dominate elsewhere.

This variety is unusual on a Xasthur record, but at its best this one is as good as any, and is drenched in the gut-wrenchingly beautiful aura of despair and decay that is Conner’s forte.

Conner has promised a new, non-metal project, which will hopefully provide an outlet for his talent for dissonant melody and woozy melancholy. Either way, ‘Portal of Sorrow’ brings Xasthur to a dignified end, while making a convincing case as to why this should be so.

4.2 / 5 - Paul Condon ::: 01/06/10