Review by Jack on August 27, 2001.

“Penetralia” was the infamous Hypocrisy’s first release. Peter even back in ’92 was cutting and producing fine ass records, and this is no exception. What separated Hypocrisy from the other death rabble, for me, was always the crisp and crystal production values that Peter instilled with every release for his trump card.

To cut straight to the point, “Penetralia” is a primitive release, what is now generic song titles are readily abound throughout this release, ‘Burn by the Cross’ & ‘Left to Rot’ being fine examples of this. But it is death metal, so suffering and butchery are the norm. What is not the norm is the superb musicianship displayed by these five lads. Masse Broberg (vocals) and Jonas Osterberg (guitars) are no longer with Hypocrisy to my knowledge at this moment, but when they were they did an outstanding job. Masse handles his death bellows with true class and style for one so young.

For ’92 this was kick ass, now it's still a pretty wrenching affair, and has not really lost much. There are a few small glimpses of what Hypocrisy are today, mostly in the epic 6 minute closer and title track, ‘Penetralia’. Complete with keyboards for a ’92 death release, this song was something of a landmark, slow brooding chanting and rhythmic drumming create a classy tempo for the end of the debut Hypocrisy album.

Bottom Line: What usually ruined albums 10 years ago was the shit awful production, make no mistake, this is ultimate production and fine death tracks.

Rating: 7 out of 10

Review by Jack on August 27, 2001.

“Penetralia” was the infamous Hypocrisy’s first release. Peter even back in ’92 was cutting and producing fine ass records, and this is no exception. What separated Hypocrisy from the other death rabble, for me, was always the crisp and crystal production values that Peter instilled with every release for his trump card.

To cut straight to the point, “Penetralia” is a primitive release, what is now generic song titles are readily abound throughout this release, ‘Burn by the Cross’ & ‘Left to Rot’ being fine examples of this. But it is death metal, so suffering and butchery are the norm. What is not the norm is the superb musicianship displayed by these five lads. Masse Broberg (vocals) and Jonas Osterberg (guitars) are no longer with Hypocrisy to my knowledge at this moment, but when they were they did an outstanding job. Masse handles his death bellows with true class and style for one so young.

For ’92 this was kick ass, now it's still a pretty wrenching affair, and has not really lost much. There are a few small glimpses of what Hypocrisy are today, mostly in the epic 6 minute closer and title track, ‘Penetralia’. Complete with keyboards for a ’92 death release, this song was something of a landmark, slow brooding chanting and rhythmic drumming create a classy tempo for the end of the debut Hypocrisy album.

Bottom Line: What usually ruined albums 10 years ago was the shit awful production, make no mistake, this is ultimate production and fine death tracks.

Rating: 7 out of 10

Review by Felix on January 1, 2022.

From today’s point of view, the debut of Portrait sounds a bit strange to me, because Per Lengstedt was not yet a member of the group. Instead, Phillip Svennefelt lent the dudes his voice and he is mainly responsible for the obvious Mercyful Fate influence that characterizes the self-titled effort. But Portrait is not the result of copycats at work, and, just to avoid misunderstanding, Svennefelt does not sound like the reincarnation of King Diamond. He just adapts his style to a certain degree without creating a slavish imitation. The bottom line is that his adventurous singing fits the music and its aura very well. Vocals and instruments create the occult touch right from the beginning and it is evident that Portrait knew the direction of their musical mission from the outset.

This mission contains a tendency to pretty complex tracks. The technical dates (eight songs, 46 minutes) indicate the quite excessive structures. Sometimes newcomers choke on their own ambitions, but here the songwriting guitarists Lindell and Lagergren have penned pieces that find a good balance between a smooth flow and the right number of twists and turns. The songs are neither repetitive nor over-complicated. Their best feature is their freshness. Portrait does not sound tired at any second. The often fast compositions, headed by the ruthless 'A Thousand Nightmares' with its glorious solo and instrumental part, spread timeless vibes. Of course, the Swedes can be seen as representatives of traditional metal, but already on their debut, they were much more than this. They offered more than typical traditionalists in terms of energy, speed, courage and song patterns. Portrait is light years away from the “riff-screams-chorus” scenario that has its right of existence without being the last word on the subject. Nevertheless, one can identify a few Maiden-like guitar lines, inter alia in 'Bow Unto The Devil', where they lead into a short drum solo (or excessive drum break, however you want to name it).

Many details want to be discovered, for example the tiny “Killers” similarity after the first riff of 'Beware The Demons' many various parts want to be fully consumed. Especially the fast-paced opener and the rather epic closer hold a lot different sound colours. But even while listening to the longest songs, you will not stumble over half-baked parts. Everything is meticulously constructed and even though I am not in a state of euphoria during the entire 46 minutes, I enjoy the album in its entity. All songs reach a good level, a few of them are still candidates for best of compilation. This is a merit of the production, too. Maybe it lacks five or ten percent power, but the album sounds clear and professional. In view of this situation, there are not many reasons to ignore Portrait. It’s simply a debut which already showed the greatness of its spiritual fathers. And despite many line-up changes, this greatness is still alive. Everybody who knows the title track of At One With None will agree.

Rating: 7.7 out of 10

Review by Fernando on August 17, 2020.

Black metal is no stranger to depressive and melancholic music, some of the most well-known and even acclaimed acts in the subgenre are bands whose music focuses on morose and somber melodies with equally sorrowful lyrics to balance the inherent aggression of black metal. And one such band today is Graveir from Australia.

