Australia's cavern-dwelling, nightmarish death merchants Portal have re-emerged from the abyss with "Phreqs," a claustrophobic new song off their forthcoming 2018 full length, Ion, due Jan. 26 on Profound Lore.

With their fifth album, it's clear Portal are charting new territory, though their signature sonic Hellscapes are still largely intact. In the past, the band had relied on eight string guitars to muck up their atmosphere which buzzed with over the top, swirling guitars with an anti-music aesthetic. On "Phreqs" they've stripped away the muddied sounds with more discernible riffing still played in the same vein with the Curator's ghastly, hushed vocal rasp fighting for escape velocity from Portal's musical black hole. For the uninitiated (you mean you haven't seen Philip Anselmo's Portal tattoo?), it's a challenging listen, but for longtime fans its a fresh step, especially following the lukewarm 2013 effort Vexovoid.

Ion will bring nine new tracks to Portal's canon and the full track listing can be viewed below along with the grey-scaled Zbigniew M. Beliak created artwork. The artist is renowned for his work with acts like Absu, Ghost, Vader, Paradise Lost and many others and this is the first time he's linked up with Portal.

Pre-orders for Ion, already one of 2018's most anticipated extreme metal albums, are available now through the Profound Lore webstore, where fans can choose from traditional album formats.

Portal, Ion Artwork + Track Listing

Profound Lore
Profound Lore
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1. Nth
2. ESP ION AGE
3. Husk
4. Phreqs
5. Crone
6. Revault of Volts
7. Spores
8. Phathom
9. Olde Guarde

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