Portal, Impetuous Ritual, Abduction

Manchester Rebellion

18th September 2025

Some gigs come and go, all merging into one having been enjoyable but nothing to write home about. Others stir up excitement and anticipation for months in the lead up, and then are spoken about with cherished reverence afterwards, and although this may be an odd way to describe an extreme metal gig, this is how tonight’s gig will be remembered by the select few in attendance. Australia’s Portal are a band that most will not have heard of, even within the extreme metal community, but those that have hold in exalted high regard. Support was from Impetuous Ritual (I believe they share some members with Portal) who have an equally high cult status in the UK. Combine this with very rare live outings in the UK (this tour was the first on these shores for ten years) and tonight’s show promised to be something very special.

Opening proceedings were UK black metal stalwarts Abduction, arriving on the back of the excellent recent ‘Existentialismus’ album and with an ever growing reputation for incendiary live shows. Unfortunately, a large proportion of audience was still outside with the queue still snaking round the building when Abduction hit the stage, muting the initial impact a little but before long the crowd had built and the band were delivering their usual uncompromising, nihilistic black metal. A masked A|V stalked the front of the stage, goading and intimidating the front rows as the band’s epic, crushing tomes swirled around small venue. ‘Pyramidia Liberi’, ‘Blau ist die Farbe der Ewigkeit’ and ‘Razors of Occam’ flew by, with the set gathering momentum and intensity before the short set was pulled to a close with a mammoth ‘Vomiting at Baalbek’ with the repeated refrain of “You are nothing!” while A|V held a skull and placed it on top of his head. This band get better each time I see them and they are deservedly in the upper echelons of UKBM.

After a short turnaround, and with the venue now absolutely rammed, it was the turn of Australia’s Impetuous Ritual. Following a long intro tape of white noise and chanting, the band took to the stage wearing loin cloths and spikes. Bathed in red light, ‘Verboten Genesis’ rumbled around the venue and it was absolutely crushing. Straddling the line between black metal and death metal, this was a feral, neanderthalic, barbaric wall of glorious noise, pulsating and swirling around the entranced crowd. Before long, a decent sized pit opened up and things got rowdy at the front, exactly as they should. They visited all four of their albums with newer tracks such as ‘Grail of Enmity’ sitting well alongside older tracks such as ‘Ceremonial Disembowelment’ all merging into one glorious symphony of extremity. All too soon, the set was brought to a close with the magnificently malevolent ‘Intramural Axiom’ and ‘SixAte’.

There was brief respite, including the chance to sing along to a bit of Slayer that was being played over the PA, as the stage was turned round for tonight’s headliners, Portal. The air became heavy with anticipation as a long, sinister, ominous intro track rumbled around the venue before the band took to the stage. The band were all wearing hoods, with the exception of the vocalist who had his trademark ornate, horned mask. One of the guitarists also had a hangman’s noose around his neck adding an additional foreboding dimension as the band launched into ‘Atmosblisters’. As expected, they delivered a dense, oppressive, barely penetrable wall of pulsating extreme metal. This is claustrophobic death metal at its finest, but there are huge chunks of black metal also in the mix, as guttural roars merge with chugging, buzzing guitars creating an atmosphere of menacing maleficence as tracks such as ‘Phreqs’ and ‘Manor of Speaking’ come mid set. One track merged into another with this serving as one long cathartic ritual as the maelstrom swirled around Rebellion becoming all encompassing until things were brought to a close with ‘Curtain’.

All three bands had been outstanding tonight, each bringing something a little different, but all brutal in their own overbearing, oppressive ways making a night that will go down in extreme metal history.

Andy Pountney @shot_in_the_dark_photography2

Jack Armstrong portrait shots (Abduction live guitarist)