The band is now on their sophomore record and like other bands they saw fit to be both more ambitious with their music while also refining the sound previously displayed in their debut album and subsequent in-between EP and split. Graveir do an excellent job of maintaining the aggression through their riffs and overall performances, the music still retains a menacing and ominous atmosphere from the previous LP, but the band truly shine in how they mixed things up. The compositions in the music are much more dynamic, dare I even say have some elements of progressive rock and even a symphonic like flair, however what’s truly impressive is how Graveir take that unorthodox approach to their songwriting and perfectly blend it into black metal. While the overall music is very melody driven, with a focus on riffing, the end result is a style of sorrowful black metal that oozes the feeling of despair and anguish, it’s also remarkably more aggressive and savage than other black metal bands that are pedantically labeled “depressive suicidal” or “atmospheric” black metal. Songs like 'Bathed in Acheron' and 'Immacolata' is where the anguished feel of the music shines, the mid-tempo drums and droning guitars paint a distinct picture of utter desperation. It’s somewhat reminiscent of the atmosphere in Mgła’s music in the sense that the focus is building momentum to a crescendo instead of keeping the momentum for a single cathartic burst.

Furthermore, the band still manages to display pure black metal but with interesting twists peppered throughout. The opening track 'Charnel Bacchanalia' opens the album with the same “wall of sound” style guitars but with a swaggering rock and roll style groove in the drums and bass, which then leaves room for the guitars to be the backbone of the song, meaning that the vocals and drumming take center stage. And this same out of the box and wild experimenting is present throughout the record, this quintet manages to have uniform and devoted performances while also letting each individual member flex and shine in key moments without feeling like a guitar solo, or a drum fill, or the vocals are upstaging the rest of the instruments. The album is also perfectly paced, each song leads into the next which then builds from where the previous track left off, a song may be short and aggressive and is then followed by a much more melodic and atmospheric driven song and it never feels like an abrupt change of pace. Despite a long runtime of under an hour the way the album flows and how captivatingly hypnotic the music is make it an immersive and constant experience, an hour may go by but you won’t feel it.

Finally, there’s the production of the album, which can be a bit too polished for many of the faithful of black metal while also being too grimy for the unfaithful and this is where Graveir make good use of that middle ground. Given how unorthodox their music is from a black metal perspective, the “prog-rock-like” production brings put the best elements of their music, but they don’t go far enough where the album is devoid of grittiness, when it comes to black metal a raw performance is indispensable. Although, one thing I have to criticize is that while Graveir have successfully expanded and broaden their sound, they still have a long ways to go to make a perfect album, as two tracks in the halfway point are slightly weaker than the first and last half of the album, it’s not filler by any means but the tracks 'In Remnant Light' and 'Fodder for the Gears' while being really good songs on their own are not as memorable and remarkable as the rest of the songs, but make no mistake, two solid B tracks out of ten A+ tracks is still no mean feat.

Best tracks: 'Charnel Bacchanalia', 'Scaphism', 'Bathed in Acheron', 'Immacolata', 'Waiting…', 'Phantasms in Daguerreotype', 'Father', 'Devourer'

Rating: 8.3 out of 10

Review by Felix on January 1, 2022.

From today’s point of view, the debut of Portrait sounds a bit strange to me, because Per Lengstedt was not yet a member of the group. Instead, Phillip Svennefelt lent the dudes his voice and he is mainly responsible for the obvious Mercyful Fate influence that characterizes the self-titled effort. But Portrait is not the result of copycats at work, and, just to avoid misunderstanding, Svennefelt does not sound like the reincarnation of King Diamond. He just adapts his style to a certain degree without creating a slavish imitation. The bottom line is that his adventurous singing fits the music and its aura very well. Vocals and instruments create the occult touch right from the beginning and it is evident that Portrait knew the direction of their musical mission from the outset.

This mission contains a tendency to pretty complex tracks. The technical dates (eight songs, 46 minutes) indicate the quite excessive structures. Sometimes newcomers choke on their own ambitions, but here the songwriting guitarists Lindell and Lagergren have penned pieces that find a good balance between a smooth flow and the right number of twists and turns. The songs are neither repetitive nor over-complicated. Their best feature is their freshness. Portrait does not sound tired at any second. The often fast compositions, headed by the ruthless 'A Thousand Nightmares' with its glorious solo and instrumental part, spread timeless vibes. Of course, the Swedes can be seen as representatives of traditional metal, but already on their debut, they were much more than this. They offered more than typical traditionalists in terms of energy, speed, courage and song patterns. Portrait is light years away from the “riff-screams-chorus” scenario that has its right of existence without being the last word on the subject. Nevertheless, one can identify a few Maiden-like guitar lines, inter alia in 'Bow Unto The Devil', where they lead into a short drum solo (or excessive drum break, however you want to name it).

Many details want to be discovered, for example the tiny “Killers” similarity after the first riff of 'Beware The Demons' many various parts want to be fully consumed. Especially the fast-paced opener and the rather epic closer hold a lot different sound colours. But even while listening to the longest songs, you will not stumble over half-baked parts. Everything is meticulously constructed and even though I am not in a state of euphoria during the entire 46 minutes, I enjoy the album in its entity. All songs reach a good level, a few of them are still candidates for best of compilation. This is a merit of the production, too. Maybe it lacks five or ten percent power, but the album sounds clear and professional. In view of this situation, there are not many reasons to ignore Portrait. It’s simply a debut which already showed the greatness of its spiritual fathers. And despite many line-up changes, this greatness is still alive. Everybody who knows the title track of At One With None will agree.

Rating: 7.7 out of 10