Portal

Ever since their inauspicious founding in 1994, and beginning in earnest after the turn of the third millennium, Brisbane, Australia's Portal have attempted to demolish the boundaries of extreme metal with a death/black/grindcore hybrid style as technically ambitious as it is purposely mired in waves of distortion. As a result, and like most musical mavericks, bandmembers the Curator (vocals), Horror Illogium (lead guitar), Aphotic (rhythm guitar), Omenous Fugue (bass), and Ignis Fatuus (drums) have been alternately hailed either as groundbreaking visionaries and no-talent hacks — a polarized situation not helped by their mysterious identities and masked performances. Nevertheless, Portal have steadily built a decent local and small international following via their legendary concerts and consistent output throughout the 2000s, including 2002's The End Mills EP, 2003's Seepia LP, 2004's The Sweyy EP, 2007's Outré LP, and 2009's Swarth LP.