The Mist From The Mountains - Portal - The Gathering of Storms

The Mist From The Mountains is a black metal band from Finland, who formed in 2020.  Their latest release “Portal - The Gathering of Storms” is their second-full length album.  I actually reviewed their debut album, “Monumental” back in 2022 for Metal Temple.  I didn’t hate it but I thought it was only slightly above average.  I still write for Metal Temple but this time I’m tackling their music on my blog.

I'm happy to write that this album is pretty great—the band has really upped their game.  My biggest complaint about their debut was their ideas weren’t seamless or integrated enough across the songs as a whole.  “Portal” remedies that and is a much more cohesive experience, with the songs containing a natural flow that brings out their depth.

The songs are long, the shortest one being nearly 8 minutes, and the six songs take nearly an  hour to reach the album’s end.  I didn’t find the length as bothersome this time—every song here has a ton of well written moments and their visions are quite expansive.  None of the songs seem as long as their runtime and they offer many reasons to return to them.

Although the band, and album, captures the famous Finnish melancholy that so often permeates the country’s black metal, there are so many other dimensions to sounds and songs of “Portal.”  It’s melodic, folk infused, and even progressive in the sense of how adept the songs are at presenting new musical venues.

Of course, as I said, this is black metal so there is more than enough of that cold, searing, against the grain attitude that makes the genre so captivating. 

The album begins with “And So Flew The Death Crow,”  and the gentle sounds of the ocean’s waves.  It’s surprisingly serene and a fine set up for the acoustic guitars and gentle melodies that follow.  The vocals have improved this time as well—I love these deep, clean Gothic style vocals that wash over just as smoothly as the instruments. 

The song  builds up expertly, not in a rush but still always with a purpose.  As the song casts out its wide net, the melodies grow and are catchy as anything I’ve heard this year.  Around the two and a half minute mark, the blackened side of the band reveals its serpent head.  The blackened grows/shrieks/screams are also much improved and sound like pure venom.  The guitars capture the black metal tone but still play it with epic fortitude in mind. 

The middle part of the song is a bit folksy but just as engaging–the bass in particular stands out to me.  A heavy but slower part, including a catchy guitar lead, helps compliment the clean portions while pushing the song back into the realm of haunting black metal.

“At The Roots of the Vile,” begins in a more immediate way—like a hurricane force of demonic maelstrom, the band fires on all cylinders and doesn’t let up for some time.  But the riffs change frequently enough that nothing has time to set in and get boring—in fact, the beginning of this song is quite harrowing and has me on edge.  After a line of catchy clean vocals, the edge drops off into the abyss with a nice ambient piece of pure nothingness. It’s brief but speaks volumes, especially with the guitar highlighting the sorrow filled dangers.  The rhythm returns with a very catchy riff and a vocal performance that is jaunty and sort of made me want to get up and dance a jig.  Sea shanty metal?  Yes, please.  Then, suddenly, these waters build up to a hurricane's wrath and everything is blown away with the fury of black metal.  

The final song, “Saiva” is perhaps my favorite on the album.  From the very beginning it finds a way to combine sweeping textures with rousing metal—I love the energy on this song.  The clean vocals fit right in with the atmospheric riffs.  The song growls darker and more sinister as the seconds pass, both the aggression and tension ramping up.

Around the 7:20 mark, the electric power fades away to stripped down clean instruments and it’s beautiful in a lot of ways and very moving.  On this album, the band has found a way to make the light elements just as intense as the heavier ones.  

The Mist From The Mountains’ “Portal - The Gathering of Storms,” is a very convincing album that destroys the sophomore slump that many bands fall prey to while improving upon their first album in every way imaginable.