The evil pope, the monster with tentacles or the progenitor of the cuckoo clock – all these forms have been taken on by the frontman of the legendary metal band Portal, which is embarking on its first European tour after more than thirty years on the scene. The Australian six-piece, which has built its own mythology around itself over decades of existence and has become famous for concerts on the borderline of madness and ecstasy, will head to Prague on 7 September. Dark ambient, various branches of metal and experiments with discordant guitar riffs will be performed at the Fuchs2 club under the baton of Heartnoize Promotion. The promotion collective is turning to the project that co-defined its beginnings.

The band, named as a gateway between our and foreign worlds, has been exploring the dark corners of not only metal but also human emotions since the mid-90s. The horror atmosphere of their recordings delves sonically and lyrically into the depths of the unconscious and in a cathartic ritual, conjures up monsters and thoughts we’d rather forget. Records like Ion and Vexovoid are now a firm part of the metal canon and are known for their inventiveness.

Along with Portal, Impetuous Ritual, who burst onto the death-metal scene in 2009 with the album Relentless Execution Of Ceremonial Excresence, will be touring. The band then became known for their unbridled live shows and gained a reputation as one of the most devastating contemporary metal acts. On the band’s latest release, 2023’s Iniquitous Barbaric Synthesis, the band embarks on new experiments, brooding atmospheres and brutal music that breaks down the walls between genres.