Town Portal

Chronopoly

Written by: DR on 17/03/2013 21:28:54

Blurring conventional genre boundaries and refusing to play it safe, Denmark's Town Portal combine elements from the lightest post-rock to the heaviest of metal on their debut LP, "Chronopoly". The end result lands in vague 'instrumental rock' territory, but that's the point: when you have three musicians this creative and this skilled with their respective instruments, you allow them to run riot.

Town Portal deliver a vocal-less three-man assault of time signature changes, dynamic shifts and off-kilter song-structures while displaying a wide array of instrumental rock influences, with an end result somewhere between And So I Watch You From Afar, Russian Circles, Talons and 65daysofstatic. However, despite the frenetic and seemingly unbridled nature of their compositions, there is undoubtedly a method to their madness. Rather than a relentless barrage of ideas, they combine different styles throughout the same song and album to offer moments of light to balance with the dark, giving the record and the listener room to breathe.

Particular highlights include "Chronoceros", "Cool Face Down Service" and "Infinite Improvidence" which, between them, display Town Portal's potential by offering enough quality and variation. "Chronoceros" is a dirty, suffocating amalgamation of metal and Explosions in the Sky-esque post-rock; "Cool Face Down Service" is bouncy and infectious in a way not usually associated with instrumental music; and closer "Infinite Improvidence" is perfectly balanced between moments of light introspection and dark, almost cathartic, outbursts.

Overall, "Chronopoly" is a well executed and well produced instrumental rock record. It's hard to believe that there are only three members, too, given how dense and diverse their sound is. Town Portal cover plenty musical territory of their influences with enough conviction for them to impress you with the idea that, soon enough, they'll be calling a piece of the instrumental rock landscape their own.

Download: Chronocers, Cool Face Down Service, Infinite Improvidence
For The Fans of: And So I Watch You From Afar, Russian Circles, 65daysofstatic, Beware of Safety, Talons, Kerretta
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Release Date 04.10.2012
Subsuburban Records

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