by Steve Joyce
Since forming in 2013, Swedish trio Port Noir have enriched the pantheon of essential Scandinavian progressive bands that includes luminaries such as Opeth, Pain of Salvation and Evergrey. Known for their mesmerising live shows, their formidable reputation is well earned, with albums packed with creative compositions and powerful arrangements. The band’s publicity boasts that they craft “a sound that is as intense as it is captivating—blending heaviness, precision, atmosphere, and a great groove in equal measure”. It’s an accurate description.
“The Dark We Keep” is Port Noir’s fifth album. Over its ten songs, one interlude and 49 minutes, the album has a distinctive sonic style that’s like a rowdier version of compatriots Katatonia, and the band stick to it throughout the album. Despite not being a diverse collection, “The Dark We Keep” is hugely effective at creating a mood, enthralling listeners and keeping them fully immersed.
The music on this captivating album is firmly at the metal end of the ‘progressive metal’ spectrum. For example, there’s an epic breakdown in the fourth minute of “Ebb and Flow” that’s genuinely pulverising and similarly, the riffage in the second half of “My Destroyer” will pummel you into thankful submission.
Most impressively, the guitar work by Andreas Hollstrand and Love Andersson sounds fantastic. The riffs throughout are majestic and energising. Bass notes are prominent, causing your inner organs to join in with the headbanging. The riffage is often evocative of goth metal titans Lacuna Coil, Delain and perhaps even Ghost. The guitar work is especially stimulating on tracks like “This View” and “Bloodlust”.
A standout feature of this album is the synthesiser work, providing a rich sonic texture and atmospheric moments which provide respite from the metal onslaught. This is a notable feature on opening song “Complicated”.
Drummer Andreas Wiberg is clearly a dynamic and talented musician. The drum parts are well crafted and performed despite sounding a little synthetic and over-produced. I think the album would benefit from a more vibrant and acoustic drum sound. Nevertheless, the songs are replete with tasty rhythms and dextrous fills, and on “Redshift” we’re treated to a blistering blastbeat!
Not sounding unlike Katatonia’s Jonas Renkse, lead singer Andersson has a ghostly, lilting quality to his voice which provides a perfect counterpoint to the musical barrage. He weaves cohesively with the layered music and often shines out like the brilliant Venus against a hauntingly black night sky. The juxtaposition of spectral vocals, heavy guitars and electronica is particularly effective on “Noir” and “Burst”, two of the singles from the album, with the latter song having a terrific chorus.
The album is aptly titled. Lyrically, the subject matter is incessantly dark, and through clever phrasing and rich metaphor, the words convey a palpable feeling of terror, futility and dread. Many songs evoke a love doomed by adversity, toxicity and unspoken secrets, and a world riven by bloodlust, darkness and devastation. From the aptly titled “Reverie”: “Close your eyes / the current drowns / just feel it / exposure now / a hymn unsung”. Cryptic, yet beautiful and unsettling.
All of the elements that make this album memorable come together in stirring style with album closer “We Shall Die Together”. It delivers a profound emotional payoff with devastating lyrics and hair-raising vocals by Andersson.
I’m massively enjoying this album: it’s fresh, absorbing and addictive. There’s an abundance of thrilling music on this record. The songs are exciting, unforgettable and contain some of the mightiest riffs you’ll hear all year. Port Noir unashamedly claim to be aiming to shape the future of heavy music. With an album as potent as this, they might well succeed.
Order here: https://portnoir.lnk.to/TheDarkWeKeep-Bio
Tracklist:
1. Complicated 05:11
2. Redshift 04:39
3. Noir 04:52
4. Ebb and Flow 04:56
5. My Destroyer 04:26
6. Vargtimmen 01:08
7. Burst 04:04
8. Reverie 05:56
9. This View 04:30
10. Bloodlust 04:35
11. We Shall Die Together 04:50
Line up:
Love Andersson – Lead Vocalist, Bass Guitar, Guitar, Keyboards, Piano
Andreas Wiberg – Drums
Andreas Hollstrand – Guitar, Background Vocal, Keyboards, Piano
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